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65. Psalm 65

¹ Praise awaits Or befits; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain. you, our God, in Zion;
   to you our vows will be fulfilled.
² You who answer prayer,
   to you all people will come.
³ When we were overwhelmed by sins,
   you forgave Or made atonement for our transgressions.
⁴ Blessed are those you choose
   and bring near to live in your courts!
We are filled with the good things of your house,
   of your holy temple.

    ⁵ You answer us with awesome and righteous deeds,
   God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
   and of the farthest seas,
⁶ who formed the mountains by your power,
   having armed yourself with strength,
⁷ who stilled the roaring of the seas,
   the roaring of their waves,
   and the turmoil of the nations.
⁸ The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders;
   where morning dawns, where evening fades,
   you call forth songs of joy.

    ⁹ You care for the land and water it;
   you enrich it abundantly.
The streams of God are filled with water
   to provide the people with grain,
   for so you have ordained it. Or for that is how you prepare the land
¹⁰ You drench its furrows and level its ridges;
   you soften it with showers and bless its crops.
¹¹ You crown the year with your bounty,
   and your carts overflow with abundance.
¹² The grasslands of the wilderness overflow;
   the hills are clothed with gladness.
¹³ The meadows are covered with flocks
   and the valleys are mantled with grain;
   they shout for joy and sing.

5 Terrible things ⁴⁵³⁴⁵³ The original word for terrible things “signifies sometimes terrible sometimes wonderful things, anything that exceeds in greatness or quality. In the latter sense we have it, Deuteronomy 10:21, when speaking of God, it is said, ‘He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things,’ — great, exceeding, wonderful things; and those acts of mercy, and not of justice or punishment; and so here it appears to signify, being joined with answering us, or granting us, in answer to our prayers, (so ענת signifies to answer a request, to hear a prayer,) and with in righteousness, which frequently imports mercy The LXX. accordingly read it θαυμαστὸς, wonderful.” — Hammond in righteousness wilt thou answer to us He proceeds to illustrate, although in a somewhat different form, the same point of the blessedness of those who are admitted into the temple of God, and nourished in his house. He declares that God would answer his people by miracles or fearful signs, displaying his power; as if he had said, in deliverances as wonderful as those which he wrought for their fathers when they went out of Egypt. It is in no common or ordinary manner that God has preserved his Church, but with terrible majesty. It is well that this should be known, and the people of God taught to sustain their hopes in the most apparently desperate exigencies. The Psalmist speaks of the deliverances of God as specially enjoyed by the Jewish nation, but adds, that he was the hope of the ends of the earth, even to the world’s remotest extremities. Hence it follows, that the grace of God was to be extended to the Gentiles.