---
title: Psalms 68:18
url: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-68-18/
markdown: https://jw-apologetics.app/verses/psalms-68-18.md
type: verse
perspective: Protestant (historic Nicene) response to Jehovah's Witness teaching
reference: Psalms 68:18
testament: OT
section: Poetry
index: https://jw-apologetics.app/llms.txt
---

# Psalms 68:18

## Text (Berean Standard Bible)

> You have ascended on high; You have led captives away. You have received gifts from men, even from the rebellious, that the LORD God may dwell there.

## NWT Wording of the Key Phrase

- NWT (2013 revision): "You ascended on high; You carried away captives; You took gifts in the form of men, Yes, even stubborn ones, to reside among them, O Jah God."

## Protestant Usage

Psalm 68 celebrates God's victorious ascent: "Jehovah has come from Sinai into the holy place" (v. 17), and the one who ascends on high with captives is addressed as "O Jah God" (v. 18). Paul quotes the verse in Ephesians 4:8 and explains it in 4:9-10: "The very one who descended is also the one who ascended far above all the heavens." The psalm's divine conqueror is identified with the ascended Christ. Paul's "gave gifts" (where the Hebrew has "took gifts") follows an older Jewish reading of the psalm and the picture of a victor sharing his spoils. It does not change who ascends.

## Arguments Using This Verse

- [Every Title For Yahweh Is Given To Jesus](https://jw-apologetics.app/arguments/yahweh-titles-applied-to-jesus.md) — Isaiah 44:6 / Acts 4:12 / Romans 10:9 / Hosea 13:4 / Revelation 22:13 [Deity of Christ]