TRV
Study This Verse
Commentary on Psalms 65 verses 6–13
That we may be the more affected with the wonderful condescensions of the God of grace, it is of use to observe his power and sovereignty as the God of nature, the riches and bounty of his providential kingdom.
I. He establishes the earth and it abides, Psa 119:90. By his own strength he setteth fast the mountains (Psa 65:6), did set them fast at first and still keeps them firm, though they are sometimes shaken by earthquakes.
- Feriuntque summos. Fulmina montes.
The lightning blasts and loftiest hills.
Hence they are called everlasting mountains, Hab 3:6. yet God's covenant with his people is said to stand more firmly than they, Isa 54:10.
II. He stills the sea, and it is quiet, Psa 65:7. The sea in a storm makes a great noise, which adds to its threatening terror; but, when God pleases, he commands silence among the waves and billows, and lays them to sleep, turns the storm into a calm quickly, Psa 107:29. And by this change in the sea, as well as by the former instance of the unchangeableness of the earth, it appears that he whose the sea and the dry land are is girded with power. And by this our Lord Jesus gave a proof of his divine power, that he commanded the winds and waves, and they obeyed him. To this instance of the quieting of the sea he adds, as a thing much of the same nature, that he stills the tumult of the people, the common people. Nothing is more unruly and disagreeable than the insurrections of the mob, the insults of the rabble; yet even these God can pacify, in secret ways, which they themselves are not aware of. Or it may be meant of the outrage of the people that were enemies to Israel, Psa 2:1. God has many ways to still them and will for ever silence their tumults.
III. He renews the morning and evening, and their revolution is constant, Psa 65:8. This regular succession of day and night may be considered, 1. As an instance of God's great power, and so it strikes an awe upon all: Those that dwell in the uttermost parts of the earth are afraid at thy signs or tokens; they are by them convinced that there is a supreme deity, a sovereign monarch, before whom they ought to fear and tremble; for in these things the invisible things of God are clearly seen; and therefore they are said to be set for signs, Gen 1:14. Many of those that dwell in the remote and dark corners of the earth were so afraid at these tokens that they were driven to worship them (Deu 4:19), not considering that they were God's tokens, undeniable proofs of his power and godhead, and therefore they should have been led by them to worship him. 2. As an instance of God's great goodness, and so it brings comfort to all: Thou makest the outgoings of the morning, before the sun rises, and of the evening, before the sun sets, to rejoice. As it is God that scatters the light of the morning and draws the curtains of the evening, so he does both in favour to man, and makes both to rejoice, gives occasion to us to rejoice in both; so that how contrary soever light and darkness are to each other, and how inviolable soever the partition between them (Gen 1:4), both are equally welcome to the world in their season. It is hard to say which is more welcome to us, the light of the morning, which befriends the business of the day, or the shadows of the evening, which befriend the repose of the night. Does the watchman wait for the morning? So does the hireling earnestly desire the shadow. Some understand it of the morning and evening sacrifice, which good people greatly rejoiced in and in which God was constantly honoured. Thou makest them to sing (so the word is); for every morning and every evening songs of praise were sung by the Levites; it was that which the duty of every day required. We are to look upon our daily worship, alone and with our families, to be both the most needful of our daily occupations and the most delightful of our daily comforts; and, if therein we keep up our communion with God, the outgoings both of the morning and of the evening are thereby made truly to rejoice.
IV. He waters the earth and makes it fruitful. On this instance of God's power and goodness he enlarges very much, the psalm being probably penned upon occasion either of a more than ordinarily plentiful harvest or of a seasonable rain after long drought. How much the fruitfulness of this lower part of the creation depends upon the influence of the upper is easy to observe; if the heavens be as brass, the earth is as iron, which is a sensible intimation to a stupid world that every good and perfect gift is from above, omnia desuper - all from above; we must lift up our eyes above the hills, lift them up to the heavens, where the original springs of all blessings are, out of sight, and thither must our praises return, as the first-fruits of the earth were in the heave-offerings lifted up towards heaven by way of acknowledgment that thence they were derived. All God's blessings, even spiritual ones, are expressed by his raining righteousness upon us. Now observe how the common blessing of rain from heaven and fruitful seasons is here described.
