World English Bible
- By Solomon. God, give the king your justice; your righteousness to the royal son.
- He will judge your people with righteousness, and your poor with justice.
- The mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.
- He will judge the poor of the people. He will save the children of the needy, and will break the oppressor in pieces.
- They shall fear you while the sun endures; and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
- He will come down like rain on the mown grass, as showers that water the earth.
- In his days, the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more.
- He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth.
- Those who dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him. His enemies shall lick the dust.
- The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring tribute. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts.
- Yes, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him.
- For he will deliver the needy when he cries; the poor, who has no helper.
- He will have pity on the poor and needy. He will save the souls of the needy.
- He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
- He will live; and Sheba’s gold will be given to him. Men will pray for him continually. They will bless him all day long.
- Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
- His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
- Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
- Blessed be his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory! Amen and amen.
- This ends the prayers by David, the son of Jesse.
Psalm 72 feels like a coronation song, but it quickly becomes something more searching and unsettling. Its title, “Of Solomon,” can mean by, for, or about Solomon. Yet the poem stretches far beyond anything Solomon ever achieved. That is the point. This is not flattery. It is a Spirit-shaped prayer so large that it exposes the limits of every earthly ruler.
Coming just after Psalm 71, there is a quiet tenderness here: the aging voice of David gives way to a prayer for the son who will follow him. “The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended” is an astonishing note to place here. David’s last recorded prayer is not for himself, but for the next generation’s king. Mature faith learns this generosity. It wants grace not only to finish well, but to leave behind justice.
And what is the first mark of a godly king? Not military brilliance. Not economic growth. Not national prestige. The psalm is relentless: the true king is known by how the poor fare under him. He judges with righteousness, defends the needy, crushes the oppressor, and counts the blood of the vulnerable as precious. In the ancient Near East, kings often claimed to protect the weak; inscriptions say so often. But Psalm 72 makes that claim the very measure of rule. Authority is not justified by splendor. It is justified by mercy.
One image is especially beautiful: the king comes like rain on mown grass. Not like lightning. Not like a chariot charge. Rain on a field already cut down. That is one of the Bible’s deepest pictures of Christ’s reign. He comes to what has been shorn, diminished, and left looking finished. He does not despise the cut-down field. He waters it.
The line about the mountains “bringing peace” would not sound sentimental to an Israelite. Mountains were hard places—rocky, exposed, often associated with danger and scarcity. Yet under righteous rule, even the hard places yield shalom. That word means more than calm feelings. It means wholeness, rightness, life fitting together under God. The psalm knows that peace is social, legal, agricultural, and spiritual all at once.
Then the horizon widens: Tarshish in the far west, Sheba and Seba to the south, the trade routes of ships and caravans bending toward this king. Christians have long heard an echo here of the nations streaming to Christ. Augustine read this psalm as the world gathered under the greater Son of David; Calvin said Solomon was only a shadow, Christ the substance. Even the Magi seem to stand in its afterglow.
So Psalm 72 leaves us with a holy ache. We do not yet see this kingdom in fullness. But we know its King. And because we know him, we learn what to pray for in every age: not merely strong leaders, but righteous ones; not merely peace, but justice-shaped peace; not merely blessing for ourselves, but rain for the cut-down fields of the world.
Suggested cross-references: 2 Samuel 23:3–4; Isaiah 11:1–5; Zechariah 9:10; Luke 1:32–33; Matthew 12:42; Revelation 11:15
Hymn: Hail to the Lord’s Anointed or Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun
Lord Jesus, greater than Solomon, reign where we are hard, cut down, and thirsty. Teach us to love the justice you love, to honor the lives the world treats as small, and to pray for your kingdom until the whole earth is filled with your glory. Amen.