Ps. 75.10-11 (deeds of wonder)

But I / I will declare forever / his wondrous deeds
I will sing praise / to the god of Jacob
And all the horns / of the wicked / I will cut them off
but the horns / of the righteous / will be lifted up. 

From the “wicked-as-object” we now move into the perspective of the psalmist himself. And here we find the antithesis of the wicked drink—in the place of a forced consumption of wine, there is liberation and praise. It is an important note to strike: the wicked, as we saw were required to drink the wine to the last drop. Whereas before they moved according to their own power (they “lifted up their own horn”), they did not move according to any other power. When the “set time” came that freedom was not only revealed for what it was as illusory, but was condemned by way of its opposite: the removal of even this vestige of freedom through the imposition of the forced drink. Here, when the righteous emerge, they “declare forever” and “sing praise”. The “set time” has been liberation to the righteous. They have entered freedom. But, this is not a self-contained freedom like the wicked. They are not “lifting up their own horn”. Rather, this freedom is manifested precisely in and through “declaration” and “praise” to God. Freedom is liturgy, communion. It is, in other words, covenant. We see this particularly in the content of the praise: “wondrous deeds”. This refers us back to the opening verse: “We give thanks to you O God, we give you thanks and your name is near; your wondrous deeds declare it.” God’s “wondrous deeds” are those liberative actions taken by God on behalf of his people and which stand as the foundation (or, preamble) to his covenant with them. In this regard, the “set time” of judgment is, in a very real sense, an enactment (or, fulfillment) of the covenant itself. Hence, the psalmist is released by and through these acts and, within that freedom, offers them back to God in liturgical praise. This dynamism is the manifestation of the dynamism of the covenant. And this confirms our opening reflection on this issue: in the first verse, the ‘wondrous deeds’ declare God’s praises; here, it is the psalmist. By and through God’s judgment, the righteous are ‘raised up’ into this sphere of declaration. They participate within the beauty and glory of the deeds (the “wonder” of them). And they do so because the judgment of God (the “set time”) is his name “drawing near”, his presence as manifesting his equity and justice and establishing them on earth. In that act, the “forever” of God is established such that the liturgical praise of him can continue “forever” (“I will declare forever…”). The “set time” is the setting up of forever; the ‘raising up’ of the righteous into God’s glory and the ‘casting down’ of the wicked, away from it.