Psalms 72:1

God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son.

World English Bible
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Other translations

WEBBE

God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son.

BSB

Endow the king with Your justice, O God, and the son of the king with Your righteousness.

KJV

Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king’s son.

ASV

Give the king thy judgments, O God, And thy righteousness unto the king’s son.

BBE

<Of Solomon.> Give the king your authority, O God, and your righteousness to the king's son.

Original Hebrew

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The early church

"O God, Your judgment to the King give Thou, and Your justice to the King's Son" [Psalm 72:1]. The Lord Himself in the Gospel says, "The Father judges not any one, but all judgment He has given to the Son:" [John 5:22] this is then, "O God, Your judgment to the King give Thou." He that is King is also the Son of the King: because God the Father also is certainly King. Thus it has been written, that the King made a marriage for His Son. [Matthew 22:2] But after the manner of Scripture the same thing is repeated. For that which he has said in, "Your judgment;" the same he has otherwise expressed in, "Your justice:" and that which he has said in, "the King," the same he has otherwise expressed in, "to the King's Son."...But these repetitions do much commend the divine sayings, whether the same words, or whether in other words the same sense be repeated: and they are mostly found in the Psalms, and in the kind of discourse whereby the mind's affection is to be awakened.
Augustine of Hippo · d. 430Expositions on the Psalms

Commentary

Matthew Henry · Verse 1

This psalm belongs to Solomon in part, but to Christ more fully and clearly. Solomon was both the king and the king's son, and his pious father desired that the wisdom of God might be in him, that his reign might be a remembrance of the kingdom of the Messiah. It is the prayer of a father for his child; a dying blessing. The best we can ask of God for our children is, that God would give them wisdom and grace to know and to do their duty.

Read Matthew Henry on Psalm 72 →

Spurgeon · Verse 1

Give the king thy judgments, O God. The right to reign was transmitted by descent from David to Solomon, but not by that means alone: Israel was a theocracy, and the kings were but the viceroys of the greater King; hence the prayer that the new king might be enthroned by divine right, and then endowed with divine wisdom. Our glorious King in Zion hath all judgment committed unto him. He rules in the name of God over all lands. He is king "Dei Gratia" as well as by right of inheritance. And thy righteousness unto the king's son. Solomon was both king and king's son; so also is our Lord. He has power and authority in himself, and also royal dignity given of his Father. He is the righteous king; in a word, he is "the Lord our righteousness." We are waiting till he shall be manifested among men as the ever righteous Judge. May the Lord hasten on his own time the long looked for day. Now wars and fightings are even in Israel itself, but soon the dispensation will change, and David, the type of Jesus warring with our enemies, shall be displaced by Solomon the prince of peace.

Read Spurgeon on Psalm 72 →

Cross-references

13

Topics

Cross-references: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Hebrew and Greek data from STEPBible.org (Tyndale House, Cambridge), CC BY 4.0. Library: sources.