Yet God is my King of old, working salvation throughout the earth.
Parallel translations
- KJV For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.
- BSB Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth.
- NKJV For God is my King from of old, Working salvation in the midst of the earth.
- NASB ¶Yet God is my King from long ago, Who performs acts of salvation in the midst of the earth.
- NLT You, O God, are my king from ages past, bringing salvation to the earth.
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
Despite the ruin, Asaph affirms that God is his King from of old, working salvation throughout the earth.
Overview
The lament pivots to confident confession: God has always reigned and continues to work deliverance. This declaration of God's ancient kingship anchors hope amid devastation. The God who has long worked salvation in the earth brings it to its climax in Christ, the eternal King who accomplishes everlasting redemption (Luke 1:68-69).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Isa 33:22For Yahweh is our judge. Yahweh is our lawgiver. Yahweh is our king. He will save us.
- Ps 44:4You are my King, God. Command victories for Jacob!
- Exod 19:5–6Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
- Num 23:21–22He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.
- 1 Sam 19:5for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”
- Isa 63:8For he said, “Surely, they are my people, children who will not deal falsely;” so he became their Savior.
- Exod 15:2–15Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
- Hab 3:12–14You marched through the land in wrath. You threshed the nations in anger.
- Judg 4:23–24So God subdued Jabin the king of Canaan before the children of Israel on that day.
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 74:12 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.