Psalms 65:2-12

2 You who hear prayer, To you all men will come.

3 Sins overwhelmed me, But you atoned for our transgressions.

4 Blessed is one whom you choose, and cause to come near, That he may live in your courts. We will be filled with the goodness of your house, Your holy temple.

5 By awesome deeds of righteousness, you answer us, God of our salvation. You who are the hope of all the ends of the earth, Of those who are far away on the sea;

6 Who by his power forms the mountains, Having armed yourself with strength;

7 Who stills the roaring of the seas, The roaring of their waves, And the turmoil of the nations.

8 They also who dwell in far-away places are afraid at your wonders. You call the morning's dawn and the evening with songs of joy.

9 You visit the earth, and water it. You greatly enrich it. The river of God is full of water. You provide them grain, for so you have ordained it.

10 You drench its furrows. You level its ridges. You soften it with showers. You bless it with a crop.

11 You crown the year with your bounty. Your carts overflow with abundance.

12 The wilderness grasslands overflow. The hills are clothed with gladness.

Psalms 65:2-12 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.