Psalm 67:5

Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

67:1-7 A prayer for the enlargement of Christ's kingdom. - All our happiness comes from God's mercy; therefore the first thing prayed for is, God be merciful to us, to us sinners, and pardon our sins. Pardon is conveyed by God's blessing, and secured in that. If we, by faith, walk with God, we may hope that his face will shine on us. The psalmist passes on to a prayer for the conversion of the Gentiles, which shows that the Old Testament saints desired that their advantages might also be enjoyed by others. And many Scripture prophecies and promises are wrapped up in prayers: the answer to the prayer of the church is as sure as the performance of God's promises. The joy wished to the nations, is holy joy. Let them be glad that by his providence the Lord will overrule the affairs of kingdoms; that even the kingdoms of this world shall became the kingdom of the Lord, and of his Christ. Then is declared a joyful prospect of all good when God shall do this. The success of the gospel brings outward mercies with it; righteousness exalts a nation. The blessing of the Lord sweetens all our creature-comforts to us, and makes them comforts indeed. All the world shall be brought to worship Him. When the gospel begins to spread, it shall go forward more and more, till it reaches to the ends of the earth. It is good to cast in our lot with those that are the blessed of the Lord. If nothing had been spoken in Scripture respecting the conversion of the heathen, we might think it vain to attempt so hopeless a work. But when we see with what confidence it is declared in the Scriptures, we may engage in missionary labours, assured that God will fulfil his own word. And shall we be backward to make known to the heathen the knowledge with which we are favoured, and the salvation we profess to glory in? They cannot learn unless they are taught. Then let us go forward in the strength of the Lord, and look to him to accompany the word the Holy Ghost; then Satan's kingdom shall be destroyed, and the kingdom of our Redeemer established.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Let the people praise thee ... - See Psalm 67:5. The repetition shows that this was the principal thought in the mind of the author of the psalm. It expresses an earnest - an intense - desire, that all nations should acknowledge God as the true God, and praise him for his mercies.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3-5. Thanks will be rendered for the blessings of His wise and holy government (compare Isa 2:3, 4; 11:4).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. See Gill on Psalm 67:3. This is repeated from that preceding verse to show the earnest desire of the church that it might be so; or that there might be an occasion for it; the ardour of her mind, and fervency of her petitions, and how much she was solicitous for the praise and glory of God; or to declare the certainty of it, she most strongly believing that so it would be; as the Targum, "the people shall confess", &c. because of a new favour to be enjoyed, mentioned in Psalm 67:6.

Geneva Study Bible

Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. the people] As before, the peoples. This refrain is generally treated as before as a wish or prayer; but it is worth considering whether the tone of the last stanza does not change throughout from prayer to confident hope, so that we should render, The peoples shall give thanks unto thee, O God. The form of a refrain is often slightly varied, why not its tone? The ambiguity arises from the fact that Heb. (with some exceptions) does not possess separate forms for the future and the optative.

5–7. The special occasion of the Psalm in the present bountiful harvest.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 5. - Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. A repetition of ver. 3 without any change. Psalm 67:5

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The joyous prospect of the conversion of heathen, expressed in the same words as in Psalm 67:5, here receives as its foundation a joyous event of the present time: the earth has just yielded its fruit (cf. Psalm 85:13), the fruit that had been sown and hoped for. This increase of corn and fruits is a blessing and an earnest of further blessing, by virtue of which (Jeremiah 33:9; Isaiah 60:3; cf. on the contrary Joel 2:17) it shall come to pass that all peoples unto the uttermost bounds of the earth shall reverence the God of Israel. For it is the way of God, that all the good that He manifests towards Israel shall be for the well-being of mankind.