Psalms 67: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

This short psalm asks God to be kind to those praying and bless them, so that his way and his rescue become known to every nation on earth. Twice it calls on all peoples to praise God, and it tells the nations to be glad because God judges people fairly and guides the nations. It closes with the land giving its harvest, God blessing his people, and the whole earth standing in awe of him.

Claim by Claim

1. 67:1
   • The psalm asks God to be gracious to those speaking.
   • The psalm asks God to bless those speaking.
   • The psalm asks God to make his face shine upon those speaking.
   • The word Selah stands at this point in the psalm.
2. 67:2
   • The purpose of this blessing is that God's way may be known on the earth.
   • The purpose of this blessing is that God's salvation may be known among all nations.
3. 67:3
   • The psalm calls on the peoples to praise God.
   • God is addressed directly as God.
   • The psalm calls on all the peoples to praise God.
4. 67:4
   • The psalm calls on the nations to be glad.
   • The psalm calls on the nations to sing for joy.
   • The reason given is that God judges the peoples righteously.
   • The reason given is that God leads the nations on the earth.
   • The word Selah stands at this point in the psalm.
5. 67:5
   • The psalm calls on the peoples to praise God.
   • God is addressed directly as God.
   • The psalm calls on all the peoples to praise God.
6. 67:6
   • The earth yields its produce, stated in a form that can be read either as already done or as yet to come.
   • God blesses those speaking.
   • The God who blesses them is identified as their own God.
7. 67:7
   • God will bless those speaking.
   • All the ends of the earth will fear God.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

67:1

"Selah" is a Hebrew word left untranslated because no one knows what it means; it appears mainly in the Psalms and is generally taken as a direction to the musicians or the congregation, a pause, a musical interlude, or a change of voices. "Let your face shine on us" is a standard Hebrew way of asking for someone's favor and attention, as a face lights up towards a person it is pleased with; the whole opening line closely echoes the blessing the priests spoke over Israel in Numbers 6:24–26.

67:2

"Saving health" in the King James is not about physical health. In 1611 English "health" could mean safety or deliverance generally, so the phrase simply means "salvation", rescue from danger, which is what the Hebrew word behind it means.

67:3

The King James "the people" translates a Hebrew plural that means "the peoples", the various nations and ethnic groups of the world, not the population of one country. Modern English "people" no longer carries that plural sense, so the King James line reads narrower than the Hebrew.

67:4

"Govern" here translates a Hebrew verb meaning to lead or guide, the word used of a shepherd or a guide leading travelers, rather than a word for ruling from a throne.

67:5

This line repeats verse 3 word for word. Hebrew poets used a repeated refrain to frame the middle of a poem, which puts verse 4, the nations singing for joy, at the deliberate center of the psalm.

67:6

The Hebrew verb form here can be read either as a statement about what has already happened ("the land has given its harvest") or as a wish or expectation about what will happen ("may the land give" / "the land will give"); the King James chose the future, most modern translations the past. Both are defensible and the Hebrew does not settle it.

67:7

"Fear" in older English usage covers reverence and awe before something overwhelming, not only fright. "The ends of the earth" is a Hebrew expression for the farthest inhabited places, the whole world out to its edges.