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PSALM 65

To him that presides; a Psalm of David, a song.

1. Trust and praise are due to you, O god! in Zion; and to you shall the vow be performed.
2. O you that hearest prayer, to you shall all flesh come.
3. Iniquities overwhelm me; but as for our transgressions, you will forgive them.
4. Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach, he shall dwell in your courts; we shall be satisfied with the good of your house, with the holiness of your temple.
5. Wonderful things in justice will you answer us, O god of our salvation, the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the sea afar off.
6. Who by his strength sets fast the mountains, being girded with power.
7. Who stills the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumult of the peoples.
8. And they that dwell at the extremities of the earth are afraid on account of your signs; you make the outgoings of the morning and evening to sing.
9. You visit the earth, and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of god is full of water; you prepare their corn, for thus you have established it.
10. You water the furrows thereof; you set the ridges thereof; you make it soft with showers, you bless the springing thereof.
11. You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths drop fatness.
12. The habitations of the wilderness distil; and the hills are girded with joy.
13. The pastures are clothed with flocks; the valleys are covered with corn; they shout, they also sing.

Verse 4. Blessed is the man whom you choose, and cause to approach, he shall dwell in your courts; we shall be satisfied with the good of your house, with the holiness of your temple. By these words is signified that they who are in charity, or in spiritual affection, are about to live in heaven, and are there in intelligence and wisdom from Divine Truth and Divine Good; by the elect, or by whom you choose, are signified those who are in neighbourly love or in charity; by causing to approach is signified spiritual affection or love, for in proportion as man is in that love or in that affection, in the same proportion he is near to the lord, for every one approaches according to that love; by inhabiting courts is signified to live in heaven, by inhabiting to live, and by courts heaven; by being satisfied with the good of your house is signified from Divine good to be in wisdom; and by being satisfied with the holiness of your temple is signified from Divine truth to be in intelligence, and from both to enjoy celestial joy; the house of god signifies heaven and the church as to Divine good, and the temple heaven and the church as to Divine truth, holiness is predicated of spiritual good which is truth. AE 630.

Verse 5. The confidence of all the ends of the earth and of the sea afar off. The ends of the earth and the sea afar off, signify the ultimates of the church. In the opposite sense by afar off is signified evil, because this is in the external man, for all, who are in evils and in falses thence derived, are external men. AE 1133.

Verses 6, 7. god who by his strength sets fast the mountains, he being girded with power; who stills the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and, the tumult of the people, and they that dwell in the extremities are afraid on account of your signs. Thus is described the Divine power of the lord by things which testify that it ought to be believed, but the things which testify, which are signs, are not that he sets fast the mountain, that he stills the noise of the seas, the noise of the waves, and the tumult of the people, for these are not such signs as to persuade those who ascribe all things to nature; but those things are signs testifying the Divine power of the lord, which are understood in the spiritual sense in which heaven and the church are treated of, for in that sense, by mountains, which by his strength he sets, fast, are meant the superior heavens, because the angels of those heavens dwell upon mountains, and in the abstract sense is meant love to the lord and charity towards our neighbour, these being the things which the lord sets fast by his power, that is, makes to subsist for ever; that mountains signify such things, see above, AE 405; by the noise of the seas and the noise of the waves are meant the disputes and reasonings of those who are below the heavens, and who are natural and sensual; that seas signify those things which are of the natural man, thus natural men, and hence their noise and waves signify their disputes and reasonings, see also above, AE 342; by the tumult of the people are meant contradictions from falses, for by people are signified those who are in truths, and in the opposite sense who are in falses, see above, AE 175, 331, 625; that they who dwell in the extremities are afraid of your signs, signifies holy worship grounded in faith concerning the Divine power with those who are in the ultimates of heaven and the church; that to fear is to worship the lord from charity and faith, see above, AE 696, and that the inhabitants of the extremities are those who are in the ultimates of heaven and of the church, and are there in the faith of charity, is evident from this consideration, that extremities are the ultimates of heaven and of the church; from these considerations it is evident that signs here signify testifications respecting the Divine power of the lord. AE 706.

Verses 9, 10. You visit the earth, and water it; you greatly enrich it; the river of god is full of water; you prepare their corn, for thus you have established it; you water the furrows thereof; you set the ridges thereof; you make it soft with showers; you bless the springing thereof. By earth is here signified the church; by a river full of water is signified doctrine full of truths; by watering her ridges, by settling the furrows, and making it soft with showers, is signified to fill with the knowledges of good and truth; by preparing corn is signified all that nourishes the soul; wherefore it is added, thus you establish the earth, that is the church; by blessing the springing thereof is signified to produce anew continually, and to give birth to truths. AE 644.

Verses 12, 13. The habitations of the wilderness distil; the hills are girded with joy; the pastures are clothed with flocks; and the valleys are covered with corn, they shout, they also sing. These words relate also to the church amongst the nations; by the habitations of the wilderness distilling, is signified that the minds of those, which were before in ignorance of truth, acknowledge and receive truths; to distil is spoken of the influx, the acknowledgement and reception of truth; habitations have relation to the interiors of man, which are of his mind, and wilderness is spoken of the state of the ignorance of truth; that the hills are girded with joy, signifies that the goods belonging to them receive truths with joy of heart; that the pastures are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are covered with corn, signifies that each mind, both the spiritual and natural, receives the truths suitable to itself; pastures signify those things which are of the spiritual mind, and valleys those which are of the natural mind, and flock spiritual truth, and corn natural truth. AE 730.