God shall bless us - That is, with prosperity, peace, salvation. The making of his name known abroad will be the means of blessing the world; will be the highest favor that can be conferred on mankind.

And all the ends of the earth shall fear him - All parts of the earth. See the notes at Psalm 22:27. The time, therefore, looked for is that when the knowledge of the Lord shall pervade all lands; the time to which the ancient prophets were constantly looking forward as the sum of all their wishes, and the burden of all their communications; that time, for the coming of which all who love their fellow-men, and who earnestly desire the welfare of the world, should most earnestly pray. The hope that this may occur, is the only bright thing in the future respecting this world; and he lives most in accordance with the high ends for which man was made who most earnestly desires this, and who, by his prayers and efforts, contributes most to this glorious consummation.

God shall bless us - He shall ever be speaking good to us, and ever showering down good things upon us.

The last clause of the sixth verse should be joined to the seventh, as it is in several of the Versions, and should be in all. Many of the fathers, and several commentators, have thought that there is a reference to the Holy Trinity in the triple repetition of the word God: "God, our God, shall bless us; God shall bless us;" thus paraphrased in the old Psalter: "Blis us God the Fader: and our God the sone: and blis us and multipli us God the Hali Gast; that swa drede him God, all the endis of erth; for he wil comme to deme rightwysly that unrightwysly was demed. He that kan drede him, he eesses noght to lufe him."

When or by whom this Psalm was written cannot be ascertained. It seems to be simply a prophecy concerning the calling of the Gentiles, the preaching of the apostles, and the diffusion and influence of Christianity in the world. It is a fine piece of devotion; and it would be nearly impossible to read or repeat it with a cold and unaffected heart.

God shall bless us,.... The Holy Spirit blesses with regenerating and renewing grace; with faith, comfort, joy and peace, by shedding abroad in the heart the love of the Father and the Son; by applying precious promises; by testifying adoption; by making meet for heaven and happiness, and working up for the selfsame thing eternal glory;

and all the ends of the earth shall fear him; the one God, Father, Son, and Spirit, the object of religious fear, internal and external; for this includes the exercise of that inward grace of filial fear, and the performance of all divine worship, public and private; and which in the latter day will be found among Jews and Gentiles, in all the inhabitants of the earth, even to the ends of it, Hosea 3:5.

God shall bless us; and all the ends of the earth {e} shall fear him.

(e) When they feel his great benefits both spiritual and corporal toward them.

Margin fear

See Scofield Note: "Ps 19:9".

67:1-7 A prayer for the enlargement of Christ's kingdom. - All our happiness comes from God's mercy; therefore the first thing prayed for is, God be merciful to us, to us sinners, and pardon our sins. Pardon is conveyed by God's blessing, and secured in that. If we, by faith, walk with God, we may hope that his face will shine on us. The psalmist passes on to a prayer for the conversion of the Gentiles, which shows that the Old Testament saints desired that their advantages might also be enjoyed by others. And many Scripture prophecies and promises are wrapped up in prayers: the answer to the prayer of the church is as sure as the performance of God's promises. The joy wished to the nations, is holy joy. Let them be glad that by his providence the Lord will overrule the affairs of kingdoms; that even the kingdoms of this world shall became the kingdom of the Lord, and of his Christ. Then is declared a joyful prospect of all good when God shall do this. The success of the gospel brings outward mercies with it; righteousness exalts a nation. The blessing of the Lord sweetens all our creature-comforts to us, and makes them comforts indeed. All the world shall be brought to worship Him. When the gospel begins to spread, it shall go forward more and more, till it reaches to the ends of the earth. It is good to cast in our lot with those that are the blessed of the Lord. If nothing had been spoken in Scripture respecting the conversion of the heathen, we might think it vain to attempt so hopeless a work. But when we see with what confidence it is declared in the Scriptures, we may engage in missionary labours, assured that God will fulfil his own word. And shall we be backward to make known to the heathen the knowledge with which we are favoured, and the salvation we profess to glory in? They cannot learn unless they are taught. Then let us go forward in the strength of the Lord, and look to him to accompany the word the Holy Ghost; then Satan's kingdom shall be destroyed, and the kingdom of our Redeemer established.