Psalms 65

Praise is waiting for you, God, in Zion. The promises people made to you will be kept.

1Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion: and unto thee shall the vow be performed.

NoteZion was the hill in Jerusalem on which the city and its temple stood; the name is often used for the city itself. "Praise waiteth for thee" translates a Hebrew phrase that can also be read "praise is silence to you" (that is, silent waiting before God is itself the praise due him. Translators are divided, and both senses have been read here since antiquity. A "vow" was a formal promise to give God something specific) a sacrifice, a gift, a payment at the temple, usually made when asking for help, and settled up afterwards.

2You are the one who hears prayer. All people will come to you.

2O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come.

3Sins are too strong for me. But you wipe away the wrongs we have done.

3Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away.

NoteThe verb behind "purge them away" is the ordinary Hebrew word for making atonement: covering over or wiping out an offense, the language used of what the temple sacrifices accomplished. Note the shift the King James preserves: the trouble is spoken of in the singular ("against me") and the remedy in the plural ("our transgressions"). The change from one voice to many is in the Hebrew, not an error.

4Happy is the person you choose and bring close to you, to live in the courtyards of your house. We will be filled with the good things of your house, your holy temple.

4Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.

NoteThe "courts" are the open walled courtyards surrounding the temple building, where worshipers gathered; the building itself was entered only by priests. To "dwell in thy courts" pictures someone given permanent access to that space. "House" and "temple" here are the same place, named twice.

5You answer us with awe-inspiring acts that set things right, God who saves us. You are the hope of people everywhere on earth, and of those far out at sea.

5By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea:

Note"Terrible" in 1611 English meant awe-inspiring, fear-producing, the effect of something overwhelming, not "very bad," which is the modern sense. "The ends of the earth" is a standard Hebrew phrase for the farthest inhabited lands.

6By his strength he set the mountains firmly in place. He is wrapped in power like a belt around his waist.

6Which by his strength setteth fast the mountains; being girded with power:

NoteTo be "girded" is to tie a belt around the waist, pulling loose robes tight and out of the way, what a person did before hard work, a journey, or a fight. Saying God is girded with power pictures him dressed and braced for action.

7He quiets the roar of the seas, the crash of their waves, and the uproar of the peoples.

7Which stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people.

NoteIn Hebrew poetry the roaring sea and the uproar of nations are a conventional pair, described in the same words; "the people" here translates a plural noun meaning the peoples or nations, not one particular population.

8Those who live in the farthest places stand in awe of the signs you give. You make the sunrise and the sunset shout for joy.

8They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens: thou makest the outgoings of the morning and evening to rejoice.

Note"Tokens" is the older English word for signs, visible things that carry a meaning. "The outgoings of the morning and evening" means the points where dawn and dusk come out, that is, the eastern and western horizons; the phrase can be heard either as those two ends of the world or as the two moments of the day themselves.

9You come to the earth and give it water. You make it very rich. God's stream is full of water. You provide grain for the people, because that is how you have set the land up.

9Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.

Note"Corn" in 1611 English meant grain of any kind, chiefly wheat and barley, not maize or sweetcorn, which are American plants unknown in Europe when this was translated. "Visitest" means comes to attend to, the way one comes to inspect and care for something, not merely to call in. "The river of God" translates a word for an irrigation channel or watercourse; in a land farmed almost entirely on rainfall, water arriving from the sky was the whole margin between harvest and famine.

10You soak the plowed ridges with water and settle the furrows between them. You soften the ground with showers and bless what comes up out of it.

10Thou waterest the ridges thereof abundantly: thou settlest the furrows thereof: thou makest it soft with showers: thou blessest the springing thereof.

Note"Ridges" and "furrows" are the raised lines and the trenches between them left by a plow. Whether the second verb means God levels the ridges down or settles the soil in the furrows is unclear in the Hebrew, and translations differ.

11You crown the year with your goodness, and rich plenty drips from the paths you travel.

11Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.

Note"Fatness" in older English meant richness or abundance (the good, rich part of anything, as fat was the prized portion of an animal) with none of the modern sense of being overweight. The image is of God traveling across the land and fertility dripping from the tracks his chariot leaves.

12That plenty drips down on the open pastures of the wild country, and the low hills are glad on every side.

12They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.

Note"The wilderness" here is open uncultivated country used for grazing, scrubland and rough pasture, not lifeless desert. It is where flocks were driven, away from the plowed fields.

13The pastures are covered with flocks of sheep, and the valleys are blanketed with grain. They shout for joy; they even sing.

13The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.

Note"Corn" again means grain, wheat or barley in the ear. The valleys and pastures are the ones doing the shouting and singing: the land itself is spoken of as a crowd celebrating.