God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness... Selah.
Parallel translations
- KJV O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah:
- BSB O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wasteland, Selah
- NKJV O God, when You went out before Your people, When You marched through the wilderness, Selah
- NASB ¶God, when You went forth before Your people, When You marched through the desert, Selah
- NLT O God, when you led your people out from Egypt, when you marched through the dry wasteland, Interlude
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
David recalls God going before His people through the wilderness. It remembers God's leading presence in the Exodus journey.
Overview
The psalmist looks back to God marching out before Israel and leading them through the desert, pausing with 'Selah.' God's presence guided and accompanied His people in their pilgrimage. This foreshadows the Lord who goes before His people still, leading them through life to glory.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Exod 13:21Yahweh went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to lead them on their way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, that they might go by day and by night:
- Judg 5:4“Yahweh, when you went out of Seir, when you marched out of the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the sky also dropped. Yes, the clouds dropped water.
- Judg 4:14Deborah said to Barak, “Go; for this is the day in which Yahweh has delivered Sisera into your hand. Hasn’t Yahweh gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor, and ten thousand men after him.
- Hab 3:12–13You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
- Deut 4:34Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm, and by great terrors, according to all that Yahweh your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?
- Mic 2:13He who breaks open the way goes up before them. They break through the gate, and go out. And their king passes on before them, with Yahweh at their head.
- Ps 114:1–8When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language;
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 68:7 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.