You are the most excellent of the sons of men. Grace has anointed your lips, therefore God has blessed you forever.
Parallel translations
- KJV Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips: therefore God hath blessed thee for ever.
- BSB You are the most handsome of men; grace has anointed your lips, since God has blessed you forever.
- NKJV You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever.
- NASB You are the most handsome of the sons of mankind; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever.
- NLT You are the most handsome of all. Gracious words stream from your lips. God himself has blessed you forever.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The king is the most excellent of men, his lips full of grace, blessed by God forever. It matters because these surpassing qualities point ultimately to Christ.
Overview
The king is praised for unrivaled beauty and gracious speech, marks of divine blessing. While spoken first of an Israelite king, the language exceeds any mere man and fits Christ, full of grace and truth. He is the one anointed and blessed by God forever, whose words are gracious beyond all others.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 17
- Luke 4:22All testified about him, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth, and they said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”
- Song 5:10–16My beloved is white and ruddy. The best among ten thousand.
- Ps 21:6For you make him most blessed forever. You make him glad with joy in your presence.
- John 7:46The officers answered, “No man ever spoke like this man!”
- Heb 7:26For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- John 1:14The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- Song 2:3As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, his fruit was sweet to my taste.
- Ps 72:17–19His name endures forever. His name continues as long as the sun. Men shall be blessed by him. All nations will call him blessed.
- Prov 22:11He who loves purity of heart and speaks gracefully is the king’s friend.
- Rev 1:13–18And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.
- Matt 17:2He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as the light.
- Zech 9:17For how great is his goodness, and how great is his beauty! Grain will make the young men flourish, and new wine the virgins.
- Isa 61:1The Lord Yahweh’s Spirit is on me; because Yahweh has anointed me to preach good news to the humble. He has sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to those who are bound;
- Isa 50:4The Lord Yahweh has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I may know how to sustain with words him who is weary. He wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear to hear as those who are taught.
- Heb 1:3–4His Son is the radiance of his glory, the very image of his substance, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purified us of our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;
- Phil 2:9–11Therefore God also highly exalted him, and gave to him the name which is above every name;
- Col 1:15–18who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 45:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.