NASB (Verse 1 in Hebrew is the superscription)
1 O Lord,
in Your strength the king will be glad,
And in
Your salvation how greatly he will rejoice!
2 You have given him his heart’s desire,
And You
have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah.
3 For You meet him with the blessings of good
things;
You set
a crown of fine gold on his head.
4 He asked life of You,
You gave
it to him,
Length
of days forever and ever.
5 His glory is great through Your salvation,
Splendor
and majesty You place upon him.
6 For You make him most blessed forever;
You make
him joyful with gladness in Your presence.
8 Your hand will find out all your enemies;
Your
right hand will find out those who hate you.
9 You will make them as a fiery oven in the
time of your anger;
The Lord will swallow them up in His wrath,
And fire
will devour them.
10 Their offspring You will destroy from the
earth,
And
their descendants from among the sons of men.
11 Though they intended evil against You
And devised a plot,
They
will not succeed.
12 For You will make them turn their back;
You will
aim with Your bowstrings at their faces.
13 Be exalted, O Lord, in Your strength;
We will
sing and praise Your power.
Effect of the
Closely tied thematically to Psalm 20 (Ross, BKC,
808), this Royal Psalm praises Yahweh for his deliverance in verses 1-6
(English) leading up to his reason for praise in 7a, “Because the king trusts
in Yahweh.” The remainder of the Psalm
praises Yahweh who fights on behalf of his people. Again, the metric center appears to signal a
turning point in the Psalm. Craigie (Psalms
1-50, 191, 193 Italics mine) states:
Whereas the first part of the psalm [English vv. 1-6], presumably spoken by the congregation, referred primarily to God’s past actions on behalf of the king, which were a source of thanksgiving, this single verse—the mid-point of the entire psalm—serves to bring the focus to the present, the actual moment of proclamation in the liturgy. Just as the king had trusted in the past, so now in the present moment the solemn declaration is made (presumably by a priest): “the king is trusting in the Lord”. . . . But always, past and future remained contingent upon the present moment, and it was the present moment which formed the central point of the liturgy [English v. 7a].
Thus the metric center, located temporally in
the present (בֹּטֵחַ, Qal
Active Participle, “is trusting”) serves as the theological center of
the Psalm transitioning from Yahweh’s past actions to the psalmist’s confidence
in Yahweh’s help in the future.
Summary
