Christianity

Psalms 75God Is the Judge

Summary

Psalm 75 is a psalm of Asaph that begins with thanksgiving because God's name is near. God then speaks, declaring that at the appointed time he will judge with equity and that he holds up the pillars of a trembling earth. The proud are warned not to lift their horn, because promotion comes neither from east nor west but from God, who brings one down and raises another. In God's hand is a cup that the wicked must drain.

Key verse

“But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.”

Psalms 75:7

Themes

Divine Judgment
Humility
Appointed Time
Cup of Wrath

Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.

When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.

The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly: and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:

Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.

For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.

But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

Text: King James Version (1611/1769), public domain.

Across traditions

Islam
Surah Aal-i-Imraan (3): Thou Exaltest Whom Thou Wilt
Quran 3:26 addresses God as Owner of Sovereignty who gives and takes away power, exalting and abasing whom he wills. It closely matches the teaching of Psalm 75:7.
Christianity
1 Samuel 2: The Song of Hannah
Hannah sings that the LORD brings low and lifts up (1 Samuel 2:7), and like Psalm 75 she speaks of God exalting the horn of the faithful.
Judaism
Tehillim 75 in the JPS 1917 Tanakh
The heading Al-tashheth, Destroy not, links it to Psalms 57 to 59; Jewish readers often hear in it God's promise to judge the arrogant nations in his own time.

Questions about Psalms 75

What does promotion cometh neither from the east nor the west mean?

Psalm 75:6 to 7 says that rising to power does not come from any human direction or source but from God, who alone judges and appoints.

What is the cup in the hand of the LORD?

Psalm 75:8 uses the biblical image of a cup of foaming wine for God's judgment, which the wicked must drink to the dregs. Jeremiah 25 and Revelation 14 use similar imagery.