Psalm 65:1-7

God's Abundant Favor to Earth and Man.

1 There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, O God, And to You the ¹vow will be performed.

2 O You who hear prayer, To You ²all men come.

3 ³Iniquities prevail against me; As for our transgressions, You ⁴forgive them.

4 How ⁵blessed is the one whom You ⁶choose and bring near to You To dwell in Your courts. We will be ⁷satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple.

5 By ⁸awesome deeds You answer us in righteousness, O ⁹God of our salvation, You who are the trust of all the ¹⁰ends of the earth and of the farthest ¹¹sea;

6 Who ¹²establishes the mountains by His strength, Being ¹³girded with might;

7 Who ¹⁴stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the ¹⁵tumult of the peoples.

Psalm 65:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

To the chief Musician, A Psalm [and] Song of David. Some copies of the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions read "a song of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, "sung" by the people of the captivity, when they were about to come out;" and some copies have "Haggai": but though it is possible it might be sung upon that occasion, it is certain it was not then composed, but was written by David, as the genuine title shows: as for Jeremiah; he was not carried captive to Babylon, and Ezekiel died before the return of the people from it; nor is there anything in the psalm relating to that captivity. The title of it, indeed, in the Arabic version, is concerning the captivity of the people; which it seems to have taken from some Greek copy; and Kimchi and Arama interpret it of the captivity of the people of the Jews; but then they mean their present captivity, and their deliverance from it. According to the title of it in the Syriac version, the occasion of it was the bringing up of the ark of God to Sion; and Aben Ezra is of opinion that David composed the psalm at that time; or that one of the singers composed it at the building of the temple, and which he thinks is right, and perhaps is concluded from Psalm 65:1; and who also says it was composed in a year of drought; but it rather seems to have been written in a year of great plenty, as the latter part of it shows; and the whole seems to respect the fruitful, flourishing, and happy state of the church in Gospel times, for which it is a song of praise.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 116:18
• 2. Psalms 86:9; Psalms 145:21; Isaiah 66:23
• 3. Psalms 38:4; Psalms 40:12
• 4. Psalms 79:9
• 5. Psalms 33:12; Psalms 84:4
• 6. Psalms 4:3
• 7. Psalms 36:8
• 8. Psalms 45:4; Psalms 66:3
• 9. Psalms 85:4
• 10. Psalms 22:27; Psalms 48:10
• 11. Psalms 107:23
• 12. Psalms 95:4
• 13. Psalms 93:1
• 14. Psalms 89:9; Psalms 93:3, 4; Psalms 107:29; Matthew 8:26
• 15. Psalms 2:1; Psalms 74:23; Isaiah 17:12, 13

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "to"
• [b] Lit "flesh"
• [c] Lit "Words of iniquities"
• [d] Lit "cover over, atone for"
• [e] Or "seas"