Israel’s Kingdom Blessing

The chapter begins with a heart fixed and ready to sing, rousing both soul and instruments before the dawn. That praise is not private only, for it is aimed among the peoples and nations, because God's steadfast love rises above the heavens and his truth to the skies, so the fitting prayer is that he be exalted over all.

A¹ song. A Psalm of David. ²Awake, O harp and lyre! ³I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations; ⁴For Your loving devotion extends beyond the heavens, ⁵Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;

From praise the psalm turns to prayer, asking God to save his beloved by his right hand, and then immediately answers that plea with God's own speech from the sanctuary. He claims Shechem, Succoth, Gilead, Manasseh, Ephraim, and Judah as his, and he reduces Moab, Edom, and Philistia to conquered status, so the singer's confidence rests in a geography already spoken for by God.

⁶Respond and save us with Your right hand, ⁷God has spoken from His sanctuary: ⁸Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; ⁹Moab is My washbasin;

The psalm ends by asking who can bring the people to the fortified city and to Edom, especially in the painful experience of feeling cast off and unsupported in battle. Yet even that tension resolves into dependence rather than despair: human help is vain, but with God his people will act valiantly, and he himself will trample their foes.

¹⁰Who will bring me to the fortified city? ¹¹Have You not rejected us, O God? ¹²Give us aid against the enemy, ¹³With God we will perform with valor,