Psalm 67 To the Chief Musician. On Stringed Instruments. A Psalm. A Song.

¹God be merciful to us and bless us,

And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah

²That Your way may be known on earth,

Your salvation among all nations.

³Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

⁴Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!

For You shall judge the people righteously,

And govern the nations on earth. Selah

⁵Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

⁶Then the earth shall yield her increase;

God, our own God, shall bless us.

⁷God shall bless us,

And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Commentary

Vs. 1-2 ¹God be merciful to us and bless us,

And cause His face to shine upon us, Selah

²That Your way may be known on earth,

Your salvation among all nations.

This psalm begins by recalling the prayer which the Lord commanded Moses to tell Aaron to pray over the people (see Num. 6:22-27), It then moves outward from there in verse two explaining that this should be done so that God’s way may be known on the earth, that His salvation may come to all nations. Now Israel was to means the means for this, and in the tribulation period they will be the means for this, before entering the millennial with Christ. And yet this Psalm though pointing to that time, is in no way relegated to it.

Vs. 3-4 ³Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

⁴Oh, let the nations be glad and sing for joy!

For You shall judge the people righteously,

And govern the nations on earth. Selah

With God’s salvation through Christ received throughout the nations, the cry now goes out to let all the peoples, all nations praise our God. And truly all nations shall be glad and sing for joy when Christ reigns, for He shall Judge the people righteously when He governs all the nations on earth. It will be a time then of unparalleled prosperity and peace for all who obey Him. For Satan will be bound during the Lord Jesus Christ’s thousand-year reign, and so he will no more deceive and mislead people into turning against God. However, as we know at the end of this time he will be released for a short time, but that’s another matter for another time.

Vs. 5-7 ⁵Let the peoples praise You, O God;

Let all the peoples praise You.

⁶Then the earth shall yield her increase;

God, our own God, shall bless us.

⁷God shall bless us,

And all the ends of the earth shall fear Him.

Both cause and effect are foretold here. For as the people praise our God so shall the earth yield her increase (consider Isaiah 66:23; Zech. 14:16-21). Therefore, God our God shall bless us, bless all who believe and obey Him and by His blessing upon us all who do so all the earth shall fear Him.

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.