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.
- 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.
Psalms 72Footnotes
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.
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