Psalm 21 (LXX 20) - The Crown and Joy of the King

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Psalm 21 is royal thanksgiving after salvation. Psalm 20 prayed, “May the Lord hear you”; Psalm 21 answers, “the king shall rejoice in thy strength.” The crown, the gift of life, and joy before God’s countenance all point beyond David to Christ, the King who passes through death and, according to His humanity, rises to life everlasting. The Psalm also teaches the Church how to honor victory without becoming proud: the king rejoices not in his own strength, but in the Lord’s strength.

Psalm Metadata

Field	Notes
NKJV / Masoretic numbering	Psalm 21
Septuagint / Coptic numbering	Psalm 20. After the Septuagint combines NKJV Psalms 9 and 10 as LXX Psalm 9, this section is shifted by one.
Accepted author	David by superscription: “For the end, a Psalm of David.”
Period in author’s life	No precise life event is given. The Psalm fits a royal thanksgiving after deliverance, victory, or enthronement blessing.
Christ prophecy status	Royal-Messianic and resurrection-shaped. It speaks of the king crowned with glory, receiving life and length of days forever and ever. The Church reads this most fully in Christ, the risen and crowned King.
Coptic lectionary/service use	Second Sunday of Tout Liturgy, printed Psalm 21:1-2; repeated annual fixed-day Liturgy selections printed Psalm 21:3,5. Their Brenton counterparts are LXX 20:2-3 and LXX 20:4,6 respectively.
Numbering issue	NKJV Psalm 21 corresponds to LXX Psalm 20. Brenton numbers the superscription as 20:1. Service references below retain their printed numbering; the corresponding Brenton verses are identified by their words.

Historical and Scriptural Context

Psalm 21 naturally follows Psalm 20. Psalm 20 asks for help before distress; Psalm 21 rejoices after salvation. The movement is important. Biblical faith does not only cry in danger. It remembers to thank God after deliverance.

The Psalm belongs to the family of royal Psalms. It speaks about the king, the crown, the request of his lips, the gift of life, and victory over enemies. Historically this can be prayed for the Davidic king. Prophetically and liturgically, it opens onto Christ, the Son of David whose crown and life are not temporary.

Geographical Significance ⛰️

No single earthly place controls this Psalm. Its important location is before God’s face: “thou wilt gladden him with joy with thy countenance.” The king’s true joy is not in the throne room, battlefield, or palace, but in the presence of God.

The Characters 👥

David. The accepted Psalmist, praying or singing royal thanksgiving.

The king. Historically the Davidic king. In the fuller Christian reading, Christ the King, crowned with glory and majesty after His Passion.

The enemies. Those who intend evil against the Lord and His anointed. Their plots are real, but not ultimate.

The worshipping congregation. The people who turn royal deliverance into praise.

Christ. The true King whose crown passes through thorns into glory, whose Resurrection opens everlasting life to His people, and whose joy before the Father becomes the joy of His Church.

🕯️ Light from the Word

Psalm 20:1-7, the king rejoices in the Lord’s strength

20:1 For the end, a Psalm of David. 20:2 O Lord, the king shall rejoice in thy strength; and in thy salvation he shall greatly exult. 20:3 Thou hast granted him the desire of his soul, and hast not withheld from him the request of his lips. Pause. 20:4 For thou hast prevented him with blessings of goodness: thou hast set upon his head a crown of precious stone. 20:5 He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him length of days for ever and ever. 20:6 His glory is great in thy salvation: thou wilt crown him with glory and majesty. 20:7 For thou wilt give him a blessing for ever and ever: thou wilt gladden him with joy with thy countenance.

The repeated word is gift. The Lord grants, does not withhold, comes before the king with blessings, sets the crown, gives life, crowns with glory, and gladdens with His countenance. Here “prevented” means coming before him with goodness, not obstructing him. The king is not a self-made victor. He is a receiver. Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty likewise emphasizes that David’s thanksgiving rests on God’s saving strength rather than his throne or army.

The crown is royal, but in Christ it becomes deeper. The Lord Jesus is mocked with a crown of thorns, yet the Passion reveals His kingship rather than canceling it. After the Cross, He is crowned with glory and honor. Psalm 21’s crown of precious stone is not simply political decoration. In Christian reading, it becomes an image of the Father’s vindication of the Son.

“He asked life of thee, and thou gavest him length of days for ever and ever” is impossible to exhaust in an ordinary earthly king. David died. Every king of Judah died. In Christ, the promise reaches its fullness in the Resurrection: according to His humanity, He rises from death and dies no more. This is not His divinity receiving life it previously lacked. The risen Lord gives His people a share in His death-conquering life.

