Psalm 67

“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us.” (Psalm 67:1)

Judging from its first-person plural pronouns (“us”), this psalm is a community psalm of thanksgiving.1 Hakham calls it a psalm of thanksgiving for an abundant harvest.2 Israel acknowledges God’s blessings and prays for their extension, even salvation to the nations of the world (67:2, 7). Psalm 66 ends with a word of blessing (“Blessed [baruk] be God”; NIV: “Praise be to God”; 66:20), and Psalm 67 begins with a prayer of blessing in language akin to the priestly benediction. While the priestly benediction (Num. 6:24–26) was given to Israel by a priest (“The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you”), here it is transferred to the lips of the people (“May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us,” 67:1). The people are praying for themselves and the nations, acting in the priestly role of a “kingdom of priests” (Exod. 19:6) that Yahweh assigned them at Sinai.

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