Psalms 45
Psalm 45 carries one of the most unusual titles in the Psalter: To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of loves. Shoshannim means “lilies” - perhaps a tune, perhaps the springtime freshness of a wedding; and the psalm is, on its surface, a song composed for a royal marriage. Yet from its earliest reception this was read as no ordinary wedding song. The King it celebrates is fairer than the children of men, His throne is addressed as lasting for ever and ever, and His reign reaches to all generations - language that strains past any son of David who ever lived and died. Reading it slowly alongside the Hebrew and the wider canon3 lets the song open to its full height.
The psalm falls into two clear movements. The first (vv. 1-9) sings to the King: His beauty and gracious speech, His sword and majesty, His eternal throne, His robes fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia, the queen standing at His right hand in gold of Ophir. The second (vv. 10-17) sings to the bride: she is called to hearken, to forget her father's house, to be brought to the King all glorious within, with gladness and rejoicing. Between the two stands the hinge the New Testament could not leave alone - Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever… therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee (vv. 6-7) - where the King is both addressed as God and anointed by God.
Watch, as you read, how the song refuses to separate power from love. The same King who girds a sword upon His thigh rides forth because of truth and meekness and righteousness; the same throne that lasts for ever rests on a heart that loveth righteousness, and hateth wickedness. And watch how the bride's glory is never something she manufactures - it is given. She is brought to the King, clothed in raiment of needlework, made all glorious within. The wedding the psalm sings is, in the end, the wedding the whole of Scripture is moving toward.
Tap any highlighted phrase to jump to the commentary that unpacks it.

Psalm 45:1-5 · To the chief Musician upon Shoshannim, for the sons of Korah, Maschil, A Song of lovesThou Art Fairer Than the Children of Men
1My 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. 2Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. 3Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty, with thy glory and thy majesty. 4And in thy majesty ride prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness; and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. 5Thine arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies; whereby the people fall under thee.
The poet can hardly contain himself. My heart is inditing a good matter - the old word inditing means bubbling or boiling over, the way a spring overflows; his heart is welling up with what it has to say. My tongue is the pen of a ready writer: the words come fluently, eagerly, like a skilled scribe whose hand can scarcely keep pace with the matter. This is not duty or hollow flattery. It is a man overcome by the worth of his subject - the king - and the whole psalm is the overflow.
Grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever. The King's beauty comes to a point in His speech. Grace is poured - not measured out in drops but lavished - into His lips, so that what comes from His mouth is gracious, healing, life-giving. Centuries later, people would sit in a synagogue in Nazareth and marvel at exactly this: all… wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth (Luke 4:22). The blessing that rests on such a King is not for a season but for ever.
Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O most mighty… And in thy majesty ride prosperously. The King is no mere ornament; He is a warrior. Yet notice what His might is wedded to. He rides out because of truth and meekness and righteousness - strength in the service of what is true and right, and (most surprising of all) of meekness. Power and gentleness are not at war in this King; they ride out together. His arrows are sharp in the heart of the king's enemies - the rule He brings is real and effective - but the cause it serves is righteousness, not raw conquest.
Psalm 45:6-9Thy Throne, O God, Is For Ever and Ever
6Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. 7Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. 8All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made thee glad. 9Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women: upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir.
These two verses are the spine of the psalm. Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre. The King's rule is not merely long; it is endless, and it is right - a straight scepter, a rule with no crookedness in it. And verse 7 tells you why such a throne endures: Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness. This is a throne that lasts because the heart behind it is set on what is good. The reward is the oil of gladness poured out above thy fellows - an anointing of joy beyond all companions.
All thy garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces. The King comes robed in fragrance for His wedding - the spices of celebration and of love, the same myrrh and aloes that perfume the lovers of the Song of Solomon. Yet a reader who knows the whole story can hardly hear these names only once: myrrh was carried to the infant King by the wise men (Matt. 2:11), and myrrh and aloes were the very spices brought to bury Him (John 19:39). The robes of the Bridegroom carry the scent of both His coming and His costliest love.
Upon thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir. At the King's right hand - the place of highest honour - stands the queen, arrayed in the finest gold the ancient world knew. The picture is one of a beloved exalted, not kept at a distance but set in the place of nearest dignity. It is the same picture the New Testament will draw of the people joined to Christ: not servants left outside the door, but a bride brought near, given honour beside the King.
