English · KJV

Psalms 21

Listen to this chapter
0:00 0:00

Thanksgiving for the King's Deliverance 1–7

1
To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The king shall joy in thy strength, O LORD; and in thy salvation how greatly shall he rejoice! ​
2
Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips. Selah.
3
For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness: thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. ​
4
He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. ​
5
His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him.
6
For thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance.
7
For the king trusteth in the LORD, and through the mercy of the most High he shall not be moved. ​

Confidence in Future Victory over Enemies 8–13

8
Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. ​
9
Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger: the LORD shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. ​
10
Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. ​
11
For they intended evil against thee: they imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform.
12
Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. ​
13
Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength: so will we sing and praise thy power. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalm 21

Verse 1

The king shall joy in thy strength — The psalm answers Ps 20: the ‘salvation’ (yeshuah) the people rejoice in there (20:5) is the king’s joy here. ‘Strength’ is oz, the word that closes the psalm (v.13). ‘Rejoice’ is gil, properly to spin round, a word of loud gladness.

Verse 3

thou preventest him — ‘Prevent’ in the KJV means to go before: qadam is to meet or come to the front, so the blessings of goodness are sent out to meet him, as in Ps 59:10, ‘The God of my mercy shall prevent me’. The crown (atarah) of ‘pure gold’ (paz) is set on his head by the LORD.

Verse 4

He asked life of thee — Shaal, to ask, is the verb of Ps 2:8, ‘Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen’. The gift is ‘length of days’ (orek yamim, as ‘long life’ in Ps 91:16) and then ‘for ever and ever’ (olam and ad), a span no mortal reign reaches. Christ says ‘I am alive for evermore’ (Rev 1:18).

Verse 7

through the mercy of the most High — ‘Mercy’ is chesed, covenant love, and ‘the most High’ is Elyon, the title of the God of Melchizedek (Gen 14:18–19). ‘Not be moved’ (mot) is the verb of Ps 16:8 and Ps 15:5. The king ‘trusteth’ (batach), the root of ‘hope’ in Ps 16:9.

Verse 8

Thine hand shall find out — Matsa is to find, to come upon. The verse may be read of the king’s hand or the LORD’s. The king sits at the LORD’s right hand: ‘Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool’ (Ps 110:1), which Christ quotes (Matt 22:44).

Verse 9

a fiery oven — Tannur is the baking oven. ‘In the time of thine anger’ is literally ‘at the time of thy face’ (panim), the face of the LORD turned on them, as in Ps 34:16, ‘The face of the LORD is against them that do evil’. Malachi uses the same figure: ‘the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven’ (Mal 4:1).

Verse 10

Their fruit… and their seed — Fruit (peri) and seed (zera) are the offspring of the enemies, the line that carries a name on. The same end is spoken of the wicked, ‘the seed of the wicked shall be cut off’ (Ps 37:28), and of Jeroboam’s house, ‘to destroy it from off the face of the earth’ (1 Kgs 13:34).

Verse 12

make them turn their back — Shekem is the neck or shoulder, here the back turned in flight. The LORD is the archer, as in Ps 7:12, ‘he hath bent his bow, and made it ready’; ‘make ready’ is kun in both places. ‘Strings’ is meythar, the cord of a bow.

Verse 13

Be thou exalted, LORD, in thine own strength — Rum is to be high. ‘Strength’ is oz, the word with which the psalm began (v.1), and ‘power’ is gevurah, the word for the ‘saving strength’ of Ps 20:6. ‘Praise’ is zamar, the root of mizmor, ‘Psalm’, in the title.