Psalms 67

Verse-by-verse explanation

1. Psalms 67:1“Cause his face to shine upon us” almost word for word repeats the priestly blessing of Numbers 6:24-26, a request for favor and attention. Saying someone’s face shines upon you is a Hebrew way of indicating goodwill, the opposite of “hiding the face,” which means indifference or distance.
2. Psalms 67:2The purpose of the blessing requested in the previous verse is not only Israel’s well-being: it is that “all nations” on earth may come to know, through it, God’s way and salvation.
3. Psalms 67:3This call for “all the people” to praise repeats almost identically in verse 5, functioning as a refrain that frames the psalm — a common device in Hebrew poetry for marking the central idea.
4. Psalms 67:4Judging and governing “the nations” — not only Israel — with fairness shows the universal scope of the psalm. The “Selah” at the end is, once again, that marking of a pause or musical notation whose exact meaning has been lost.
5. Psalms 67:5The near-identical repetition of verse 3 forms a refrain, a common device in Hebrew poetry for framing the psalm’s central idea between two parts of the text.
6. Psalms 67:6It links divine blessing directly to the agricultural harvest — in a farming society, a fruitful year was the most concrete proof that all was well between the people and God.
7. Psalms 67:7The psalm ends by recalling that the blessing on Israel has a wider purpose: to make “all the ends of the earth,” not only the Hebrew people, come to fear and acknowledge God.