Psalms 45 KJV
A Royal Wedding Song
About This Psalm
A royal wedding song - the king and his bride. Traditionally read as Christ and His church. Love poetry with eternal significance.
1y heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready writer.
2 Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
3 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty.
4 And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things.
5 Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the kingโs enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
6 Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.
7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
8 All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad.
9 Kingsโ daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
10 Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy fatherโs house;
11 So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.
12 And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour.
13 The kingโs daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold.
14 She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee.
15 With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the kingโs palace.
16 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth.
17 I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
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Did You Know?
The direct address to the king as 'O God' in verse 6 stands out as the clearest instance in the Hebrew Bible where a human ruler receives divine language, later leveraged in Hebrews 1 to argue Christ's superiority over angels.
The reference to 'ivory palaces' aligns with archaeological finds of Samaria's 8th-century ivory carvings, pointing to possible composition during the Omride dynasty and its Phoenician alliances rather than Solomon's era.
The bride is instructed to 'forget also thine own people and thy father's house,' a phrase that deliberately echoes the Abrahamic call narrative and frames royal marriage as a covenantal rupture akin to Israel's separation from surrounding nations.
Though attributed to the sons of Korah, whose psalms usually emphasize temple liturgy or communal lament, this one uniquely adopts the voice of a court poet delivering a secular wedding ode later canonized as scripture.
The king's 'arrows' that are 'sharp in the heart of the king's enemies' draw on ancient Near Eastern divine-warrior iconography, yet the psalm immediately pivots to eternal righteousness, creating tension between martial conquest and moral rule absent in typical ANE parallels.