Psalms
Chapter 72
1
Of Solomon.
2
1 2 O God, give your judgment to the king; your justice to the son of kings; That he may govern your people with justice, your oppressed with right judgment,
3
That the mountains may yield their bounty for the people, and the hills great abundance,
4
That he may defend the oppressed among the people, save the poor and crush the oppressor.
5
May he live as long as the sun endures, like the moon, through all generations.
6
May he be like rain coming down upon the fields, like showers watering the earth,
7
That abundance may flourish in his days, great bounty, till the moon be no more.
8
3 May he rule from sea to sea, from the river to the ends of the earth.
9
May his foes kneel before him, his enemies lick the dust.
10
4 May the kings of Tarshish and the islands bring tribute, the kings of Arabia and Seba offer gifts.
11
May all kings bow before him, all nations serve him.
12
For he rescues the poor when they cry out, the oppressed who have no one to help.
13
He shows pity to the needy and the poor and saves the lives of the poor.
14
5 From extortion and violence he frees them, for precious is their blood in his sight.
15
Long may he live, receiving gold from Arabia, prayed for without cease, blessed day by day.
16
6 May wheat abound in the land, flourish even on the mountain heights. May his fruit increase like Lebanon's, his wheat like the grasses of the land.
17
7 May his name be blessed forever; as long as the sun, may his name endure. May the tribes of the earth give blessings with his name; may all the nations regard him as favored.
18
8 Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, who alone does wonderful deeds.
19
Blessed be his glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with the LORD'S glory. Amen and amen.
20
The end of the psalms of David, son of Jesse.
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Footnotes

1 [Psalm 72] A royal psalm in which the Israelite king, as the representative of God, is the instrument of divine justice (Psalm 72:1-4, 12-14) and blessing (Psalm 72:5-7, 15-17) for the whole world. The king is human, giving only what he has received from God. Hence intercession must be made for him. The extravagant language is typical of oriental royal courts.

2 [2] The king . . . the son of kings: the crown prince is the king's son; the prayer envisages the dynasty.

3 [8] From sea to sea . . . the ends of the earth: the boundaries of the civilized world known at the time: from the Mediterranean Sea (the western sea) to the Persian Gulf (the eastern sea), and from the Euphrates (the river) to the islands and lands of southwestern Europe, "the ends of the earth." The words may also have a mythic nuance--the earth surrounded by cosmic waters, hence everywhere.

4 [10] Tarshish and the islands: the far west (Psalm 48:6); Arabia and Seba: the far south (1 Kings 10:1).

5 [14] Their blood: cf Psalm 116:15.

6 [16] The translation of the difficult Hebrew is tentative.

7 [17] May the tribes of the earth give blessing with his name: an echo of the promise to the ancestors (Genesis 12:3; 26:4; 28:14), suggesting that the monarchy in Israel fulfilled the promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

8 [18-19] A doxology marking the end of Book II of the Psalter.


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