Psalm 72:1-2, 7-8, 12-13, 17 (cf. 7)

“In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!” (Psalm 72:7)

Psalm 72 is a royal psalm, headed of or for Solomon, and it reads as intercession at an enthronement rather than praise of the king himself. Almost everything asked for him is asked on behalf of others: judgment for the afflicted, deliverance for the needy who has no helper, pity for the weak (vv. 12 and 13). The natural imagery is unusual in that the king’s justice is what makes the land fertile, so righteousness and peace flourish like vegetation until the moon fails (v. 7). The horizons of verse 8, from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth, use the standard vocabulary of ancient Near Eastern royal claims, while verse 17 grounds the promise in the blessing of Abraham (Genesis 12:3). The doxology that follows closes the second book of the Psalter and declares the prayers of David ended.

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