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Psalm 78:65

Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.

63Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song.
64Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn’t weep.
65Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine.
66He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach.
67Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim,
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← Psalm 78:64Psalm 78:66 →
Notice

A warrior’s wine-fueled shout is a startling picture of the Lord’s intervention, especially after the account of deaths and widows unable to weep.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What troubles or surprises you about comparing the Lord to a warrior shouting because of wine?

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How does the account of widows unable to weep shape your reading of the Lord’s awakening?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 44:23Wake up! Why do you sleep, Lord? Arise! Don’t reject us forever.Psalm 44 pleads for the Lord to wake, while Psalm 78 describes his intervention as an awakening.
Zechariah 2:13Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD; for he has roused himself from his holy habitation!”Both describe the Lord rousing himself, using the language of waking to portray his movement into action.
Isaiah 42:13The LORD will go out like a mighty man. He will stir up zeal like a man of war. He will raise a war cry. Yes, he will shout aloud. He will triumph over his …Both compare the Lord to a mighty warrior whose shout accompanies action against his enemies.
Psalm 47:5God has gone up with a shout, the LORD with the sound of a trumpet.Both associate God’s action with a shout, though Psalm 78 uses a warrior comparison.
Psalm 7:6Arise, LORD, in your anger. Lift up yourself against the rage of my adversaries. Awake for me. You have commanded judgment.Psalm 7 asks the Lord to awake against adversaries; Psalm 78 depicts that awakening followed by a blow against his adversaries.
Psalm 73:20As a dream when one wakes up, so, Lord, when you awake, you will despise their fantasies.Both use awakening as a picture of the Lord’s action, with judgment following the image of sleep.
Isaiah 51:9Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of the LORD! Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn’t it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who …Isaiah asks the Lord’s arm to awake in strength, while Psalm 78 pictures the Lord awakening like a mighty man.
Zechariah 9:15The LORD of Armies will defend them. They will destroy and overcome with sling stones. They will drink, and roar as through wine. They will be filled like …Both use wine and a loud cry in battle imagery, though Zechariah describes the people whom the Lord defends.
Isaiah 33:10“Now I will arise,” says the LORD. “Now I will lift myself up. Now I will be exalted.Both mark a turn toward divine action: the Lord awakens in the psalm and declares that he will arise in Isaiah.
Jeremiah 25:30“Therefore prophesy against them all these words, and tell them, “‘The LORD will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation. He will …Both portray the Lord’s voice as a forceful shout in a setting of judgment.
Nehemiah 9:22Moreover you gave them kingdoms and peoples, which you allotted according to their portions. So they possessed the land of Sihon, even the land of the king of …Both recount God’s action in Israel’s history, though Nehemiah describes land given and shares neither the awakening nor the shouting image.
Where this verse fits

Feeling distant from God. sermon or Bible study notes.

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One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read verses 63–66 and mark the change in action

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Encouragement

The sleep and wine belong to a poetic comparison. Amid Israel’s losses, the Lord acts with a warrior’s force; the devastation has not stripped him of power.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 78:65. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

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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).