Psalms 65:9 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Psalms 65:9
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.
to visit (with friendly or hostile intent) · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
earth
הָאָ֨רֶץha.'A.retz
H776
the earth (at large · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
waterest
וַתְּשֹׁ֪קְקֶ֡הָva.te.Sho.ke.Ke.ha
H7783
to run after or over · conjunction + verb, piel sequential imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
greatly
רַבַּ֬תra.Bat
H7227
abundant (in quantity · adjective, feminine singular construct
enrichest
תַּעְשְׁרֶ֗נָּהta'.she.Re.nah
H6238
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
river
פֶּ֣לֶגPe.leg
H6388
a rill (i.e. small channel of water · noun, common masculine singular construct
God
אֱ֭לֹהִים'E.lo.Him
H430
gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
full
מָ֣לֵאMa.le'
H4390
to fill or (intransitively) be full of · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
water
מָ֑יִםMa.yim
H4325
water · noun, common masculine plural absolute
preparest
תָּכִ֥יןta.Khin
H3559
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
corn
דְּ֝גָנָ֗םde.ga.Nam
H1715
properly · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
provided
תְּכִינֶֽהָte.khi.Ne.ha
H3559
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person feminine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 46:4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
Revelation 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Psalms 104:13-15 He watereth the hills from his chambers: the earth is satisfied with the fruit of thy works.
Jeremiah 5:24 Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that giveth rain, both the former and the latter, in his season: he reser…
Psalms 68:9-10 Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.
Joel 2:23-26 Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to…
Deuteronomy 11:11-12 But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven:
Ruth 1:6 Then she arose with her daughters in law, that she might return from the country of Moab: for she had heard in the country of Moab how that…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 65:6–end
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. T…
visitest--in mercy (compare Psa 8:4).
river of God--His exhaustless resources.
John Gill on Psalms 65:9
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it,.... So the Lord looked upon the earth, quickly after its formation, before rain came upon it, and he watered the whole face of the ground, Genesis 2:5; so he cared for the land of Judea in particular, and watered it with the rain of heaven, Deuteronomy 11:11; see 2 Samuel 21:1; to which some think reference is had here; and so he visits and waters the whole earth in general, at certain times and seasons, Acts 14:16; this may be applied to the church and people of God in Gospel times, who are his husbandry, and the good ground on which the seed falls and is received, and brings forth fruit; and are comparable to the earth that drinks in the rain that…
Psalm 65:9-13
9. Thou hast visited the earth, and watered it; thou hast greatly enriched it; the river of God is full of waters: thou wilt prepare their corn, for so thou hast provided for it. 10. Thou dost saturate its furrows, thou makest the rain to fall into them; thou moistenest it with showers; thou blessest the buddings forth of it. 11. Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths will drop fatness. 12. They drop upon the dwellings [454] of the wilderness, and the hills shall be girt about with gladness; [455] 13. The pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys are covered with corn; they shout for joy, they also sing.
9. Thou hast visited the earth, and watered it This…
The Church Fathers
Only let us recognize the purpose of the evil. Why have the crops withered, our storehouses been emptied, the pastures of our flocks failed, the fruits of the earth been withheld and the plains been filled with shame instead of such fatness? Why have valleys lamented and not abounded in corn, the mountains not dropped sweetness, as they shall do hereafter to the righteous, but been stripped and dishonored and received on the contrary the curse of Gilboa? The whole earth has become as it was in the beginning, before it was adorned with its beauties. "You visited the earth and made it to drink," but the visitation has been for evil and the draught destructive.
"Thou hast visited the earth, and hast inebriated it" [Psalm 65:9]. Whence hast inebriated the earth? "Thy cup inebriating how glorious it is!" "Thou hast visited the earth, and hast inebriated it." Thou hast sent Thy clouds, they have rained down the preaching of the truth, inebriated is the earth. "Thou hast multiplied to enrich it." Whence? "The river of God is filled with water." What is the river of God? The people of God. The first people was filled with water, wherewith the rest of the earth might be watered. Hear Him promising water: "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink: he that believeth on Me, rivers of living water from his belly shall flow:" [John 7:37-38] if rivers, one river also; for in respect of unity many are one. Many Churches and one Church, many faithful and one Bride of Christ: so many rivers and one river. Many Israelites believed, and were fulfilled with the Holy Spirit; from thence they were scattered abroad through the nations, they began to preach the truth, and from the river of God that was filled with water, was the whole earth watered. "Thou hast prepared food for them: because thus is Thy preparing." Not because they have deserved of Thee, whom Thou hast forgiven sins: the merits of them were evil, but Thou for Thy mercy's sake, "because thus is Thy preparing," thus "Thou hast prepared food for them."
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Psalms, Book Of — The present Hebrew name of the book is Tehill’im, “Praises;” but in the actual superscriptions of the psalms the word Tehillah is applied only to one, (Psalms 145:1) ... which is indeed emphatically…
River of God — (Ps. 65:9), as opposed to earthly streams, denoting that the divine resources are inexhaustible, or the sum of all fertilizing streams that water the earth (Gen. 2:10).
Meteorology And Celestial Phenomena · 9:7;26:7,8,11;27:20,21;28:24-27;29:19;36:27-33;37:6-22;38:8-11,22,24-29,31-35,37; — 9:7;26:7,8,11;27:20,21;28:24-27;29:19;36:27-33;37:6-22;38:8-11,22,24-29,31-35,37;
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The praise of God on account of the present year's rich blessing, which He has bestowed upon the land of His people. In Psa 65:10, Psa 65:11 God is thanked for having sent down the rain required for the ploughing (vid., Commentary on Isaiah, ii. 522) and for the increase of the seed sown, so that, as vv. 12-14 affirm, there is the prospect of a rich harvest. The harvest itself, as follows from v. 14b, is not yet housed. The whole of Psa 65:10, Psa 65:11 is a retrospect; in vv. 12-14 the whole is a description of the blessing standing before their eyes, which God has put upon the year now drawing to a close. Certainly, if the forms רוּה and נחת were supplicatory imperatives, then the prayer f…
The created order provides clear evidence of God’s power (65:6-8). He shows his love by maintaining nature. Everything praises the Lord as all the parts fit together harmoniously.
65:9 The river of God and all rivers demonstrate God’s victorious power and goodness through the order in nature and the regularity of the harvests (see 1:3; 36:8; 46:4; Ezek 47:6-12; Zech 14:8; Rev 22:1).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 65:9
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it: thou greatly enrichest it with the river of God, which is full of water: thou preparest them corn, when thou hast so provided for it.
Thou visitest the earth, and waterest it. God's visits leave a blessing behind; this is more than can be said of every visitor. When the Lord goes on visitations of mercy, he has abundance of necessary things for all his needy creatures. He is represented here as going round the earth, as a gardener surveys his garden, and as giving water to every plant that requires it, and that not in small quantities, but until the earth is drenched and soaked with a rich supply of refreshment. O Lord, in this manner visit thy chur…
