Today’s Passage: Psalm 65
This psalm moves through three rooms, and you should not split them apart. It begins in the temple, where praise is already waiting and sin is atoned for. Then it opens out into the wide world, the mountains and the seas. At last it comes to rest in a field so full that the hills themselves are robed with joy. The God who hears a sinner in Zion is the same God who waters a furrow in the ground. He atones, and He fills.
As you read, hold this: He atones for our sin. He fills the harvest.
Context A psalm of David, a song
“For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A song.” The heading is part of the text this house receives, and it tells us that what follows is thanksgiving meant to be sung, not a private mood kept to oneself. The choir was given words for a whole people, a people who needed both pardon and bread.
Psalm 65:1-4 (BSB)
¹ For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A song. Praise awaits You, O God, in Zion; to You our vows will be fulfilled. ² O You who listen to prayer, all people will come to You. ³ When iniquities prevail against me, You atone for our transgressions. ⁴ Blessed is the one You choose and bring near to dwell in Your courts! We are filled with the goodness of Your house, the holiness of Your temple.
Word study "You atone" — tekappēr (Psalm 65:3)
Hebrew: תְּכַפֵּר (tekappēr), from כָּפַר (kāphar). Pronounced teh-kah-PAIR. Strong’s H3722.
The word means to cover, to make atonement. The worshiper does not clear his own account. He confesses in the first person, that iniquities prevail against me, and then he widens the same words to the whole people, that You atone for our transgressions. Praise sits beside that confession with no apology, for it is atonement, and not avoidance, that opens the courts in the very next verse.
He is named the Hearer of prayer, and all people will come to Him, not only the ones already standing in Zion.
Psalm 65:5-8 (BSB)
⁵ With awesome deeds of righteousness You answer us, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas. ⁶ You formed the mountains by Your power, having girded Yourself with might. ⁷ You stilled the roaring of the seas, the pounding of their waves, and the tumult of the nations. ⁸ Those who live far away fear Your wonders; You make the dawn and sunset shout for joy.
He answers with deeds. He formed the mountains and stilled the seas, and He quiets the raging of the nations in the same breath as He quiets the pounding of the waves. He makes the dawn and the sunset shout for joy. Even the far horizons, which will never see the temple, still fear His wonders.
Psalm 65:9-13 (BSB)
⁹ You attend to the earth and water it; with abundance You enrich it. The streams of God are full of water, for You prepare our grain by providing for the earth. ¹⁰ You soak its furrows and level its ridges; You soften it with showers and bless its growth. ¹¹ You crown the year with Your bounty, and Your paths overflow with plenty. ¹² The pastures of the wilderness overflow; the hills are robed with joy. ¹³ The pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are decked with grain. They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.
Study notes The same open hand
Rain and soil, grain and flocks: the psalm treats this ordinary provision as no less an answer than the atonement of verse 3. His paths overflow with plenty, the hills wear their joy like a robe, and the valleys sing the very way the worshipers back in verse 1 were already singing.
"Give us this day our daily bread." Matthew 6:11 (BSB)
The prayer Jesus taught asks for bread from the same Father who forgives. Psalm 65 had already set those two gifts in one mouth. He atones for our sin. He fills the harvest.
He atones for our sin. He fills the harvest.