Psalm 45 [a] Song for a Royal Wedding
1 For the leader; according to “Lilies.” A maskil of the
Korahites. A love song.
I
2 My heart is stirred by a noble theme, as I sing my ode to
the king. My tongue is the pen of a nimble scribe.
II
3 You are the most handsome of men; fair speech has graced
your lips, for God has blessed you forever. 4 Gird your sword upon your hip, mighty warrior! In splendor
and majesty ride on triumphant! 5 In the cause of truth, meekness, and justice may your
right hand show your wondrous deeds. 6 Your arrows are sharp; peoples will cower at your feet; the
king’s enemies will lose heart.
7 Your throne, O God,[b] stands forever; your royal scepter
is a scepter for justice. 8 You love justice and hate wrongdoing; therefore God, your God, has anointed you with
the oil of gladness above your fellow kings.
9 With myrrh, aloes, and cassia your robes are fragrant. From
ivory-paneled palaces[c] stringed
instruments bring you joy. 10 Daughters of kings are your lovely wives; a princess
arrayed in Ophir’s gold[d] comes to stand at your right hand.
III
11 Listen, my daughter, and understand; pay me careful heed.
Forget your people and your father’s house,[e] 12 that the king
might desire your beauty. He is your lord; 13 honor him, daughter of Tyre. Then the
richest of the people will seek your favor with gifts. 14 All glorious is the king’s daughter as she enters, her
raiment threaded with gold; 15 In embroidered apparel she is led to the king. The maids
of her train are presented to the king. 16 They are led in with glad and joyous acclaim; they enter
the palace of the king.
IV
17 The throne of your fathers your sons will have; you shall
make them princes through all the land. 18 I will make your name renowned through all generations; thus
nations shall praise you forever.
NOTES:
(a) Psalm 45 A song for the Davidic king’s marriage to a
foreign princess from Tyre in Phoenicia. The court poet sings (Ps 45:2, 18) of
God’s choice of the king (Ps 45:3, 8), of his role in establishing the divine rule
(Ps 45:4–8), and of his splendor as he waits for his bride (Ps 45:9–10). The
woman is to forget her own house when she becomes wife to the king (Ps
45:11–13). Her majestic beauty today is a sign of the future prosperity of the
royal house (Ps 45:14–17).
The Psalm was retained in the collection when there
was no reigning king and came to be applied to the king who was to come, the
messiah.
(b) 45:7 O God: the king, in courtly language, is called
“god,” i.e., more than human, representing God to the people. Hb 1:8–9 applies
Ps 45:7–8 to Christ.
(c) 45:9 Ivory-paneled palaces: lit., “palaces of ivory.”
Ivory paneling and furniture decoration have been found in Samaria and other
ancient Near Eastern cities, cf. Am 3:15.
(d) 45:10 Ophir’s gold: uncertain location, possibly a
region on the coast of southern Arabia or eastern Africa, famous for its gold,
cf. 1 Kgs 9:28; 10:11; Jb 22:24.
(e) 45:11 Forget your people and your father’s house: the
bride should no longer consider herself a daughter of her father’s house, but
the wife of the king. [The wife of the king is not the queen, it is the mother
of the king who is queen because the king can marry more than once. Thus in
King Solomon’s time, its his mother who is queen]
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