1.How much there is in it of the power and goodness of God, which is here set forth by a great variety of lively expressions. (1.) God that made the earth hereby visits it, sends to it, gives proof of his care of it, Psa 65:9. It is a visit in mercy, which the inhabitants of the earth ought to return in praises. (2.) God, that made it dry land, hereby waters it, in order to its fruitfulness. Though the productions of the earth flourished before God had caused it to rain, yet even then there was a mist which answered the intention, and watered the whole face of the ground, Gen 2:5, Gen 2:6. Our hearts are dry and barren unless God himself be as the dew to us and water us; and the plants of his own planting he will water and make them to increase. (3.) Rain is the river of God, which is full of water; the clouds are the springs of this river, which do not flow at random, but in the channel which God cuts out for it. The showers of rain, as the rivers of water, he turns which way soever he pleases. (4.) This river of God enriches the earth, which without it would quickly be a poor thing. The riches of the earth, which are produced out of its surface, are abundantly more useful and serviceable to man than those which are hidden in its bowels; we might live well enough without silver and gold, but not without corn and grass.
2.How much benefit is derived from it to the earth and to man upon it. (1.) To the earth itself. The rain in season gives it a new face; nothing is more reviving, more refreshing, than the rain upon the new-mown grass, Psa 72:6. Even the ridges of the earth, off which the rain seems to slide, are watered abundantly, for they drink in the rain which comes often upon them; the furrows of it, which are turned up by the plough, in order to the seedness, are settled by the rain and made fit to receive the seed (Psa 65:10); they are settled by being made soft. That which makes the soil of the heart tender settles it; for the heart is established with that grace. Thus the springing of the year is blessed; and if the spring, that first quarter of the year, be blessed, that is an earnest of a blessing upon the whole year, which God is therefore said to crown with his goodness (Psa 65:11), to compass it on every side as the head is compassed with a crown, and to complete the comforts of it as the end of a thing is said to crown it. And his paths are said to drop fatness; for whatever fatness there is in the earth, which impregnates its productions, it comes from the out-goings of the divine goodness. Wherever God goes he leaves the tokens of his mercy behind him (Joe 2:13, Joe 2:14) and makes his path thus to shine after him. These communications of God's goodness to this lower world are very extensive and diffusive (Psa 65:12): They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness, and not merely upon the pastures of the inhabited land. The deserts, which man takes no care of and receives no profit from, are under the care of the divine Providence, and the profits of them redound to the glory of God, as the great benefactor of the whole creation, though not immediately to the benefit of man; and we ought to be thankful not only for that which serves us, but for that which serves any part of the creation, because thereby it turns to the honour of the Creator. The wilderness, which makes not such returns as the cultivated grounds do, receives as much of the rain of heaven as the most fruitful soil; for God does good to the evil and unthankful. So extensive are the gifts of God's bounty that in them the hills, the little hills, rejoice on every side, even the north side, that lies most from the sun. Hills are not above the need of God's providence; little hills are not below the cognizance of it. But as, when he pleases, he can make them tremble (Psa 114:6), so when he pleases he can make them rejoice. (2.) To man upon the earth. God, by providing rain for the earth, prepares corn for man, Psa 65:9. As for the earth, out of it comes bread (Job 28:5), for out of it comes corn; but every grain of corn that comes out of it God himself prepared; and therefore he provides rain for the earth, that thereby he may prepare corn for man, under whose feet he has put the rest of the creatures and for whose use he has fitted them. When we consider that the yearly produce of the corn is not only an operation of the same power that raises the dead, but an instance of that power not much unlike it (as appears by that of our Saviour, Joh 12:24), and that the constant benefit we have from it is an instance of that goodness which endures for ever, we shall have reason to think that it is no less than a God that prepares corn for us. Corn and cattle are the two staple commodities with which the husbandman, who deals immediately in the fruits of the earth, is enriched; and both are owing to the divine goodness in watering the earth, Psa 65:13. To this it is owing that the pastures are clothed with flocks, Psa 65:13. So well stocked are the pastures that they seem to be covered over with the cattle that are laid in them, and yet the pasture not overcharged; so well fed are the cattle that they are the ornament and the glory of the pastures in which they are fed. The valleys are so fruitful that they seem to be covered over with corn, in the time of harvest. The lowest parts of the earth are commonly the most fruitful, and one acre of the humble valleys is worth five of the lofty mountains. But both corn-ground and pasture-ground, answering the end of their creation, are said to shout for joy and sin, because they are serviceable to the honour of God and the comfort of man, and because they furnish us with matter for joy and praise: as there is no earthly joy above the joy of harvest, so there was none of the feasts of the Lord, among the Jews, solemnized with greater expressions of thankfulness than the feast of in-gathering at the end of the year, Exo 23:16. Let all these common gifts of the divine bounty, which we yearly and daily partake of, increase our love to God as the best of beings, and engage us to glorify him with our bodies, which he thus provides so well for.