Gems from the Fathers 💎

St. Augustine, in his ancient Latin exposition, identifies this as a Psalm about Christ. He reads the request for life in relation to the Resurrection and the everlasting days in relation to the Church’s life through this age and into eternity. This does not make Christ the speaker of every royal line. On the joy of God’s countenance, Augustine makes the human reference explicit: “According to His manhood, You shall make Him glad together with Your countenance, which He lifted up to You.”¹

St. Athanasius describes the Psalter as showing us our own souls and giving us words with which to pray. Applying that general teaching here, we can ask what thanksgiving reveals about us: after receiving mercy, do we return glory to God, or quietly claim the victory as our own?²

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “The king is not a self-made victor. He is a receiver.” “The crown of thorns is not the denial of kingship; it is the revelation of it.”
• Emphasize: Victory must become thanksgiving, not pride.
• Avoid: Treating the royal language as only ancient politics or only private devotion.

Psalm 20:8-14, the failure of evil plots and the exaltation of God

20:8 For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Highest he shall not be moved. 20:9 Let thy hand be found by all thine enemies: let thy right hand find all that hate thee. 20:10 Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven at the time of thy presence: the Lord shall trouble them in his anger, and fire shall devour them. 20:11 Thou shalt destroy their fruit from the earth, and their seed from among the sons of men. 20:12 For they intended evils against thee; they imagined a device which they shall by no means be able to perform. 20:13 For thou shalt make them turn their back in thy latter end, thou wilt prepare their face. 20:14 Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy strength: we will sing and praise thy mighty acts.

The second half begins with trust, not aggression. The king stands through the mercy of the Highest. The victory lines that follow can address the royal victor, whose enemies are overcome by the Lord. Christian readers also hear Christ the King coming in judgment. These readings belong together, but the changes of address are not grammatically certain at every point.

The language is severe. Evil intends. Evil imagines devices. Evil has plans. The Psalm does not pretend that enemies are harmless. But it says they cannot finally perform what they intend against the Lord. The fiery oven is judgment imagery: evil must answer to God, not merely fade into an unpleasant memory.

“Their fruit” and “their seed” extend that judgment to the enemies’ continuing fruitfulness and family line. This is severe royal poetry of complete overthrow, not merely the failure of one plot. It gives no permission to harm descendants. Nor is an innocent child’s suffering, or a family’s grief, evidence that God has rejected them.

This is not permission for personal revenge. The Psalm places judgment in God’s hand. The enemies are those who hate God and His anointed, not people we dislike. The spiritual reading must be careful here. In the inner life, the enemies are also the passions, demonic suggestions, pride, vainglory, despair, and thoughts that try to dethrone Christ in the heart. We ask that evil cease to bear fruit in us without reducing real wrongdoing and God’s judgment to inner moods. Entrusting judgment to God also leaves room for seeking protection and lawful help when harm is being done.

The next difficult line, “in thy latter end, thou wilt prepare their face,” belongs to this same movement of defeat and judgment. “Turn their back” presents enemies put to flight, but the exact force of “thy latter end” and the construction of “prepare their face” remain obscure in Brenton’s wording. The surrounding verses establish the defeat of evil; they do not make every detail of this clause clear.

The final line corrects the whole Psalm’s emotional center: “Be thou exalted, O Lord, in thy strength.” Even when the king is crowned, the Lord is exalted. Even when enemies fall, the Lord is praised. The Church learns to end deliverance with doxology.

Lesson Guide

• Key phrases: “The Psalm places judgment in God’s hand.” “Even when the king is crowned, the Lord is exalted.”
• Emphasize: The right response to deliverance is praise, not triumphalism.
• Avoid: Weaponizing the enemy language against personal opponents or their families. Explain the fruit/seed and latter-end clauses rather than passing over them.

The Church’s Voice in Worship ⛪

Coptic lectionary and service placement

Second Sunday of Tout, Liturgy. The printed selection is Psalm 21:1-2: the king’s joy in God’s strength and the granting of his heart’s desire. These words correspond to Brenton LXX 20:2-3, not the superscription numbered 20:1. The accompanying Gospel, Luke 10:21-28, gives the connection a concrete center: Jesus rejoices in the Spirit, thanks the Father, and reveals the Father to those who receive Him. The royal joy is heard beside the Son’s thanksgiving, drawing the congregation toward the knowledge of the Father rather than satisfaction in its own strength.³

Repeated annual fixed-day Liturgy selections. The printed Psalm 21:3,5 selects the blessings, crown, glory, and honor corresponding to Brenton LXX 20:4,6. The service wording speaks of a crown of pure gold; Brenton has a crown of precious stone. The intervening life verse, Brenton 20:5, is not part of this selection.

The Abib 6 Liturgy on July 13, 2023 provides one example. Its Gospel is Luke 10:1-20: the sending of the seventy, their return with joy, and Christ’s direction that their deepest rejoicing should be in their names being written in heaven. This fits the Psalm’s discipline of victory: receive God’s gift without making power itself the center of joy. This example does not make every reuse of the selection a specifically martyr service.⁴

Prayer resonance

The whole Psalm’s crown, life, and joy language also resonates with the Church’s remembrance of martyrs and saints. The saints are not honored as independent heroes. They are crowned because Christ is crowned, alive because Christ is alive, and joyful because they behold His countenance. The life language belongs to this wider Psalm resonance, not to the appointed crown-and-glory clauses alone.

