Ps 68:4 why clouds?

*How Do They Get Clouds From Arabot? You Can't. - Psalm 68:4* > Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. > Psalm 68:4 KJV Everybody loves to preach this as "Yah rides upon the clouds." It sounds good for end times. Coming in the clouds. But look at the Hebrew. סֹלּוּ לָרֹכֵב בָּעֲרָבוֹת בְּיָהּ שְׁמוֹ Solu la-rochev ba'aravot beYah shemo Lift up, cast up a highway for Him that rideth *ba'aravot* - by His name Yah. What is *aravot*? Plural of *aravah*. Strong's 6160 - aravah: 1. desert, wilderness, steppe 2. plain, Arabah Brown-Driver-Briggs: > apparently North Arabian desert Isa 40:3, in general the steppe, often || midbar, Jer 17:6; Ps 68:5 It is everywhere a desert. Deut 1:1, Jer 2:6 "land of desert and pits," Isa 35:1 "the wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad; and the desert shall rejoice." There is no cloud in the root. The LXX translators saw it and they did not get clouds either. They derived it from *erev* - evening, west: Greek: εὐοδώσατε τῷ ἐπιβεβηκότι ἐπὶ δυσμῶν - Make ready the way for Him that rideth upon the *west*. Jerome Vulgate: qui ascendit super *occasum* - who ascends over the sunset. So where does "heavens" and "clouds" come from? Not from the root. From the Talmud. Cambridge Bible notes: > The renderings of A.V. Extol... upon the heavens are derived from Jewish sources. The Targum renders "Extol him that sitteth upon the throne of his glory in Araboth," which is explained by comparison of Psalm 68:33 to mean the seventh or uppermost heaven. See Talm. Chagigah 12b. In Chagigah 12b the rabbis list seven heavens, and they name the seventh and highest heaven *Arabot*. Once you make Arabot the name of the 7th heaven, then you can read Psalm 68:4 as "He who rides in Arabot" = He who sits on His throne in the highest heaven. And from highest heaven, it is a small step to translate it as "rideth upon the heavens" or "rideth upon the clouds." But that is cosmology, not etymology. Context proves it cannot be clouds. Psalm 68:7: > O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the *wilderness*; Selah: This is not a cloud chariot vision. This is the Exodus. Yah going forth before His people in the desert. Isaiah uses the same word in the same call: > Prepare ye the way of יהוה in the wilderness, make straight in the *desert* a highway for our God. Isa 40:3 Same root, same highway. Solu - cast up a highway. So the King James "rideth upon the heavens" is Targum tradition, not Hebrew. What does it mean then? He that rideth through the deserts, by His name Yah. In the wilderness He robed Himself as the Angel in whom is the Name. Ex 23:21 My Name is in Him. He rode through the deserts with Israel. Not above them in clouds. With them, before them, in the wilderness. Through the desert. If you want clouds, go to where clouds are actually written: Dan 7:13 Son of Man coming with clouds. Acts 1:9 taken up, a cloud received Him. Rev 1:7 Behold He cometh with clouds. That is clouds. Psalm 68:4 is deserts. There is no root from aravot to clouds. They get clouds by making Arabot the 7th heaven in Chagigah 12b, and reading heaven into desert. I will stay with the root. He rides through the deserts. By His name Yah. Here is the full verse in both old variants - both from before heavens. *1. Your Mosul - West reading - ܡܥܪܒܐ ma'arva* ܙܡܪܘ ܠܐܠܗܐ ܘܫܒܚܘ ܠܫܡܗ ܫܒܚܘ ܠܕܪܟܝܒ ܠܡܥܪܒܐ ܡܪܝܐ ܗܘ ܫܡܗ ܐܬܥܫܢܘ ܩܕܡܘܗܝ zmaru l'Alaha w'shabachu l'shmeh, shabachu l'darcheb l'ma'arva, MarYa hu shmeh, etcashanu qadmohi Sing to God and praise His name, praise Him who rides to the *West*, MarYa is His name, be courageous before Him. *2. Ambrosianus 7a1 - Desert reading - ܡܕܒܪܐ madbra* Same verse but final word changes: ܙܡܪܘ ܠܐܠܗܐ ܘܫܒܚܘ ܠܫܡܗ ܫܒܚܘ ܠܕܪܟܝܒ ܒܡܕܒܪܐ ܡܪܝܐ ܗܘ ܫܡܗ ܐܬܥܫܢܘ ܩܕܡܘܗܝ zmaru l'Alaha w'shabachu l'shmeh, shabachu l'darcheb *b'madbra*, MarYa hu shmeh, etcashanu qadmohi Sing to God and praise His name, praise Him who rides *in the desert*, MarYa is His name, be courageous before Him. That's the one you asked for - *b'madbra = in the desert*. That is the direct, literal translation of Hebrew בערבות ba'aravot = in the deserts. So you have two old Peshitta witnesses before conformity: - b'madbra = in the desert = literal Hebrew - l'ma'arva = to the west = LXX interpretation of same Hebrew Neither is heavens. Neither is clouds. The heavens reading ܒܫܡܝܐ bishmaya comes later in Western Jacobite revision after 704 AD. If you want to quote in English study: use Ambrosianus 7a1 as "rides in the desert" - it's the oldest complete Peshitta OT manuscript in the world, 6th century, and it reads desert.