Psalm 45

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

The glory of the king

¹ My heart overflows with a good word; I address my verses to the king; my tongue is the pen of a skilled scribe.

² You are fairer than the sons of men; grace is poured upon your lips; therefore Elohim has blessed you forever. ³ Gird your sword on your thigh, O mighty one, in your splendor and your majesty. ⁴ And in your majesty ride on victoriously for the cause of truth and humility and righteousness; and let your right hand teach you awesome deeds. ⁵ Your arrows are sharp; the peoples fall beneath you; they pierce the heart of the king's enemies.

⁶ Your throne, O Elohim, is forever and ever; a scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom. ⁷ You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore Elohim, your Elohim, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your companions. ⁸ All your garments are myrrh and aloes and cassia; from ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad. ⁹ Daughters of kings are among your honored women; at your right hand stands the queen in gold of Ophir.

The bride of the king

¹⁰ Hear, O daughter, and consider, and incline your ear: forget your people and your father's house, ¹¹ and the king will desire your beauty; since he is your lord, bow down to him. ¹² The daughter of Tyre will come with a gift; the rich among the people will seek your favor.

¹³ All glorious is the king's daughter within; her clothing is interwoven with gold. ¹⁴ In embroidered garments she is led to the king; the virgins, her companions who follow her, are brought to you. ¹⁵ With gladness and rejoicing they are led along; they enter the palace of the king.

¹⁶ In place of your fathers shall be your sons; you will make them princes in all the earth. ¹⁷ I will cause your name to be remembered in all generations; therefore the peoples will praise you forever and ever.

Notes

• 45:1 Title: "According to Lilies" (al-shoshannim; also in the titles of 69 and 80, compare 60) is of uncertain meaning: probably the name of a melody, though some think of a lily-shaped instrument; the ancient Greek translation rendered it "for those who will be changed." On "Maskil" see the note at 32:1, and on "the sons of Korah" the note at 42:1. "A song of love" (shir yedidot) uses the word for "beloved" found in the name Jedidiah, "beloved of Yah" (2 Samuel 12:25); the psalm is a song for a king's wedding. The poet speaks of himself only here and in verse 17; "my verses" is literally "my works," and "a skilled scribe" (sofer mahir) is the phrase used of Ezra (Ezra 7:6).
• 45:2 The king is not named. Many have thought of Solomon; others of a king of the northern kingdom, since a "daughter of Tyre" brings gifts (verse 12) and Ahab built "the ivory house" (1 Kings 22:39; compare "ivory palaces," verse 8). The portrait reaches beyond any one king: fairer than all the sons of men, blessed forever, with a throne forever (verse 6). The Targum, a later Jewish Aramaic rendering, addresses the king in this verse (verse 3 in its numbering) as "King Messiah."
• 45:6 Verses 2-9 speak to the king, and the plainest reading of the Hebrew, kis'akha elohim, is "Your throne, O Elohim": so the ancient Greek and most translations read it. Since verse 7 then says "Elohim, your Elohim, has anointed you," the one addressed is distinct from the Elohim who anoints him. Many understand that the king who sat "on the throne of Yahweh" (1 Chronicles 29:23) is here called elohim as Elohim's representative, as Moses was made "as Elohim to Pharaoh" (Exodus 7:1). Others read "your throne is from Elohim," "your throne is like Elohim's," or "your divine throne"; but the first two must supply a word the Hebrew does not have, and the third is awkward, since a Hebrew noun that already carries "your" does not normally take a following noun to describe it. The TRB keeps the address "O Elohim," with the capital it gives Elohim throughout (as in Exodus 7:1), while the pronouns for the king stay lowercase, as in the rest of the psalm. Hebrews 1:8-9 quotes verses 6-7 as spoken to the Son, who is greater than the angels (compare Isaiah 9:6, where the promised son of David is called El Gibbor, "Mighty El"). "The oil of gladness" is the oil of joy at the feast, the gladness that crowns his anointing as king (compare Isaiah 61:3).
• 45:10 Now the poet turns to the bride (the Hebrew forms in verses 10-15 are feminine). She is called to leave her people and her father's house, as a man "shall leave his father and his mother" (Genesis 2:24), and to give her loyalty to the king: "he is your lord" (adon, the ordinary word for a master or husband, lowercase here), and "bow down to him" is the homage given to a king, as when Bathsheba "paid homage to the king" (1 Kings 1:16). Many Christian readers, following the apostolic reading of verses 6-7, have heard in the bride a picture of Messiah's people (compare Ephesians 5:25-27; Revelation 19:7).
• 45:17 The poet closes by speaking to the king again (the forms are masculine): his name will be remembered "in all generations," and the peoples will praise him "forever and ever." In the Psalms such words usually belong to Yahweh's own name and praise (compare 102:12; 135:13), and Yahweh had promised David, "your throne shall be established forever" (2 Samuel 7:16). This is one reason the psalm came to be read of the Messiah, the son of David.

Psalm 44 · Psalm 46

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