Psalm 72

Psalm 72

A Psalm of Solomon

Solomon was the king.

He is also

the son of the

Great King David.

Verses 1-6

King Solomon is praying a prayer

that he may reign righteously before God.

Solomon is thinking about the massive responsibilities that are upon him.

He prays to be wise and just and compassionate.

He wants to lead his people to peace and prosperity.

NLT Translation

Give your love of justice to the king, O God,
    and righteousness to the king’s son.

² Help him judge your people in the right way;
    let the poor always be treated fairly.

³ May the mountains yield prosperity for all,
    and may the hills be fruitful.

⁴ Help him to defend the poor,
    to rescue
the children of the needy,
    and to crush their oppressors.

⁵ May they fear you as long as the sun shines,
    as long as the moon remains in the sky.
    Yes, forever!

⁶ May the king’s rule be refreshing like spring rain on freshly cut grass,
    like the showers that water the earth.

Solomon wants to lead his people to properly fear God.

He wants his nation
to be a nation
that respects God and obeys God.

Solomon knows that
only through God can he do a good job.

Solomon is calling out to be
equipped and prepared to be a good king.

Verses 7-8

In verses 7-8,

Solomon's prayer

beautifully transforms  into a prayer

for the future reign of

Jesus Christ on the earth during the Millennium.

If you want to learn more about the Millennium,

click to visit our page - The Millennium

⁷ May all the godly flourish during his reign.
    May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more.

⁸ May he reign from sea to sea,
    and from the
Euphrates River to the ends of the earth.

Verses 9-17

In verses 9-17,

we continue to read about

the reign

of Jesus Christ in the Millennium.

⁹ Desert nomads will bow before him;
    his enemies will fall before him in the dust.

¹⁰ The western kings of Tarshish and other distant lands
    will bring him tribute.
The eastern kings of Sheba and Seba
    will bring him gifts.

¹¹ All kings will bow before him,
    and all nations will serve him.

¹² He will rescue the poor when they cry to him;
    he will help the oppressed,
who have no one to defend them.

¹³ He feels pity for the weak and the needy,
    and he will rescue them.

¹⁴ He will redeem them from oppression and violence,
    for their lives are precious to him.

¹⁵ Long live the king!
    May the gold of Sheba be given to him.
May the people always pray for him
    and bless him all day long.

¹⁶ May there be abundant grain throughout the land,
    flourishing even on the hilltops.
May the fruit trees
flourish like the trees of Lebanon,
    and may the people
thrive like grass in a field.

¹⁷ May the king’s name endure forever;
    may it continue
as long as the sun shines.
May all nations be blessed through him
    and bring him praise.

Praise King Jesus

Verses 18-19

In verses 18-19,

Solomon  prays for all the world to love and praise God.

He concludes his prayer

with his own personal uplifting praise

to the God he loves and serves.

¹⁸ Praise the Lord God, the God of Israel,
    who alone does such wonderful things.

¹⁹ Praise his glorious name forever!
    Let the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and amen!

Verse 20

²⁰ (This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse.)

Verse 20 appears to be written

and placed in Psalm 72

by someone other than Solomon.

When the Jews

were putting the psalms together,

they wrote this in to tell us that this ends a section.

It tells us

that this psalm

ends the collection of Psalms

that start in

Psalm 42 and go to Psalm 72. 

Some call this section - Book 2 - of the Psalms.

Book 2 contains 

psalms mostly written by David.

Book 3 of Psalms

starts with Psalm 73.

Book three starts a series of psalms written by Asaph.

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