Envoys will arrive from Egypt; Cush will stretch out her hands to God.
Parallel translations
- WEB Princes shall come out of Egypt. Ethiopia shall hurry to stretch out her hands to God.
- KJV Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God.
- NKJV Envoys will come out of Egypt; Ethiopia will quickly stretch out her hands to God.
- NASB Messengers will come from Egypt; Cush will quickly stretch out her hands to God.
- NLT Let Egypt come with gifts of precious metals; let Ethiopia bring tribute to God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Even Egypt and Ethiopia will come to worship and submit to God. It foretells distant nations turning to the Lord.
Overview
David anticipates envoys from Egypt and Cush stretching out their hands to God, a picture of Gentile nations seeking the true God. This hope of the nations' inclusion threads through the Old Testament. It is realized in the gospel, as seen for instance in the Ethiopian official's conversion (Acts 8), when the good news reaches the ends of the earth.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Isa 45:14This is what the LORD says: “The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, along with the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you; they will come over in chains and bow down to you. They will confess to you: ‘God is indeed with you, and there is no other; there is no other God.’”
- Zeph 3:10From beyond the rivers of Cush My worshipers, My scattered people, will bring Me an offering.
- Acts 8:27–40So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship,
- Ps 44:20If we had forgotten the name of our God or spread out our hands to a foreign god,
- Isa 19:18–25In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of Hosts. One of them will be called the City of the Sun.
- Ps 72:8–11May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
- Ps 143:6I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah
- Isa 60:6–7Caravans of camels will cover your land, young camels of Midian and Ephah, and all from Sheba will come, bearing gold and frankincense and proclaiming the praises of the LORD.
- Ps 88:9My eyes grow dim with grief. I call to You daily, O LORD; I spread out my hands to You.
- Isa 66:19I will establish a sign among them, and I will send survivors from among them to the nations—to Tarshish, Put, and the archers of Lud; to Tubal, Javan, and the islands far away who have not heard of My fame or seen My glory. So they will proclaim My glory among the nations.
- 1 Kgs 8:22Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in front of the whole assembly of Israel, spread out his hands toward heaven,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 68:31 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.