Psalm 66:8-20

“We went through fire and through water; yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.” (Psalm 66:12)

Psalm 66 changes voice partway through, and the appointed portion contains the seam. Verses 8-12 are a community speaking in the plural about a shared ordeal; vv. 13-20 are one worshiper speaking in the singular about a personal rescue. Most readers take the psalm as a single liturgy in which an individual rises to testify after the congregation has finished. The plural section interprets the nation’s suffering as assay rather than punishment, tested as silver is tested (v. 10), and its passage through fire and water recalls the sea and the river named earlier in the psalm (v. 6). The singular section is a vow being paid out loud in the temple with offerings (vv. 13-15), followed by an invitation to come and listen to it (v. 16), which turns private rescue into public instruction. The sequence is the argument: in both halves the bringing out is reported only after the going through.

From Sermons.com: Join Today to access the most scholarly & well written preaching resources anywhere.