Bible verse wall art
Psalm 65: the God who crowns the year
Psalm 65 is a harvest song. It moves from the temple to the ends of the earth and back down to plowed fields, meadows full of sheep and valleys covered with grain.
Psalm 65 print
Psalm 65 · King James Version
11 Thou crownest the year with thy goodness
Praise waiting in Zion
The heading calls it a psalm and song of David. It begins in the place of worship: praise waits for God in Zion, and vows will be paid there. God is addressed as the one who hears prayer, to whom all flesh will come. The psalmist admits that iniquities prevail against him, and then rejoices that God purges transgressions away.
Then the view widens. God is the confidence of all the ends of the earth and of those far off upon the sea. He set fast the mountains and stills the roaring of the waves and the tumult of the peoples. Those who live at the far edges of the world are in awe of his signs.
What does “Thou crownest the year” mean?
From verse 9 onward the psalm comes down to earth, literally. God visits the land and waters it, enriching it with the river of God that is full of water. He prepares grain, soaks the furrows, settles the ridges and makes the ground soft with showers. Then verse 11, the line on our poster: Thou crownest the year with thy goodness, and thy paths drop fatness.
A crown is set on at the end, as the finishing touch. Harvest is pictured as God placing a crown on the whole agricultural year, the reward of months of rain and waiting. And the image of his paths dripping with richness suggests a cart so loaded that the bounty spills wherever it goes.
Hills that sing
The last verses are full of joy. The little hills rejoice on every side, the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys are covered over with grain, and they shout for joy and sing. In the psalm even the landscape joins the praise.
Psalm 65 is often read at harvest festivals and at Thanksgiving services. Our Harvest Field print, with golden sheaves and autumn trees, makes seasonal Christian wall art for a kitchen or dining room from September to November, and a thoughtful gift for a farming family.
Seedtime and harvest
The psalm stands on the promise God makes after the flood in Genesis 8, that while the earth remains, seedtime and harvest will not cease. In Acts 14, Paul tells a crowd in Lystra that God has not left himself without witness, giving rain from heaven and fruitful seasons.