gods in the ordinary sense · noun, common masculine plural absolute
merciful
יְחָנֵּ֥נוּye.cha.Ne.nu
H2603
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
bless
וִֽיבָרְכֵ֑נוּvi.va.re.Khe.nu
H1288
to kneel · conjunction + verb, piel, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix
face
פָּנָ֖יוpa.Nav
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
shine
יָ֤אֵ֥רya.'Er
H215
to be (causative · verb, hiphil jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
Selah
סֶֽלָהSe.lah
H5542
suspension (of music) · interjection
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 4:6 There be many that say, Who will shew us any good? LORD, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.
2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God…
Psalms 4:1 Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.
Psalms 31:16 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant: save me for thy mercies’ sake.
Psalms 80:1-3 Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a flock; thou that dwellest between the cherubims, shine forth.
Psalms 119:135 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant; and teach me thy statutes.
Psalms 80:7 Turn us again, O God of hosts, and cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 67:1–end
The composition of this psalm is such as denotes the penman's affections to have been very warm and lively, by which spirit of devotion he was elevated to receive the spirit of prophecy concerning the enlargement of God's kingdom.
I. He begins with a prayer for the welfare and prosperity of the church then in being, in the happiness of which he should share, and think himself happy, Psa 67:1. Our Saviour, in teaching us to say, Our Father, has intimated that we ought to pray with and for others; so the psalmist here prays not, God be merciful to me, and bless me, but to us, and bless us; for we must make supplication for all saints, and be willing and glad to take our lot with them. We are h…
God be merciful unto us, and bless us,.... That is, God, of his unmerited mercy, of his rich grace and free favour, bless us with the coming of his Son, the promised seed, in whom all nations are to be blessed; and with the blessings of peace, pardon, and righteousness in him; all which with him spring from the tender mercy of God, the riches of his grace, and his great love; than which nothing could be more desirable to the Old Testament saints, who were shut up under the law, until faith came; and though children, they differed nothing from servants, being in a state and under a spirit of bondage: for the psalmist seems to represent the whole church under that dispensation: some understand…
Psalm 67:1-7
1. God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. Selah. [2] 2. That they may know thy way upon the earth, thy salvation among all nations. 3. Let the people praise thee, O God! let all the people praise thee. 4. Let the nations be glad, and shout for joy; for he shall judge the people righteously, and thou shalt govern the nations upon earth. Selah. 5. Let the people praise thee, O God: let all the people praise thee. 6. The earth has given its increase; and God, even our own God!, will bless us. 7. God shall bless us, [3] and all ends of the earth shall fear him.
1 God be merciful unto us, and bless us The psalm contains a prediction of Christ's…
The Church Fathers
This, I say, is the universal way for the deliverance of believers, concerning which the faithful Abraham received the divine assurance, "In thy seed shall all nations be blessed." He, indeed, was by birth a Chaldaean; but, that he might receive these great promises, and that there might be propagated from him a seed "disposed by angels in the hand of a Mediator," in whom this universal way, thrown open to all nations for the deliverance of the soul, might be found, he was ordered to leave his country, and kindred, and father's house. Then was he himself, first of all, delivered from the Chaldaean superstitions, and by his obedience worshipped the one true God, whose promises he faithfully trusted. This is the universal way, of which it is said in holy prophecy, "God be merciful unto us, and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us; that thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations." And hence, when our Savior, so long after, had taken flesh of the seed of Abraham, he says of himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life."
May God have mercy on us and bless us. Let him not be our judge, but be merciful. May God have mercy on us. This is the voice of the apostles speaking to the people gathered from the nations: You have indeed believed at our voice; behold, this Church is gathered together in the name of God; therefore we say, May God have mercy on us and bless us, that by his blessing he may undo the first curse laid upon man. May he make his countenance shine upon us. Let us not see him sorrowful, but rejoicing; let us not see him sorrowful over our sins, but rejoicing in our virtues; let us not experience him as a judge, but as a Father. May he make his countenance shine upon us. What is the face of God? Surely his image. For the apostle too says that the Son is the image of the Father. Therefore let him make us shine with his image — that is, let him make his image, the Son, shine upon us, so that the Son himself may make us shine. For the light of the Father is the light of the Son. He who sees the Father sees also the Son; and he who sees the Son sees also the Father — where there is no distance between glory and glory, both are one glory.
