Abstract
Explanations for Paul's apparent misquotation of Ps 68:18 in Eph 4:8 abound. I contend that, reading Psalm 68 against an Isaianic backdrop, Paul believed the finale of that psalm (Ps 68:34–35; LXX 67:35–36) to give scriptural expression to the divine gifts of power and might that he saw operative among those who were united to Christ. In Eph 4:8, Paul then employs an adaptive paraphrase of Ps 68:18 (LXX 67:19) to sum up important aspects of the exaltation of Christ in terms drawn from the larger context of that psalm. This in turn evokes a larger Isaianic storyline in which the victory of God and his enthronement (as the Divine Warrior) are replicated in his Messiah and, ultimately, in those believers in whom his Spirit of counsel and might is at work.
