Psalms 61:6

Thou wilt prolong the king's life Lit., Thou wilt add days to the days of the king. Cp. 2 Kings 20:6. From speaking of the people (Psalms 61:5), David passes to speak of himself. His life had been in danger: but now the danger was over. At first sight the words may seem to be those of another, speaking of David, rather than those of David speaking of himself. But he thus uses the third person because he is speaking of himself in his capacity of king, referring to the promises made to the king as such. Cp. Jeremiah 38:5, where Zedekiah says, "The king is not he that can do anything against you" = I, though king, cannot &c.

and his years R.V., his years shall be as many generations. This verse is not a prayer, and the text ought not to be altered to turn it into a prayer. It is a confident appeal to God's promise and purpose. The long life which was one of Jehovah's special blessings under the old covenant (Exodus 23:26; 1 Kings 3:11; Proverbs 3:2, and often), and which was a natural object of desire when the hope of a future life was all but a blank, was promised specially to the king (Psalms 21:4). The language is partly hyperbolical, like the salutation "Let the king live for ever" (1 Kings 1:31; Nehemiah 2:3); partly it thinks of the king as living on in his descendants (2 Samuel 7:13; 2Sa 7:16; 2 Samuel 7:29; Psalms 89:29; Psalms 89:36); but words which in their strict sense could apply to no human individual, become a prophecy of One greater than David; and thus the Targum here interprets -king" by -King Messiah." See Introd. p. lxxiv ff; and Introd. to Psalms 21.