"The ends of the desert shall grow fat, and the hills shall be encircled with exultation" [Psalm 65:12]. Plains, hills, ends of the desert, the same are also men. Plains, because of the equality: because of equality, I say, from thence just peoples have been called plains. Hills, because of lifting up: because God does lift up in Himself those that humble themselves. Ends of the desert are all nations. Wherefore ends of the desert? Deserted they were, to them no Prophet had been sent: they were in like case as is a desert where no man passes by. No word of God was sent to the nations: to the people Israel alone the Prophets preached. We came to the Lord; the wheat believed among that same people of the Jews. For He said at that time to the disciples, "You say, far off is the harvest: look back, and see how white are the lands to harvest." There has been therefore a first harvest, there will be a second in the last age. The first harvest was of Jews, because there were sent to them Prophets proclaiming a coming Saviour. Therefore the Lord said to His disciples, "See how white are the lands to harvest:" [John 4:35] the lands, to wit, of Judæa. "Other men," He says, "have laboured, and into their labours you have entered." [John 4:38] The Prophets laboured to sow, and you with the sickle have entered into their labours. There has been finished therefore the first harvest, and thence, with that very wheat which then was purged, has been sown the round world; so that there arises an other harvest, which at the end is to be reaped. In the second harvest have been sown tares, now here there is labour. Just as in that first harvest the Prophets laboured until the Lord came: so in that second harvest the Apostles laboured, and all preachers of the truth labour, even until at the end the Lord send unto the harvest His Angels. Aforetime, I say, a desert there was, "but the ends of the desert shall grow fat." Behold where the Prophets had given no sound, the Lord of the Prophets has been received, "The ends of the desert shall grow fat, and with exultation the hills shall be encircled."
Continue studying Psalms 65:12 across the web’s major study libraries — every link below opens this exact verse, chapter, or book on the destination site.
Read & Compare
BibleGatewayThis verse in more than 200 translations and 70 languages.
Bible.comThe YouVersion reader — hundreds of translations, reading plans, and highlights.
ESV.orgCrossway's official English Standard Version reader.
NET BibleThe NET translation with 60,000+ translators' notes on every rendering decision.
STEP BibleTyndale House's free study tool — original text, vocabulary, and scholarly resources.
BibliaLogos Bible Software's free web reader.
USCCBThe New American Bible (Revised Edition) with the U.S. bishops' study notes.
Commentaries
BibleHub CommentariesDozens of classic commentaries on this verse, gathered on one page.
StudyLightMore than 100 commentary sets — the largest collection on the web.
BibleRefPlain-English commentary on what this verse means, verse by verse.
Enduring WordDavid Guzik's free commentary on this chapter, widely used by Bible teachers.
Bible Study ToolsVerse commentary alongside Greek and Hebrew study aids.
Original Language & Research
- BibleHub InterlinearThe verse word by word — original language, transliteration, and English.
- BibleHub LexiconEvery word's original-language definition and Strong's entry.
Blue Letter BibleDeep-study tools — Strong's numbers, concordance, and word studies.
SefariaThe Hebrew text with Rashi and centuries of Jewish commentary.
Sermons, Hymns & Audio
TrulyRandomVerse is not affiliated with these sites and doesn’t control their content. They’re linked because they’re genuinely useful.
