Psalms 72

God, give the king your way of judging. Give the king's son your fairness and right way of doing things.

1Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son.

NoteA prayer at or for a king's reign, addressed to God about the king rather than to the king. "Thy judgments" means God's own rulings or standards for settling cases: the request is that the king be given God's way of deciding what is right. "The king's son" is the same figure described a second way (a reigning king who is also of royal descent) and does not mean two different people. The Hebrew heading attached to this psalm links it to Solomon.

2Then he will judge your people rightly, and he will treat the poor among them with justice.

2He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.

NoteThe Hebrew verbs through most of this psalm can be read either as wishes ("may he judge") or as confident statements ("he will judge"), and translators split on which to use; the King James chose "shall" throughout. The word rendered "poor" here and in verses 4, 12 and 13 covers more than lack of money: it means the afflicted, the powerless, those with no one to take their side in court.

3The mountains will bring peace to the people, and the little hills will bring it in righteousness.

3The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.

NoteMountains and hills stand for the whole land. The picture is of the terrain itself yielding peace and prosperity as its crop, the way it yields grain and fruit, because the king governs justly.

4He will give fair judgment to the poor among the people. He will rescue the children of those in need. He will break the one who crushes others into pieces.

4He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.

5People will honor you with awe as long as the sun and the moon last, through all the generations to come.

5They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations.

Note"Fear" here means reverent awe, not fright. In the Hebrew text the one feared is God ("thee"), while the ancient Greek translation reads "he shall endure as long as the sun," making the line about the king; the difference is one small change in the Hebrew, and both readings are old.

6He will come down like rain falling on grass that has just been cut, like showers that soak the ground.

6He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth.

NoteGrass that has just been mown regrows only if rain comes. The comparison is to rain arriving exactly when it is needed and doing quiet, invisible good, not to a storm.

7While he rules, people who do what is right will do well, and there will be plenty of peace as long as the moon lasts.

7In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth.

8He will rule from one sea to the other, and from the River to the farthest ends of the earth.

8He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Note"From sea to sea" and "from the River to the ends of the earth" were stock phrases for territory without limits. "The River" with no name attached meant the Euphrates, the great river at the far northeast edge of the world Israel knew.

9Those who live out in the desert will bow down in front of him, and his enemies will lick the dust.

9They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust.

NoteBowing until the face touches the ground was the standard gesture before a king in the ancient Near East. "Lick the dust" pushes it further: total defeat and submission, the loser flat on the ground before the victor.

10The kings of Tarshish and of the lands across the sea will bring him presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba will offer him gifts.

10The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.

NoteTarshish was a wealthy port at the far western end of the Mediterranean, its exact location now unknown; "the isles" translates a word meaning coastlands, the distant shores across the sea. Sheba was in southwest Arabia, famous for gold, spices and incense; Seba lay south of Egypt in Africa. Together they name the edges of the known world in every direction. The "presents" are tribute, gifts from lesser kings acknowledging a greater one.

11Yes, all kings will bow down before him, and all nations will serve him.

11Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him.

12He will do this because he rescues the needy person who cries out for help, and the poor person who has no one to help him.

12For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper.

13He will feel pity for the poor and the needy, and he will save the lives of those in need.

13He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy.

14He will buy back their lives from cheating and violence, and their blood will be precious to him.

14He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight.

Note"Redeem" translates a legal and commercial word: to buy someone out of slavery, debt or danger by paying what it costs. "Their blood shall be precious in his sight" means he treats their lives as valuable and will not let them be spent cheaply, blood stands for life throughout the Hebrew scriptures.

15He will live, and gold from Sheba will be given to him. People will pray for him all the time, and he will be praised every day.

15And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised.

NotePraying for the reigning king, and greeting him with "long live the king," were ordinary public duties, not flattery. The gold of Sheba was the finest known.

16There will be grain in the land, even on the tops of the mountains. Its crop will wave like the trees of Lebanon. The people of the city will thrive like grass in a field.

16There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

NoteGrain growing thickly on mountaintops is the point: hill country was thin, stony soil where crops normally struggled. Lebanon's mountains were covered in vast cedar forests, so "shake like Lebanon" means standing crops rippling like a whole forest in the wind. ("Corn" in the King James means grain of any kind, not maize.)

17His name will last forever. His name will keep going as long as the sun shines. People will be blessed through him, and all nations will call him blessed.

17His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.

Note"Men shall be blessed in him" carries two senses the Hebrew leaves open: that other nations receive blessing through him, and that they use his name as the measuring stick in their own blessings, "may you turn out like him." The wording deliberately echoes the promise made to Abraham in Genesis.

18Give praise to the LORD God, the God of Israel. He alone does wonderful things.

18Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things.

NoteVerses 18 and 19 are not part of the prayer but a closing doxology, a formal burst of praise. The book of Psalms was assembled in five collections, and one of these doxologies marks the end of each. This one closes the second collection.

19And may his glorious name be praised forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen, and amen.

19And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.

Note"Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning roughly "it is so" or "let it stand", the congregation's way of signing on to what has just been said. Doubling it makes it emphatic.

20This is the end of the prayers of David, the son of Jesse.

20The prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended.

NoteAn editor's note, not part of the psalm. It closes an older collection of David's psalms that ended here. Psalms attributed to David appear later in the book as well, which suggests this line survived from an earlier stage of how the collection was assembled.