Psalm 45:10-17The King's Daughter Is All Glorious Within
10Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house; 11So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. 12And the daughter of Tyre shall be there with a gift; even the rich among the people shall intreat thy favour. 13The king's daughter is all glorious within: her clothing is of wrought gold. 14She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework: the virgins her companions that follow her shall be brought unto thee. 15With gladness and rejoicing shall they be brought: they shall enter into the king's palace. 16Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. 17I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever.
Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house. The call to the bride is tender, but it is real: a leaving. To belong wholly to the King she must loosen her grip on the old allegiances and the old identity. It is the very pattern set down at the first wedding - therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife (Gen. 2:24) - and it is what every deep covenant asks: that something be left behind so that something greater can be wholly received. This is not loss for its own sake; it is the door into a new home.
So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him. Two things stand side by side here that we rarely hold together: the King greatly desires the bride, and the bride is to worship Him. Reverence and desire are not at odds. He is her Lord, owed honour and worship; and He is also the one who longs for her, who finds her beautiful. Long after, the same note sounds in Hebrews, where God says of the Son, let all the angels of God worship him (Heb. 1:6). The One worthy of all worship is the very One who desires His people - and the beauty He desires in them is, as the next verse says, a glory within.
Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. The bride who was told to forget… thy father's house (v. 10) is now promised a future that more than answers the leaving: in place of the fathers she left behind come children, and not ordinary children - princes in all the earth. What is given up for the King is repaid in a new and royal family. It is the same arithmetic Jesus would later promise - that whatever is left for His sake is restored a hundredfold - and the same wide horizon, a family reaching to all the earth.
I will make thy name to be remembered in all generations: therefore shall the people praise thee for ever and ever. The psalm ends where it could only end - in a name that outlasts the generations and a praise that has no last day. No merely human king holds such a thing; their names fade, their dynasties fall. But the King this song finally sings of has a throne for ever and ever (v. 6) and now a name remembered in all generations - the everlasting throne and the everlasting name meeting in one Person, whom the peoples will praise for ever and ever.
Further study
- The Hebrew of the royal wedding song with classical Jewish commentary - helpful on yophyaphita, mashach, and the “song of loves.”
- Psalm 45 ↔ Hebrews 1 · Ephesians 5 · Revelation 19Intertextual BibleMaps how the New Testament takes up Psalm 45 - the throne of vv. 6-7 in Hebrews 1, the bride of vv. 10-17 in Ephesians and Revelation.
- Psalm 45 · Translators' NotesNET BibleVerse-by-verse translation notes on the wedding song, the difficult vv. 6-7, and the superscription.
Where this echoes in Scripture
Thou Art Fairer Than the Children of Men
- Luke 4:22All bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth.Grace poured into the King’s lips (v. 2), heard in the synagogue at Nazareth.
- Matthew 21:5Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass.The King who rides for meekness and righteousness (v. 4) enters Jerusalem.
- Revelation 19:11In righteousness he doth judge and make war.The warrior-King of vv. 3-5 seen at the end of all things.
- Isaiah 53:2He hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.The fairest King (v. 2) first comes in a form the world judged unlovely.
Thy Throne, O God, Is For Ever and Ever
- Hebrews 1:8-9But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever… therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.The New Testament lays Psalm 45:6-7 word for word upon the Son.
- Acts 10:38How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.The anointing of v. 7 (<em>mashach</em>) named over Jesus the Christ.
- Daniel 7:14His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away.The everlasting throne of v. 6 seen in Daniel’s night vision.
- Song of Solomon 1:3Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth.The fragrant, anointed Bridegroom of vv. 7-8 in the language of love.
The King’s Daughter Is All Glorious Within
- Ephesians 5:25-27That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle… holy and without blemish.The glorious bride of vv. 13-14 read as Christ and the church.
- Revelation 19:7The marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.The royal wedding the psalm sings, at the end of all things.
- 2 Corinthians 11:2I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.Paul casts the church as the bride brought to the King (v. 14).
- Revelation 21:2Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.The bride <em>all glorious within</em> (v. 13) in her final adorning.