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Journey of a Passage

Psalm 68:4

The rider through the deserts, the clouds, or the west

Hebrew: "extol him who rides through the deserts ('aravot)." KJV: "him that rideth upon the heavens." Many scholars connect the phrase with Baal's Ugaritic title "Rider of the Clouds" (rkb 'rpt). The Greek read "him who rides upon the west/setting sun" (Vulgate "qui ascendit super occasum").

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

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✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
Hebrew
  1. The psalm as first composedPsalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed
Greek
  1. Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872Translated from the Old Greek Psalter
Latin
  1. Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)c. AD 386–392, revised from the GreekTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew
New Testament quotation

    Every witness, in order

    1. Psalms composed over centuries (c. 10th–4th century BC; debated)

      The psalm as first composed

      – No copy survives

      No original survives. About forty Psalms manuscripts from Qumran, Masada and Nahal Hever (c. 2nd century BC – 1st century AD) are the oldest copies.

    2. c. AD 386–392, revised from the Greek

      Jerome's Gallican Psalter (Clementine Vulgate)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Greek Psalter (Origen's Hexapla)

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

      Cantate Deo; psalmum dicite nomini ejus: iter facite ei qui ascendit super occasum. Dominus nomen illi; exsultate in conspectu ejus. Turbabuntur a facie ejus,

      Latin numbering: Psalm 67:5. Jerome revised this Latin Psalter from the Greek, so it is a witness to the Greek, not to the Hebrew.

    3. AD 1008

      Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

      ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from The psalm as first composed

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

      שִׁ֤ירוּ ׀ לֵֽאלֹהִים֮ זַמְּר֢וּ שְׁ֫מ֥וֹ סֹ֡לּוּ לָרֹכֵ֣ב בָּ֭עֲרָבוֹת בְּיָ֥הּ שְׁמ֗וֹ וְעִלְז֥וּ לְפָנָֽיו׃

      Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song for him who rides through the deserts ('aravot): YAH is his name; exult before him

      Hebrew numbering: Psalm 68:5. Hebrew counts the heading as verse 1.

    4. 1611

      King James Bible

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew

      How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

      Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name Jah, and rejoice before him.

    5. Old Greek c. 2nd century BC; French 1872

      Greek Psalter (library: Giguet's French)

      ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from the Old Greek Psalter

      How the site knows this: Known here only through a translation.

      Chantez à Dieu, chantez des louanges à son nom; faites une voie pour celui qui monte vers l’Occident: LE SEIGNEUR est son nom, tressaillez en sa présence. Ils seront troublés devant la face de celui

      Greek numbering: Psalm 67:5. Giguet's 1872 French of a printed Greek text; not checked against Rahlfs' critical edition.

    What changed, and why

    Three readings of one phrase: 'aravot, "steppes, deserts" (the wilderness through which God led Israel, v. 7); 'arafot, "clouds" (by changing one letter, b/p, matching Ugaritic and v. 33's "rides on the heavens of heavens"); and 'erev, "evening," hence "west" (the Greek). The KJV's "heavens" follows Jewish medieval interpretation of 'aravot as a name of a heaven (in later tradition the seventh heaven is called Aravot).

    "By his name JAH" (beyah shemo) uses the short form of the divine name, as in Hallelu-jah.

    What the evidence shows

    • Independently documentedThe Hebrew reads ba-'aravot, "through the deserts."
    • Strongly supportedThe phrase alludes to Baal's title "Rider of the Clouds." Widely held; based on Ugaritic texts.
    • Independently documentedThe Greek reads "upon the west."

    Sources

      Related lessons

      • Psalm 68: Let God Arise →"Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered." God, "a father of the fatherless," leads his people through the desert; Sinai quakes; rain falls on his inheritance; kings flee and women divide the spoil. Mount Bashan envies the mountain God chose. "The chariots of God are twenty thousand… Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men." A procession enters the sanctuary, "little Benjamin" first. "Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God."