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Psalm 66 · a question people ask

"You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs" (66:11). Does the psalm say God caused their troubles?

In the text

It says it to God plainly: "You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs" (66:11), and "You allowed men to ride over our heads" (66:12). It gives its own word for what God was doing: "For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined" (66:10) (tap tested). And it says where it ended: "but you brought us to the place of abundance" (66:12). In Psalm 81 God speaks to Israel (Psalm 81:6-7): "I tested you at the waters of Meribah" (Psalm 81:7), with the verb of 66:10's tested. Psalm 66 doesn't say what the prison, the burden or the men were, or how long it lasted. It doesn't say that every hardship is a test, and these notes don't either.

The verses

“For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined. You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs. You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.”
Psalm 66:10-12 · World English Bible
““I removed his shoulder from the burden. His hands were freed from the basket. You called in trouble, and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder. I tested you at the waters of Meribah.” Selah.”
Psalm 81:6-7 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Psalm 66

Psalm 66: Come and see, come and hear

Psalm 66 calls twice: "Come, and see" (66:5) and "Come and hear" (66:16). The same two verbs come back at the end: the WEB's cherished in "If I cherished sin in my heart" (66:18) is the see of 66:5, and both listeneds in 66:18-19 are the hear of 66:16.

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions