Waiting for the King of Peace, he who will do justice for the humble. The expectation of universal peace after so much obstinacy in murdering one another.
① 1O God, endow the king with your justice,
the royal son with your righteousness.
2May he rule your people justly
and defend the rights of the lowly.
3Let the mountains bring peace to the people,
and the hills justice.
4He will defend the cause of the poor,
deliver the children of the needy,
and crush the oppressor.
5He will endure as the sun
and as the moon through all generations.
6He will be like rain falling on the fields,
or showers watering the earth.
7Justice will flower in his days,
and peace abound till the moon be no more.
8For he reigns from sea to sea,
from the River to the ends of the earth;
9his foes are crushed before him,
and his enemies lick the dust.
10The kings of Tarshish and the islands
render him tribute,
the kings of Sheba and Seba bring gifts,
11all kings bow down to him,
and all nations serve him.
12He delivers the needy who call on him,
the afflicted with no one to help them.
13His mercy is upon the weak and the poor,
he saves the life of the poor.
14He rescues them from oppression and strife,
for their life is precious to him.
15May he live long,
may gold from Sheba be given him.
May people always pray for him,
and blessings be invoked for him all day.
16May grain abound throughout the land,
waving and rustling as in Lebanon;
may cities teem with people, as fields with grass.
17May his name endure forever;
may his name be as lasting as the sun.
All the races will boast about him,
and he will be blessed by all nations.
18Praised be the Lord, God of Israel,
who alone works so marvelously.
19Praised be his glorious name forever;
may the whole earth be filled with his glory!
Amen. Amen.
20This concludes the prayers
of David, son of Jesse.
- The ideal kingdom will never be a reality here below. The risen Lord will inaugurate it at the end of time. Faith, however, lets us discover the signs of the coming of the kingdom: humanity goes forward towards its unification; the desire for justice and peace for all grows stronger in every nation.
The King of Peace brings good news to the poor (Lk 4:18). He defends the rights of the lowly. He proclaims a new age when God will reconcile humanity; the weak have the right to live, and there is food for all.
Our world is far from the realization of the universal charter of human rights, and it is not for us to wait passively for this reign. God is so thoughtful towards humanity, created in his image, that he wishes humans to be associated with all his works, including the realization of the eternal city.
This will be, evidently, a gift of God, but not a simple gift as was the apparition of the universe. It will be the crowning of what humans have begun to do on earth.
Verse 8: from sea to sea, which means from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea; and the river is the Euphrates in the north.
Verse 10: Tarshish is the Spain of Gibraltar, the end of the Mediterranean world to the west. Sheba and Seba represent Arabia and Ethiopia.
Praised be the Lord! (v. 18). Let us remember that our psalms were at first divided into five books and each of these five books ended with a “doxology” – a short formula of praise. See the same at the end of Psalms 41 and 89.
