Psalm 75

Psalm 75 belongs to Book III of the Psalms (Psalms 73–89) and is one of the psalms whose superscription reads "A Psalm of Asaph" (Psalms 73–83). It follows Psalm 74, which laments the destruction of the sanctuary and calls on God to arise. Psalm 75 reads as an answer to that plea, proclaiming that God will judge at the time He has appointed.

Structure

• Verse 1: The community gives thanks to God. His name is near, and the people declare His wondrous works.
• Verses 2–5: God Himself speaks. He will judge uprightly at the appointed time, and it is He who bears up the pillars of the earth. Verse 3 ends with Selah. He then warns the arrogant and the wicked not to lift up the horn on high and not to speak with arrogance.
• Verses 6–8: Promotion comes neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. God, who is the judge, puts down one and sets up another. In the hand of the LORD is a cup of foaming wine, and all the wicked of the earth drink it down to the dregs.
• Verses 9–10: The psalmist resolves to declare and sing praises to the God of Jacob forever. The horns of the wicked will be cut off, and the horns of the righteous will be exalted.

Key Verses

• Psalm 75:2 "When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly" (KJV margin: "set time"): The verse affirms that the sovereign right to determine the time of judgment belongs to God.
• Psalm 75:7 "But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another": This is the central confession of the psalm—that being exalted or brought low depends not on human power but on God.
• Psalm 75:8 "For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup": This is a representative Old Testament text depicting God's judgment as a "cup."

People and Places

• Asaph: Named in the superscription. Chronicles presents him as a Levite charged with leading the praise of the sanctuary in the time of David.
• Jacob: "The God of Jacob" in verse 9 means the God of the people of Israel.

Points for Reflection

• The meaning of "horn": Within the psalm, the "horn" symbolizes strength and authority. To lift up the horn refers to the pride of self-exaltation.
• Shifts in speaker: Verses 2–5 are generally read as the words of God. Interpreters differ on the "I" of verse 10, some taking it as God and others as the psalmist or the king.
• The translation of verse 6: The word rendered "south" can also be read in Hebrew as "wilderness" or "wilderness of the mountains," so translations vary in their wording.
• Connections with the New Testament: The confession of a God who brings low and lifts up also appears in the song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2) and the song of Mary (Luke 1). The image of the cup of wrath reappears in Revelation 14. In the Christian interpretive tradition, this passage is sometimes read together with the "cup" of which Jesus spoke in his prayer in Gethsemane.