Your Love remembereth, that in two Psalms, which have been already treated of, we have stirred up our soul to bless the Lord, and with godly chant have said, "Bless thou, O my soul, the Lord." If therefore we have stirred up our soul in those Psalms to bless the Lord, in this Psalm is well said, "May God have pity on us, and bless us" [Psalm 67:1]. Let our soul bless the Lord, and let God bless us. When God blesseth us, we grow, and when we bless the Lord, we grow, to us both are profitable. He is not increased by our blessing, nor is He lessened by our cursing. He that curseth the Lord, is himself lessened: he that blesseth the Lord, is himself increased. First, there is in us the blessing of the Lord, and the consequence is that we also bless the Lord. That is the rain, this the fruit. Therefore there is rendered as it were fruit to God the Husbandman, raining upon and tilling us. Let us chant these words with no barren devotion, with no empty voice, but with true heart. For most evidently God the Father hath been called a Husbandman. [John 15:1] The Apostle saith, "God's husbandry ye are, God's building ye are." [1 Corinthians 3:9] In things visible of this world, the vine is not a building, and a building is not a vineyard: but we are the vineyard of the Lord, because He tilleth us for fruit; the building of God we are, since He who tilleth us, dwelleth in us. And what saith the same Apostle? "I have planted, Apollos hath watered, but the increase God hath given. Therefore neither he that planteth is anything, nor he that watereth, but He that giveth the increase, even God." [1 Corinthians 3:6-7] He it is therefore that giveth the increase. Are those perchance the husbandmen? For a husbandman he is called that planteth, that watereth: but the Apostle hath said, "I have planted, Apollos hath watered." Do we enquire whence himself hath done this? The Apostle maketh answer, "Yet not I, but the Grace of God with me." [1 Corinthians 15:10] Therefore whithersoever thou turn thee, whether through Angels, thou wilt find God thy Husbandman; whether through Prophets, the Same is thy Husbandman; whether through Apostles, the very Same acknowledge to be thy Husbandman. What then of us? Perchance we are the labourers of that Husbandman, and this too with powers imparted by Himself, and by Grace granted by Himself....
Dictionary and topics
Neginoth — I.e., songs with instrumental accompaniment, found in the titles of Ps. 4; 6; 54; 55; 67; 76; rendered “stringed instruments,” Hab. 3:19, A.V. It denotes all kinds of stringed instruments, as the…
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 Psalm begins (Psa 67:1) with words of the priest's benediction in Num 6:24-26. By אתּנוּ the church desires for itself the unveiled presence of the light-diffusing loving countenance of its God. Here, after the echo of the holiest and most glorious benediction, the music strikes in. With Psa 67:2 the Beracha passes over into a Tephilla. לדעת is conceived with the most general subject: that one may know, that may be known Thy way, etc. The more graciously God attests Himself to the church, the more widely and successfully does the knowledge of this God spread itself forth from the church over the whole earth. They then know His דּרך, i.e., the progressive realization of His counsel, and H…
Ps 67 In this anonymous prayer for God’s blessing, the psalmist addresses the knowledge and worship of God among the nations (cp. 64:9; 65:8). The prayer requests that God’s name be kept holy and that his kingdom come (cp. Matt 6:9-13).
67:1-2 This prayer is based on the priestly blessing found in Num 6:24-26. God’s goodness to Israel affects his reputation among the nations (see Ps 96:1-3).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 67:1
God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah.
God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us. This is a fit refrain to the benediction of the High Priest in the name of the Lord, as recorded in Nu 6:24-25. "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee." It begins at the beginning with a cry for mercy. Forgiveness of sin is always the first link in the chain of mercies experienced by us. Mercy is a foundation attribute in our salvation. The best saints and the worst sinners may unite in this petition. It is addressed to the God of mercy, by those who feel their need of me…
