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Psalm 66

Psalm 66 moves from worldwide praise to personal thanksgiving, honoring God’s rule through deliverance, painful testing, and answered prayer.

An unnamed singer calls all the earth to praise God, recalling his power over enemies and his deliverance through sea and river. The focus then turns to a people who have endured testing, oppression, and danger under God’s rule, and have been brought into abundance. In the closing verses, a single worshiper promises temple offerings and tells those who fear God about answered prayer. The psalm names no author or specific occasion for this thanksgiving.

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1For the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!
2Sing to the glory of his name! Offer glory and praise!
3Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.
4All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name.” Selah.
5Come, and see God’s deeds— awesome work on behalf of the children of men.
6He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him.
7He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don’t let the rebellious rise up against him. Selah.
8Praise our God, you peoples! Make the sound of his praise heard,
9who preserves our life among the living, and doesn’t allow our feet to be moved.
10For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.
11You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs.
12You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.
13I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you,
14which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.
15I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats. Selah.
16Come and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul.
17I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue.
18If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened.
19But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer.
20Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected. Tap a number for its page.
Key verses
Psalm 66:3God’s overwhelming power grounds the opening call to praise and explains why even his enemies must submit.
Psalm 66:10The image of refining silver interprets the people’s suffering as testing under the same God who preserves their lives.
Psalm 66:18The worshiper’s warning about cherished sin frames the closing testimony that God has heard prayer and shown loving kindness.
Where this chapter reaches

The sea becoming dry land recalls the deliverance told in Exodus, while the image of refining silver shares Isaiah’s language of God purifying his people. The warning about cherished sin and prayer shares with Proverbs a concern for the relationship between obedience and being heard by God.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out to you about praising the God whom these worshipers also name as their tester?

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What answered prayer, if any, would you want to tell others about, as this worshiper does?

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Questions people ask about Psalm 66

Who wrote Psalm 66?

Psalm 66 does not name its author. Its heading identifies it as a song and a psalm for the Chief Musician. The voice moves from a call for worldwide praise to a people’s shared experience, then to one worshiper’s thanksgiving. Those shifts do not establish who composed it.

What does being refined like silver mean in Psalm 66:10?

Refining silver involves heat that removes impurities. The psalm uses that image for the testing God’s people endured, described through imprisonment, burdens, oppression, fire, and water. It credits God with bringing them through to abundance. The text does not identify the precise historical crisis behind these descriptions.

Does Psalm 66:18 mean God will not hear a sinner’s prayer?

Verse 18 speaks of cherishing sin in the heart, a posture of holding onto it. The worshiper then declares that God has heard his prayer and praises God’s loving kindness. The passage does not claim sinless perfection or teach that every unanswered prayer proves someone is hiding sin.

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What the Bible says about gratitude →What the Bible says about worship →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).