Psalms 72:18-20

72:18 The Lord God, the God of Israel, deserves praise! ¹ 

He alone accomplishes amazing things! ² 

72:19 His glorious name deserves praise ³  forevermore!

May his majestic splendor ⁴  fill the whole earth!

We agree! We agree! ⁵ 

72:20 This collection of the prayers of David son of Jesse ends here. ⁶ 

[72:18]  ¹ tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21; 41:13.

[72:18]  ² tn Heb “[the] one who does amazing things by himself.”

[72:19]  ³ tn Heb “[be] blessed.”

[72:19]  ⁴ tn Or “glory.”

[72:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “Amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response of agreement to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God.

[72:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “the prayers of David, son of Jesse, are concluded.” As noted earlier, v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter. In the present arrangement of the Book of Psalms, not all psalms prior to this are attributed to David (see Pss 1-2, 10, 33, 42-50, 66-67, 71-72) and several psalms attributed to David appear after this (see Pss 86, 101, 103, 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 138-145).