Psalms · psalm 66 of 150
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Psalm 66 invites all the earth to shout to God and to come and see what he has done: he turned the sea into dry land and tested his people as silver is tested. Then the psalmist takes a personal step: he enters the temple with burnt offerings, fulfills his vows and tells how God heard his prayer. He ends by blessing God, who did not turn away his prayer or his steadfast love.
The title calls it a song and a psalm, addressed to the choirmaster, and does not name an author. It belongs to Book II of the Psalter. A notable feature is the shift from we to I: verses 1 to 12 speak of what God did for all the people, and verses 13 to 20 of what God did for one person. The psalm shows that community worship and personal testimony go together.
The psalm begins with an invitation to all the earth: shout to God with joy, sing the glory of his name and say that his deeds are awesome. His enemies will cringe before his power, and all the earth will worship him.
Then comes a call to come and see God's works. He turned the sea into dry land, and the people passed through the river on foot. There they rejoiced in him, for he rules by his might forever and his eyes keep watch on the nations, so the rebellious may not exalt themselves.
In verses 8 to 12 the psalmist blesses God because he has kept his people among the living and has not let their feet slip. God tested them as silver is refined, brought them into the net, laid a burden on their backs and let men ride over their heads. They went through fire and through water, but he brought them out to a place of abundance.
In verses 13 to 15 the psalmist enters God's house with burnt offerings to fulfill the vows he made in trouble. Finally he invites all who fear God to hear what God has done for him: he cried to God, and God heard. He says that if he had cherished iniquity in his heart, the Lord would not have listened. But God did listen, and blessed be God, who has not rejected his prayer or removed his steadfast love from him.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
The psalmist invites everyone to come and see God's works, which are awesome toward the children of man. The faith of this psalm rests on acts of God that can be told, not on vague ideas.
God tested his people and refined them as silver is refined. The testing is not presented as God's abandonment but as a process he directs toward a good end.
The people went through fire and through water, but God brought them out to a place of abundance. The psalm does not deny suffering; it affirms that suffering was not the last word.
The psalmist invites those who fear God to hear what he has done for his soul. Personal testimony is a form of worship that encourages others to trust.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: All the earth. — Psalm 66:1
Answer: He turned the sea into dry land, and the people passed through the river on foot. — Psalm 66:6
Answer: As silver is tested. — Psalm 66:10
Answer: Fire and water. — Psalm 66:12
Answer: Burnt offerings, to fulfill the vows he made in trouble. — Psalm 66:13-14
Answer: His prayer and his steadfast love. — Psalm 66:20
Psalm 66 encourages us to join public praise and private testimony. In a small group it can be helpful to set aside time for each person to tell briefly what God has done for them, just as the psalmist does in verse 16. Telling what God has done strengthens the faith of the one who tells and of the one who hears.
The psalm also offers a mature reading of testing: fire and water, but then abundance. It does not promise that the road will be easy, only that God sustains and brings out. Someone passing through a hard season can pray with this psalm and recall the times God opened a way.
Psalm 66 ends by blessing God, who did not remove his steadfast love. Psalm 67 continues with the same desire, the praise of all peoples, and does so in a prayer shaped by the priestly blessing.
It likely alludes to the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus 14 and the crossing of the Jordan River in Joshua 3. The poet joins both events to recall that the same God who freed his people from Egypt also brought them into the promised land.
Verse 18 does not teach that God hears only the perfect, since the psalmist himself needs mercy. It speaks of holding on deliberately to sin while praying. A divided heart cannot expect an answer, while the one who comes with sincerity and confession can trust God's mercy.