BackgroundA coronation prayer dated near the end of David's life, ~970 BCE. Protestant tradition is divided: the superscription "Of Solomon" supports Solomon as author, while the v20 colophon ("the prayers of David are ended") and the ambiguity of the Hebrew "lishlomoh" (which can mean "for Solomon") lead many to read this as David's prayer for his son.
Psalm 72: A King's Last Prayer for His Son
Of Solomon.
By Bea Zalel
Psalm 72
Of Solomon.
- Endow the king with Your justice, O God, and the son of the king with Your righteousness.
- May he judge Your people with righteousness and Your afflicted with justice.
- May the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills bring righteousness.
- May he vindicate the afflicted among the people; may he save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor.
- May they fear him as long as the sun shines, as long as the moon remains, through all generations.
- May he be like rain that falls on freshly cut grass, like spring showers that water the earth.
- May the righteous flourish in his days and prosperity abound until the moon is no more.
- May he rule from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates to the ends of the earth.
- May the nomads bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust.
- May the kings of Tarshish and distant shores bring tribute; may the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts.
- May all kings bow down to him and all nations serve him.
- For he will deliver the needy who cry out and the afflicted who have no helper.
- He will take pity on the poor and needy and save the lives of the oppressed.
- He will redeem them from oppression and violence, for their blood is precious in his sight.
- Long may he live! May gold from Sheba be given him. May people ever pray for him; may they bless him all day long.
- May there be an abundance of grain in the land; may it sway atop the hills. May its fruit trees flourish like the forests of Lebanon, the people of its cities like the grass of the field.
- May his name endure forever; may his name continue as long as the sun shines. In him may all nations be blessed; may they call him blessed.
- Blessed be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
- And blessed be His glorious name forever; may all the earth be filled with His glory. Amen and amen.
- Thus conclude the prayers of David son of Jesse.
Theme
Psalm 72 carries the superscription "of Solomon" but the closing colophon in verse 20 says "the prayers of David son of Jesse are ended." The most natural reading is that this is David's final prayer, prayed over Solomon as the dying king hands the throne to his son in the events of 1 Kings 1-2. "Of Solomon" in Hebrew can equally be "for Solomon" or "belonging to Solomon". A first-temple Israelite reading the scroll would have understood this as a father's final benediction, the kind of thing every Hebrew father offered his son but here magnified to royal scale. David is not just blessing Solomon. He is praying the kind of king he hopes Israel will get next, after he is gone.
The psalm's first concern is not military glory but justice for the poor. "He will defend the afflicted among the people. He will save the children of the needy and crush the oppressor." In the ancient Near East, a king's first listed virtue in royal inscriptions was usually his conquest record. David's prayer for his son inverts that. Long before he asks God to give Solomon dominion from sea to sea, he asks God to make him the kind of king who notices the widow at the gate, the laborer cheated of wages, the orphan with no advocate. The Hebrew word "shalom" appears repeatedly here in its full sense: not the absence of war but a flourishing where the weakest in society are safe. That order matters. Justice for the poor first, dominion second.
The dominion language in verses 8-11 is breathtaking. "From sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth." The kings of Tarshish (Spanish coast) and the islands bring tribute. The kings of Sheba (south Arabia) and Seba (Africa) bring gifts. All nations bow down. Solomon's actual reign would partially fulfill this (1 Kings 10 records the Queen of Sheba arriving with caravans of gold) but the psalm's language always overran Solomon. By the time of the post-exilic editors who finalized the Psalter, every reader knew that no son of David had actually held that kind of empire; the prayer began to function as a description of the king Israel was still waiting for. The Christian church, from Justin Martyr forward, has read the global-king language of verses 8-17 as fulfilled in Christ and still being fulfilled until every knee bows, though no specific NT verse cites this psalm directly. Hold both together. It is genuinely a coronation prayer for Solomon. It is also a prayer that pulled Israel forward toward a king bigger than Solomon.
Verses 18-19 are not part of David's prayer for his son. They are the editorial doxology that closes Book II of the Psalter, the second of five such doxologies that mark the end of each book (compare Psalm 41:13, Psalm 89:52, Psalm 106:48, Psalm 150). Each book ends with "Blessed be the LORD". Psalm 72 closes with "and let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen." Then verse 20, the colophon: "the prayers of David son of Jesse are ended." That is the editor's hand, telling us that the heavy concentration of David psalms in Books I and II is now finishing. From here forward we will hear other voices: Asaph, the sons of Korah, Moses, Heman, Ethan, anonymous post-exilic singers. Book II ends like a king laying down his crown; like a scribe closing a scroll; like a praying community saying "amen" twice.
Discussion questions
- How does it change the psalm to read it as David's deathbed prayer over Solomon (1 Kings 1-2) rather than Solomon's prayer about himself?
- Why do you think David's first concern for his son's reign is justice for the poor rather than military success?
- How would a citizen of an ancient Near Eastern kingdom have heard verses 8-11 differently from a typical royal inscription of the period?
- Read 1 Kings 10:1-13. How much of Psalm 72 does Solomon's actual reign fulfill? Where does the psalm's language run beyond him?
- What does the Hebrew "shalom" in this psalm look like in concrete daily life, beyond the absence of war?
- Verses 18-19 are a doxology not a continuation of David's prayer. What does it tell you that Israel's editors shaped the Psalter into five books, each ending with this kind of "amen"?
- How do you hold the psalm's first context (Solomon's actual coronation) together with the church's later christological reading without flattening either?
- What kind of leaders does this psalm teach you to pray for, in your city, your state, your nation?
- Verse 20 closes the Davidic core of the Psalter. How does that ending feel different from the way modern books end? What does it teach about closing seasons of your own life?
- Read Psalm 72 alongside Isaiah 11:1-9 and Revelation 21:22-27. What thread runs through all three pictures of the final king?
Read this psalm in another translation
The inline text above is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB). Open in a new tab to compare with a modern licensed translation: