My wife and I are reading through the Psalms in our evening reading and occasionally a nugget of the Psalms jumps out of the page. Don’t you love it when, after years of reading the “Old Book” passages become alive, reinforcing old teachings or simply warming your heart.

This is the book of Psalms, and it is rich.

I pray I can communicate a portion of the blessing we receive from this wonderful book.

Psalm 65

1 To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. A Song. Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed.
2 O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
3 When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.
4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!

Our first verse is hanging me out to dry. I am not sure what the message is, and I hope it isn’t because I am daft!

The passage states that “Praise is due to you”, with a footnote, in the ESV, that suggests it may be understood as “Praise waits for you in silence”. When I first read out passage, I was thinking it was a matter of debt to God, that is praise is due to God, as in a natural reaction to all the blessings He provides. This is certainly true, for we shall never express all the praise owed to Him for His many mercies! Yet this passage seems to communicate the idea of silence, and waiting. Consider a few other translations.

• NKJV ..Praise is awaiting You
• NIV … Praise awaits you
• NASB20 There will be silence before You, and praise in Zion, God
• LSB …. To You, there will be silence and praise in Zion, O God,
• NET …Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion.
• ASV…Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Zion;
• DBY …Praise waiteth for thee in silence, O God, in Zion
• WEB …Praise waiteth for thee, O God

Now I don’t want you to think that all translations use the term “wait” instead of due, but a number do, and with the thought of waiting, an occasional translation will also include the thought of “waiting in silence”.

What to make of this? Is this a none issue, a point that makes no difference in our final understanding? Maybe, but I tend to see these minor tweaks or differences to be of interest, to consider what an alternate thought may be communicated.

Hold the thought of praise waiting in Zion, and lets consider verse 2.

Psalm 65:2 O you who hear prayer,
to you shall all flesh come.

To God shall all flesh come. That phrase is huge! How do you understand that phrase? Is it that every man will meet his Maker, and then judgement? Maybe, and we know this general truth is found throughout the Scripture.

Is it that all flesh will come, and that the praise spoken of in verse 1, is waiting for all flesh to come? Is verse 1 speaking of the delay of praise due to the fact that not all flesh has not yet come to God? It is a possible thought that David may be communicating.

Verse 3 continues with David expressing his weight of sin, and that God atones for our transgressions. Is David speaking of our in the singular, that is his transgressions, or is he referring to Israel’s transgressions? Might he be referring to the transgression of all flesh?

Come on Carl, David clears up all ambiguity of who the subject of this psalm is concerning in verse four, where He states that only a few are chosen and brought near to dwell in His courts.

4 Blessed is the one you choose and bring near,
to dwell in your courts!
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house,
the holiness of your temple!

Oh – I think I may be reading into the passage the idea of a limited number being chosen. David is expressing the blessedness of one who is chosen and brought near, not the quantity of persons brought near, to dwell in His courts.

As a matter of fact, as I read this passage, it seems to lend itself to understanding the one who is brought near as being the Savior Himself. After all, we can only approach the Father by being in the Son, and the Son certainly is One who was chosen and brought near.

Those in Christ shall certainly be satisfied with His goodness, and He will become, out of shear grace and mercy, the entrance, as it were a narrow gate, a door even, into the holiness of His temple.

In closing I have two questions for my dear reader.

Do you see many or few giving praise unto the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit?

Is Zion, the City of the Great King waiting in silence (as verse 1 speaks of) for the praise of all flesh?

May it be so!

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