Received Instead of Dispersed
Psalm 68:18 (NKJV)
18 You have ascended on high, You have led captivity captive; You have received gifts among men, Even from the rebellious, That the LORD God might dwell there.
Psalm 68:18 (NASB)
18 You have ascended on high, You have led captive Your captives; You have received gifts among men, Even among the rebellious also, that the LORD God may dwell there.
Psalm 68:18 (AMP)
18 You have ascended on high. You have led away captive a train of vanquished foes; You have received gifts of men, yes, of the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell there with them.
Psalm 68:18 (CJB)
18 After you went up into the heights, you led captivity captive, you took gifts among mankind, yes, even among the rebels, so that Yah, God, might live there.
Psalm 68:18 (NIV)
18 When you ascended on high, you led captives in your train; you received gifts from men, even from the rebellious– that you, O LORD God, might dwell there.
Psalm 68:18 (NIV2011)
18 When you ascended on high, you took many captives; you received gifts from people, even from the rebellious— that you, LORD God, might dwell there.
Psalm 68:18 (NLT2)
18 When you ascended to the heights, you led a crowd of captives. You received gifts from the people, even from those who rebelled against you. Now the LORD God will live among us there.
Psalm 68:18 (HCSB)
18 You ascended to the heights, taking away captives; You received gifts from people, even from the rebellious, so that the LORD God might live ⌊there⌋.
All eight translations above speak of the Lord “receiving” gifts from the rebellious rather than “giving” or “dispersing” gifts among the rebellious. This is referring to the Fivefold Ministry Gifts of Apostle, Prophet, Teacher, Pastor and Evangelist and these gifts were dispersed or given among men (including Saul who was formerly a religious zealot who persecuted the church)! The NT companion scripture is:
Ephesians 4:8-11 (NKJV)
8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”
9 (Now this, “He ascended”–what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth?
10 He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
11 And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers,
This speaks of Jesus preaching to the spirits of the righteous OT men who were in custody in a place called Abraham’s bosom and Jesus preached the gospel to them and then led them forth in procession as firstfruits to enter heaven. At this time Jesus also dispersed or gave the Fivefold Ministry gifts to men on earth.
See the lesson “Levites Naturally Gifted” for more details.
The Old Testament Psalm 68:18 is fulfilled by the New Testament Ephesians 4:8-11 and both refer to giving Fivefold Ministry Gifts to men. But translators could not understand why the Lord would give gifts to rebellious people so they assumed it must mean that the Lord received gifts from the rebellious (just like a king receiving tribute from defeated and rebellious foes).
Psalm 68:18 (NKJV)-M
18 You have ascended on high [into heaven], leading the righteous captives into eternal freedom. You have given [dispersed] ministry gifts among men, even among the rebellious, That the LORD God might dwell there.
Above is a modified (NKJV) that is clarified better to show that the Lord gave or dispersed ministry gifts even among the rebellious (like Saul before he was saved). Saul realized he was born with the gift of apostle after he got saved and so this formerly rebellious man was a recipient of the gift of apostle to do the work of the ministry.