Iconography Connection 🖼️

Psalm 21 pairs well with icons of Christ Pantocrator, Christ enthroned, and martyr saints receiving crowns. In iconography, the crown of a martyr is not celebrity. It is participation in Christ’s victory. If used in a lesson, place the icon of Christ enthroned before any saint icon, so the class sees the order clearly: the King first, His crowned servants after Him.

Spiritual Fruit 🍇

1. Give thanks after deliverance. Many people pray intensely in trouble and go silent after help comes. Psalm 21 teaches the soul to return and rejoice in God’s strength. Bring one remembered mercy into prayer today.

2. Do not steal God’s glory. The Psalm says the king rejoices in God’s strength. When success comes, name the help you received: God’s mercy, others’ prayers, counsel, grace, and protection.

3. Let crowns humble you. Any honor, title, opportunity, role, or visible success is dangerous if it makes the heart heavy with pride. A crown held rightly becomes gratitude. A crown held wrongly becomes judgment.

4. Trust God’s judgment with enemies. Do not carry revenge in your own hands. Ask God to expose and defeat evil, including evil within you. Refuse to make an offender’s children or family the targets of your anger.

5. Seek joy in God’s countenance. The deepest gift in the Psalm is not victory, crown, or long life. It is joy before the face of God. Make prayer less about outcomes and more about communion.

Teaching Notes

• Timing: 8 minutes for the Psalm 20/21 pairing, 20 minutes for the two textual units, 10 minutes for worship connections, and 10 minutes for discussion.
• Where to linger: The king as receiver, the crown through the Passion, and the gift of resurrection life. End with countenance as communion.
• Where to compress: Keep the worship examples brief. Do not gain time by skipping the fruit/seed judgment or the difficult latter-end clause.
• Discussion question: What changes when an honor is received as a gift rather than treated as proof of our own greatness?
• Pastoral warning: Preserve the distinction between trusting God’s judgment and taking revenge. Neither innocent children nor suffering families should be labeled rejected by God.
• Accuracy note: No precise Davidic life episode is given. Keep historical royal thanksgiving, Christian fulfillment, and spiritual application distinguishable.

Glossary

• Royal Psalm: A Psalm centered on the king, kingship, enthronement, battle, or royal thanksgiving.
• Prevented: In this older English usage, came before or anticipated with blessings; not hindered.
• Countenance: The face or presence of God. In Scripture, joy before God’s face means communion, not merely emotional relief.
• Crown: A sign of royal authority, victory, or martyrial triumph. In Christian reading, every righteous crown depends on Christ’s crown.
• Doxology: Praise that gives glory to God.
• Second Sunday of Tout: The second Sunday in the first month of the Coptic year; its ordinary Liturgy Gospel is Luke 10:21-28.

Translation and Source Notes

Embedded Scripture is from Brenton’s English Septuagint (LXX). The title uses NKJV/Masoretic numbering first: Psalm 21 (LXX 20). The passage headings follow the displayed Brenton text, which counts the superscription as verse 1. Service citations retain their printed numbering and wording; their Brenton counterparts are given separately.

Sources

Scripture and ancient commentary

• Lancelot C. L. Brenton, The Septuagint Version of the Old Testament, Psalm 20.
• St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms, discussion of the Psalter as a mirror and school of prayer.
• St. Augustine of Hippo, Expositions on the Psalms, LXX Psalm 20, especially §§1, 5, and 7. The page is titled “Psalm 21.” Augustine supplies an ancient Latin Christian reading, not a statement of unanimous Coptic interpretation.

Modern Coptic pastoral commentary

• Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, A Patristic Commentary: The Book of Psalms, Psalm 21, “Song of the King’s Conquest,” especially the thanksgiving for God’s strength and salvation.

Coptic worship

• CopticChurch.net, Second Sunday of Tout, September 25, 2022, Liturgy Psalm and Luke 10:21-28.

• CopticChurch.net, Abib 6, July 13, 2023, Liturgy Psalm and Luke 10:1-20.

Footnotes

1. St. Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, LXX Psalm 20, §§1, 5, and 7; quotation from the commentary in §7, NPNF, First Series, vol. 8. newadvent.org. ↩

2. St. Athanasius of Alexandria, Letter to Marcellinus on the Interpretation of the Psalms, discussion of the Psalms as a mirror of the soul and as words for prayer and thanksgiving. fisheaters.com. ↩

3. CopticChurch.net, Second Sunday of Tout, September 25, 2022, Liturgy: printed Psalm 21:1-2 and Luke 10:21-28. The Psalm’s words correspond to Brenton LXX 20:2-3. copticchurch.net. ↩

4. CopticChurch.net, Abib 6, July 13, 2023, Liturgy: printed Psalm 21:3,5 and Luke 10:1-20. The Psalm’s blessings, crown, glory, and honor correspond to Brenton LXX 20:4,6, with the crown wording differing between editions. copticchurch.net. ↩