John Calvin Commentary Psalms 66:8

"Oh bless our God, ye peoples, And make the voice of his praise to be heard;" — Psalms 66:8 (ASV)

Bless our God, O you people! Although calling upon all, without exception, to praise God, he refers particularly to some divine intervention on behalf of the Church. He would seem to hint that the Gentiles were destined, at a future period, to share the favor now exclusively enjoyed by God’s chosen people.

In the meantime, he reminds them of the remarkable and memorable nature of the deliverance granted, by calling upon them to spread news of it far and wide. Though he speaks of the Jewish people as having been brought to life, (an expression intended to denote deliverance of a more than ordinary kind), this means that they had been preserved from approaching danger rather than recovered from a calamity that had actually overtaken them. It is said that their feet had not been allowed to fall, which implies that, through timely help they had received, they had not fallen but stood firm.

The Psalmist, however, does not, because the evil was anticipated and averted, take occasion to undervalue it. Since they had been kept safe by an intervention of divine goodness, he speaks of this as equivalent to having been brought or restored to life.