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Psalm 72:16
Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
14He will redeem their soul from oppression and violence. Their blood will be precious in his sight.
15He will live; and Sheba’s gold will be given to him. Men will pray for him continually. They will bless him all day long.
16Abundance of grain shall be throughout the land. Its fruit sways like Lebanon. Let it flourish, thriving like the grass of the field.
17His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
18Praise be to the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds.
Notice
Grain throughout the land makes the hope for a good king’s reign tangible: fields full of growth and food reaching beyond a single household.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What would grain “throughout the land” mean for people facing hunger where you live?
Write on thisWhat does the comparison with grass suggest to you about the flourishing pictured here?
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Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
John 12:24Most certainly I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit.Both passages connect grain with abundant fruit, though Jesus speaks of a grain dying and the psalm pictures a flourishing land.
Genesis 26:12Isaac sowed in that land, and reaped in the same year one hundred times what he planted. The LORD blessed him.Isaac’s hundredfold harvest gives a concrete example of the agricultural abundance pictured in the psalm.
Job 5:25You will know also that your offspring will be great, your offspring as the grass of the earth.Both compare flourishing life to grass, with Job speaking of offspring and the psalm describing growth throughout the land.
Hosea 2:23I will sow her to me in the earth; and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; and I will tell those who were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ …Both draw on farming, though Hosea speaks of God sowing a people for himself and the psalm describes abundant grain.
1 Corinthians 3:9For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s farming, God’s building.The shared thread is farming: the psalm pictures fruitful land, while Paul describes the believers as God’s farming.
Isaiah 61:11For as the earth produces its bud, and as the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to …Both picture growth from the earth; Isaiah uses that growth to describe righteousness and praise springing up before the nations.
Psalm 65:13The pastures are covered with flocks. The valleys also are clothed with grain. They shout for joy! They also sing.Both psalms picture land filled with grain, with Psalm 65 adding valleys that shout and sing for joy.
Isaiah 35:2It will blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing. Lebanon’s glory will be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They will see the …Lebanon appears in both descriptions of flourishing, alongside swaying fruit in the psalm and abundant blossoms in Isaiah.
1 Kings 4:20Judah and Israel were numerous as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking and making merry.The psalm’s abundant grain and Kings’ account of Judah and Israel eating and drinking share a picture of material plenty.
Revelation 7:9After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no man could count, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing …The connection is limited to abundance: grain fills the psalm’s land, while Revelation describes an uncountable multitude before the throne and the Lamb.
Psalm 85:12Yes, the LORD will give that which is good. Our land will yield its increase.Both psalms anticipate fruitful land, and Psalm 85 names the LORD as the giver of what is good.
Isaiah 4:2In that day, the LORD’s branch will be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the land will be the beauty and glory of the survivors of Israel.Both speak of the land’s fruit as a sign of flourishing, with Isaiah describing its beauty and glory for Israel’s survivors.
Where this verse fits
Gratitude. job loss or money fear. praise and worship.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Food for a whole land belongs within this psalm’s vision of a good reign. Its closing praise names God as the one who does marvelous deeds.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).