Tap any verse number for what that verse means.
1You have rejected us, O God; You have broken us; You have been angry; restore us!
2You have shaken the land and torn it open. Heal its fractures, for it is quaking.
3You have shown Your people hardship; we are staggered from the wine You made us drink.
4You have raised a banner for those who fear You, that they may flee the bow.
5Respond and save us with Your right hand, that Your beloved may be delivered.
6God has spoken from His sanctuary: “I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem and apportion the Valley of Succoth.
7Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim is My helmet, Judah is My scepter.
8Moab is My washbasin; upon Edom I toss My sandal; over Philistia I shout in triumph.”
9Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me to Edom?
10Have You not rejected us, O God? Will You no longer march out, O God, with our armies?
11Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless.
12With God we will perform with valor, and He will trample our enemies.
Understand This
Psalm 60, explained
What Psalm 60 is saying
A communal lament arising from military defeat, Psalm 60 opens with striking earthquake imagery—God has broken and shaken the land, making His people drink the wine of staggering. The central oracle (vv. 6–8) records a divine speech claiming sovereignty over all territories, Israelite and foreign alike, using domestic imagery (Moab as washbasin, Edom receiving the thrown sandal). The psalm concludes with a pragmatic acknowledgment that human military strength is vain without God.
The background behind it
The superscription references David's campaigns in Aram-Naharaim and Aram-Zobah and Joab's defeat of Edom in the Valley of Salt (2 Samuel 8; 1 Chronicles 18). The psalm likely reflects a moment when initial defeat preceded ultimate victory, perhaps a setback during these northern campaigns.
Themes running underneath
The psalm's theology of national suffering interprets military defeat as divine discipline rather than divine absence. The oracle's claim over both Israelite and foreign territories asserts God's universal sovereignty. The closing declaration that 'vain is the help of man' forms the psalm's theological center.
Why it still matters
Psalm 60 challenges nationalistic triumphalism by insisting that military victory is God's prerogative, not human achievement. It models communal lament that holds together honest grief over defeat and persistent faith in divine purpose.
Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.