Psalms 65:11

Thou crownest. — Better, hast crowned. We generally connect the idea of completion with this metaphor, but the original thought in the Hebrew word, as in the Greek στέφω, is probably to encompass. Comp. the Latin corono in Lucretius, 2:802 —

“Sylva coronat aquas ingens nemus omne.”

All “the circle of the golden year” had been attended by Divine goodness. The meaning seems to be that God had made a year which was naturally prosperous still more abundant.

Paths. — The root from which the Hebrew word is formed means to roll, or revolve, and it often means the track made by a wheel. This idea may be present since God is often represented in Hebrew poetry as riding on a chariot of clouds, generally with the association of wrath and destruction (Psalms 18:10; Psalms 68:4), but here, with the thought of plenty and peace following on His track, as in the Latin poet —

“Te fugiunt venti, te nubila cœli
Adventumque tuum, tibi suaves dœdala tellus
Submittit flores, tibi rident æquora ponti
Placatumque ridet diffuso lumine cœlum.”

LUCRETIUS, i. 6.

But it is more natural to give the word the meaning revolutions, and to think of the blessings brought by the “seasons as they roll.”

Fatness. — A cognate accusative to the word “drop” used absolutely in the next verse. (Comp. Proverbs 3:20.)