Psalm 65

Psalm Category: Community song of gratitude

Central Thought: Silence is a precious way of giving praise to God, and is often a natural response to an understanding of God’s greatness.

The Davidic context of struggle and hardship that has dominated the last dozen psalms now gives way to the joyous praise of Psalm 65, which exalts the Lord as both redeemer (vv. 1-8) and provider (vv. 9-13). The focus of our short study will be the familiar first line of Psalm 65, “Praise waits for Thee, O God, in Zion.” This is one possible translation of the Hebrew text which, taken quite literally, says, “Silence is praise to You, O God, in Zion.”

What may therefore be pictured is not a noisy throng of worshipers but an awestruck silence that speaks louder than words. This may be, on a corporate level, the same silent devotion that David expressed at the beginning of Psalm 62—“Truly my soul silently waits for God”—where ...