SUMMARY
Psalms 65:12 serves as a triumphant culmination of the psalmist's hymn of praise, vividly depicting the transformative power of God's abundant provision across all creation. It portrays the gentle, pervasive rain saturating even the uncultivated "pastures of the wilderness," leading them to flourish, and personifies "the little hills" as exulting in joyful response to this life-giving sustenance, thereby underscoring God's lavish care and the harmonious delight of the natural world in His goodness.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Psalms 65:12 is rich in Personification, a key literary device that imbues inanimate objects or abstract concepts with human qualities or actions. Here, "the little hills" are described as actively "rejoicing," giving voice and emotion to the landscape. This device powerfully conveys the profound and visible impact of God's blessing on creation, suggesting that nature itself responds with exuberant delight to His life-giving provision. This is not merely a description of flourishing, but of a sentient, joyful participation in the divine overflow. The image of the hills "dropping" (from the previous verse, implied here) and then "rejoicing" also creates a vivid Metaphor for the transformative power of God's grace, turning potentially barren or wild areas into scenes of vibrant life and celebration. The entire verse functions as a form of Hyperbole, exaggerating the joy of the hills to emphasize the overwhelming abundance and goodness of God's provision, making it clear that His blessings are not merely sufficient but lavish and overflowing, encompassing every corner of creation.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Psalms 65:12 profoundly reveals God's character as the benevolent and sovereign Provider, whose generosity knows no bounds. It emphasizes that His care extends beyond humanity's immediate needs, encompassing the entirety of creation. The verse underscores the theological truth that all life and fruitfulness ultimately derive from God's hand, and that creation itself, in its flourishing, bears witness to His glory and goodness. This divine provision is not merely functional but transformative, bringing joy and vitality even to the "wilderness." The exuberant response of the hills serves as a model for human gratitude, inviting us to recognize and celebrate God's continuous, life-sustaining presence in our world. It highlights the interconnectedness of creation and Creator, where the well-being of the earth is a direct reflection of God's active involvement and blessing, prompting a universal chorus of praise.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Psalms 65:12 invites us to cultivate a deeper awareness of God's pervasive and generous provision in our daily lives. Just as the gentle rain transforms the wilderness into pastures of abundance and causes the hills to rejoice, so too does God's grace bring life, beauty, and joy into our own "wilderness" seasons—those times of barrenness, challenge, or struggle. This verse encourages us to look beyond immediate circumstances and recognize the subtle, consistent ways God sustains us, both physically and spiritually. It challenges us to move beyond mere acknowledgment to a posture of exuberant gratitude, mirroring the "rejoicing" hills, for His faithfulness. When we observe the flourishing of nature, we are called to remember the Creator's hand, fostering a sense of wonder and trust in His ability to provide for all our needs, transforming even the most unlikely places into spaces of fruitfulness and delight. This prompts us to live with open eyes and grateful hearts, continually recognizing the divine hand at work in every aspect of our existence.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does "wilderness" in this verse mean a completely barren desert?
Answer: No, the Hebrew word for "wilderness" (מִדְבָּר, midbâr) in this context does not necessarily refer to a desolate, uninhabitable desert. Instead, it often denotes open, uncultivated pastureland, steppes, or semi-arid regions that are primarily used for grazing livestock. These areas, while not typically farmed, still rely on rainfall for their vegetation. The point of the verse is that God's abundant blessing, manifest as rain, extends even to these less-tended or naturally challenging areas, causing them to flourish and become lush pastures, demonstrating the comprehensive and universal nature of His provision. This contrasts with the cultivated fields mentioned earlier in Psalms 65:9-10.
How can hills "rejoice"?
Answer: The phrase "the little hills rejoice" is a powerful example of personification, a literary device where inanimate objects are given human qualities or actions. Hills, of course, cannot literally rejoice. However, this poetic language vividly conveys the profound and visible impact of God's abundant blessing (the "dropping" rain) on the landscape. The flourishing, green, and vibrant appearance of the hills after being watered is depicted as an active, exuberant expression of joy and delight. It suggests that all creation, in its response to the Creator's life-giving sustenance, participates in a harmonious celebration of His goodness and power, echoing themes found in other prophetic books like Isaiah 55:12 and Psalms 98:8.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
While Psalms 65:12 speaks of God's general providence in creation, its imagery of divine blessing transforming barrenness into abundance and eliciting joyful response finds its ultimate and most profound fulfillment in Jesus Christ. He is the true source of living water, whose spiritual provision transforms the "wilderness" of the human heart, making it fruitful for righteousness. Just as the land rejoices at the physical rain, so too do those who receive Christ experience an inner renewal and exultation. Jesus Himself declared, "If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water'" (John 7:37-38). He is the one who "satisfies the longing soul, and fills the hungry soul with good things" (Psalms 107:9), turning spiritual deserts into gardens of delight. The joy of the hills foreshadows the "joy in heaven over one sinner who repents" (Luke 15:7), as the spiritual landscape of humanity is transformed by the abundant grace poured out through His sacrifice. Through Christ, we receive not just physical sustenance, but eternal life and an overflowing measure of God's Spirit, causing our lives to "drop fatness" and "rejoice on every side" in His glorious presence, as we are made new creations, reflecting His glory and goodness to the world (2-corinthians/5-17 and John 10:10).