Psalms 72 · Verse 3

Psalms 72:3

The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.
Psalms 72:3, King James Version

Psalms 72:3 in other translations

BSBMay the mountains bring peace to the people, and the hills bring righteousness.
WEBThe mountains shall bring prosperity to the people. The hills bring the fruit of righteousness.
ASVThe mountains shall bring peace to the people, And the hills, in righteousness.
YLTThe mountains bear peace to the people, And the heights by righteousness.
DARBYThe mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the hills, by righteousness.
BBEMay the mountains give peace to the people, and the hills righteousness.
WebsterThe mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.

What does Psalms 72:3 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
3. As mountains and hills are not usually productive, they are here selected to show the abundance of peace, being represented as bringing--or, literally, "bearing" it as a produce. by righteousness--that is, by means of his eminently just and good methods of ruling.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 3 The mountains shall bring peace - Perhaps mountains and hills are here taken in their figurative sense, to signify princes and petty governors; and it is a prediction that all governors of provinces and magistrates should administer equal justice in their several departments and jurisdictions; so that universal peace should be preserved, and the people be every where prosperous; for שלום shalom signifies both peace and prosperity, for without the former the latter never existed. But what is the meaning of "the little hills by righteousness?" Why, it has no meaning: and it has none, because it is a false division of the verse. The word בצדקה bitsedakah, in righteousness, at the end of Psa 72:3, should begin Psa 72:4, and then the sense will be plain. Psa 72:3 : "The mountains and the hills shall bring prosperity to the people." Psa 72:4 : "In righteousness he shall judge the poor of the people: he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor." The effects, mentioned in the fourth verse, show that King Solomon should act according to the law of his God; and that all officers, magistrates, and governors, should minister equal rights through every part of the land. The Septuagint has the true division: Αναλαβετω τα ορη ειρηνην τῳ λαῳ σου, και οἱ βουνοι· Εν δικαιοσυνῃ κρινει τους πτωχους του λαου, κ. τ. λ. "The mountains shall bring peace to thy people, and the hills: In righteousness shall he judge the poor of thy people," etc.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Psalms 72:2-17

This is a prophecy of the kingdom of Christ; many passages in it cannot be applied to the reign of Solomon. There were righteousness and peace at first in the administration of his government; but, before the end of his reign, there were troubles and unrighteousness. The kingdom here spoken of is to last as long as the sun, but Solomon's was soon at an end. Even the Jewish expositors understood it of the kingdom of…

Read the full comment on Psalms 72:2-17 →

Psalms 72:3 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

יִשְׂא֤וּyis.'Uthey will carryH5375
הָרִ֓יםha.RimmountainsH2022
שָׁ֘ל֥וֹםsha.LompeaceH7965
לָעָ֑םla.'Amto the peopleH5971
וּ֝גְבָע֗וֹתu.ge.va.'otand hillsH1389
בִּצְדָקָֽה\׃bitz.da.Kahin righteousnessH6666

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Psalms 72:3

  • Isaiah 52:7

    How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

  • 2 Corinthians 5:19-21

    To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

  • Daniel 9:24

    Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

  • Joel 3:18

    And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

  • Ezekiel 34:13-14

    And I will bring them out from the people, and gather them from the countries, and will bring them to their own land, and feed them upon the mountains of Israel by the rivers, and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be: there shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the mountains of Israel.

  • Psalms 96:11-13

    Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof. Let the field be joyful, and all that is therein: then shall all the trees of the wood rejoice Before the Lord: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

  • Isaiah 32:16-17

    Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever.

  • Psalms 72:16

    There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth.

  • Psalms 85:10-11

    Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven.

  • Psalms 65:12

    They drop upon the pastures of the wilderness: and the little hills rejoice on every side.

  • Psalms 98:8-9

    Let the floods clap their hands: let the hills be joyful together Before the Lord; for he cometh to judge the earth: with righteousness shall he judge the world, and the people with equity.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
mountains.
16; Isa 32:16,17; 52:7; Eze 34:13,14; Joe 3:18
little.
65:12
by righteousness.
85:10,11; 96:11-13; 98:8,9; Da 9:24; 2Co 5:19-21

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Psalms 72:2

    He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment.

  • Psalms 72:3

    The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness.

  • Psalms 72:4

    He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor.

Read all of Psalms 72

Psalms 72:3 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909
Los montes llevarán paz al pueblo, y los collados justicia.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885
Les montagnes porteront la paix au peuple, et les coteaux, – par la justice.
German
Elberfelder 1871
Es werden dem Volke Frieden tragen die Berge und die Hügel durch Gerechtigkeit.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate
quia zelavi super iniquos, pacem peccatorum videns.