1 Jehovah, in Thy strength the king rejoices, And in Thy salvation how greatly he exults! 2 The desire of his heart Thou hast given to him, And the request of his lips Thou hast not refused. 3 For Thou meetest him with blessings of good; Thou settest on his head a crown of pure gold. 4 Life he asked from Thee; Thou gavest it to him, Length of days for ever and ever. 5 Great is his glory through Thy salvation; Honour and majesty Thou layest upon him. 6 For Thou dost set him [to be] blessings for ever, Dost gladden him in joy with Thy face. 7 For the king trusts in Jehovah, And in the loving-kindness of the Most High he shall not be moved. 8 Thine hand shall reach towards all thy foes; Thy right hand shall reach all thy haters. 9 Thou shalt make them as a furnace of fire at the time of thine appearance (face); Jehovah in His wrath shall swallow them up: fire shall devour them. 10 Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, And their seed from the sons of men. 11 For they cause evil to hang over thee; They meditate mischief: they will achieve nothing. 12 For thou shalt make them turn their back, On thy bowstrings wilt aim [arrows] at their faces. 13 Lift Thyself up, Jehovah, in Thy strength; We will sing and harp, [praising] Thy might. This psalm is a pendant to the preceding. There the people prayed for the king; here they give thanks for him: there they asked that his desires might be fulfilled; here they bless Jehovah, who has fulfilled them: there the battle was impending; here it has been won, though foes are still in the field: there the victory was prayed for; here it is prophesied. Who is the "king"? The superscription points to David. Conjecture has referred to Hezekiah, principally because of his miraculous recovery, which is supposed to be intended in ver. 4. Cheyne thinks of Simon Maccabæus, and sees his priestly crown in ver. 3. But there are no individualising features in the royal portrait, and it is so idealised, or rather spiritualised, that it is hard to suppose that any single monarch was before the singer's mind. The remarkable greatness and majesty of the figure will appear as we read. The whole may be cast into two parts, with a closing strain of prayer. In the first part (vv. 1-7) the people praise Jehovah for His gifts to the king; in the second (vv. 8-12) they prophesy to the king complete victory; in ver. 13 they end, as in xx., with a short petition, which, however, here is, in accordance with the tone of the whole, more jubilant than the former and less shrill.