Psalm 65

Psalms 65:1-2

Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion pictures worship not as something offered on demand but as something already gathered and standing ready in the sanctuary, silence itself part of the praise by the older reading of the Hebrew word rendered waiteth. Unto thee shall the vow be performed ties the praise to promises already made, thanksgiving owed rather than merely felt. O thou that hearest prayer widens the address from Zion's own worshippers to the broadest possible claim in the Psalter, unto thee shall all flesh come, prayer answered making Israel's God the God every nation has reason to seek.

Psalms 65:3-4

Iniquities prevail against me: Iniquities prevail against me admits what praise alone cannot cover, sin strong enough to overwhelm the one who is about to give thanks; as for our transgressions, thou shalt purge them away answers it in the same breath, confession and atonement given together rather than the second earned by the first. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest to approach unto thee names nearness to God as a gift rather than an achievement, the same purging of verse 3 making the approach of verse 4 possible. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple closes the unit on the same satisfaction the wilderness psalms elsewhere ask for, now granted at its source.

Psalms 65:5-8

By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us names acts of judgment as themselves an answer to prayer, deliverance for Israel and dread for the nations issuing from the same righteous hand. The confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea extends that answer past Israel's own borders, the same universal reach as verse 2's all flesh. Verses 6 and 7 set creation itself under that power, the mountains set fast by strength, the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the people all stilled by the same hand, nations and storms named in one breath as things God quiets. They also that dwell in the uttermost parts are afraid at thy tokens carries the fear outward to the ends of the earth already named in the psalm, so that dread and confidence rest on the identical acts, read from opposite sides.

Psalms 65:9-10

Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it turns from nations to soil, the same God who stills the seas now tending the ground itself. The river of God, which is full of water names the heavenly supply behind every earthly rain, and thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it ties the harvest to that supply rather than to the ground's own resource. Verse 10 works the same care into the smallest agricultural detail, the ridges watered, the furrows settled, the soil made soft with showers, ordinary field labor described as God's own handiwork before any farmer touches it.

Psalms 65:11-13

Thou crownest the year with thy goodness names the harvest as the year's own crown, the whole agricultural cycle read as one continuous gift rather than a string of separate mercies, and thy paths drop fatness pictures God's own movement through the land leaving abundance behind it. The little hills rejoice on every side and the pastures are clothed with flocks push the language past description into personification, creation itself answering the increase with something like praise. The valleys also are covered over with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing closes the psalm on the same note it opened with, praise now sung by the land rather than only waited for in Zion.