1 <To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David. A Song.> It is right for you, O God, to have praise in Zion: to you let the offering be made.
2 To you, O hearer of prayer, let the words of all flesh come.
3 Evils have overcome us: but as for our sins, you will take them away.
4 Happy is the man of your selection, to whom you give a resting-place in your house; we will be full of the good things out of your holy place.
5 You will give us an answer in righteousness by great acts of power, O God of our salvation; you who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, and of the far-off lands of the sea;
6 The God by whose strength the mountains are fixed; who is robed with power:
7 Who makes the loud voice of the sea quiet, and puts an end to the sound of its waves.
8 Those in the farthest parts of the earth have fear when they see your signs: the outgoings of the morning and evening are glad because of you.
9 You have given your blessing to the earth, watering it and making it fertile; the river of God is full of water: and having made it ready, you give men grain.
10 You make the ploughed lands full of water; you make smooth the slopes: you make the earth soft with showers, sending your blessing on its growth.
11 The year is crowned with the good you give; life-giving rain is dropping from your footsteps,
12 Falling on the grass of the waste land: and the little hills are glad on every side.
13 The grass-land is thick with flocks; the valleys are full of grain; they give glad cries and songs of joy.
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Commentary on Psalms 65 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 65
Ps 65:1-13. This is a song of praise for God's spiritual blessings to His people and His kind providence over all the earth.
1. Praise waiteth for thee—literally, "To Thee silence praise," or (compare Ps 62:1), To Thee silence is praise—that is, Praise is waiting as a servant; it is due to Thee. So the last clause expresses the duty of paying vows. These two parts of acceptable worship, mentioned in Ps 50:14, are rendered in Zion, where God chiefly displays His mercy and receives homage.
2. All are encouraged to pray by God's readiness to hear.
3. God's mercy alone delivers us from the burden of iniquities, by purging or expiating by an atonement the transgressions with which we are charged, and which are denoted by—
Iniquities—or, literally, "Words of iniquities."
4. dwell in thy courts; … [and] satisfied with the goodness … temple—denote communion with God (Ps 15:1; 23:6; compare Ps 5:7). This is a blessing for all God's people, as denoted by the change of number.
5. terrible things—that is, by the manifestation of justice and wrath to enemies, accompanying that of mercy to His people (Ps 63:9-11; 64:7-9).
the confidence—object of it.
of all … earth—the whole world; that is, deservedly such, whether men think so or not.
6-13. God's great power and goodness are the grounds of this confidence. These are illustrated in His control of the mightiest agencies of nature and nations affecting men with awe and dread (Ps 26:7; 98:1, &c.), and in His fertilizing showers, causing the earth to produce abundantly for man and beast.
8. outgoings of … rejoice—all people from east to west.
9. visitest—in mercy (compare Ps 8:4).
river of God—His exhaustless resources.
11. thy paths—ways of providence (Ps 25:4, 10).
12. wilderness—places, though not inhabited by men, fit for pasture (Le 16:21, 22; Job 24:5).
pastures—is literally, "folds," or "enclosures for flocks"; and in Ps 65:13 it may be "lambs," the same word used and so translated in Ps 37:20; so that "the flocks are clothed with lambs" (a figure for abundant increase) would be the form of expression.