The psalm forms a regular part of Jewish, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and other Protestant liturgies. It has been set to music.
Geographical imagery
In verse 8, many writers consider "Moab is my washbowl" to refer to the Dead Sea in the vicinity of Moab, and "Upon Edom I will toss my sandal" is viewed as Edom becoming a humble servant, such as a servant who would clean a master's sandals. Commentaries expressing this view include Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible,[9]Charles Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers and the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges.[10]Psalm 108 also uses the imagery of tossing a sandal upon Edom.[11] Barnes refers to "an allusion in the expression 'I will cast out my shoe', to the custom, when transferring a possession, of throwing down a shoe on the ground as a symbol of occupancy".[9]
Herod was an Idumean, an Edomite, ruling over the Jews in his day. Some commentators, such as Ray Vander Laan in "In the Shadow of Herod", would view this promise pointing to a victory of the Jews over Edom similar to other promises that Esau (the father of the Idumeans) would serve Jacob and ultimately not fulfilled until Christ.[12]
The "Valley of Salt" is also referred to as the "Valley of Saltpits".[13]
Heinrich Schütz set Psalm 60 in a metred version in German, "Ach Gott, der du vor dieser Zeit", SWV 157, as part of the Becker Psalter, first published in 1628.
Text
The following table shows the Hebrew text[18][19] of the Psalm with vowels, alongside the Koine Greek text in the Septuagint[20] and the English translation from the King James Version. Note that the meaning can slightly differ between these versions, as the Septuagint and the Masoretic Text come from different textual traditions.[note 1] In the Septuagint, this psalm is numbered Psalm 59.
↑In the Jewish verse numbering, the ascription of this psalm is verses 1 and 2, and the rest of the psalm begins from verse 3. However, the Christian verse numbering does not count the ascription.
↑Shushan Eduth, meaning "Lily of Testimony", may have been the name of a particular tune or style.[21]
↑Strong's Concordance, H7802: "שׁוּשַׁן עֵדוּת Shûwshan ʻÊdûwth; or (plural of former) שׁוֹשַׁנִּים עֵדוּת Shôwshannîym ʻÊdûwthlemma שׁוֹשַׁנִּיס עֵדוּת samekh, corrected to שׁוֹשַׁנִּים עֵדוּת; from H7799 and H5715; lily (or trumpet) of assemblage; Shushan-Eduth or Shoshannim-Eduth, the title of a popular song:—Shoshannim-Eduth, Shushan-eduth."
