‘Doeth’ brings a smile to my face. It instantly transports me to the days of old, back to the first Bible I ever owned, a King James Version given to me by my nan. I’m still devastated that I no longer have it. After several moves, it simply disappeared, along with the inscription she had a calligrapher write inside. That Bible wasn’t just a gift; it was a piece of her.
Toward the end of last year, I found myself drawn back to the King James Version again. After comparing familiar verses across translations and noticing how even small shifts in wording could change the sense entirely, I realised I wanted something closer to the original Hebrew and unabridged in the New Testament. So I returned to the old language, and to my surprise, I’ve been loving it. I’m reading slowly these days, lingering on chapters for as long as they need. I’ve made my way through Genesis, Exodus, and Leviticus (which I actually enjoyed for the first time ever), and now I’m nearing the end of Numbers. Perhaps the Tanach Stone Edition helps as I’m using that for the Old Testament, but I think the real difference is that I’m no longer racing through a “Bible in a year” plan I’ve failed at every year.
All of that is probably why Psalm 72:18 caught my attention in a fresh way. The phrasing, the cadence, the old‑world weight of “who only doeth wondrous things”, it stopped me. And the more I sat with it, the more the verse opened up.
🌿 Where This Verse Sits in Scripture
Psalm 72 is traditionally linked to Solomon, though many see it as David’s prayer over his son. Either way, it’s a royal psalm, one that stretches beyond any earthly ruler and points toward the ideal King, the Messiah. Verse 18 appears near the end as a doxology (a word I now know the meaning of), a burst of worship that seals the psalm. It’s as if the writer can’t speak of God’s kingdom without praising the King Himself.
🌟 “Blessed be the LORD God”, A Call to Praise
The word blessed carries the sense of kneeling in adoration or speaking well of someone. It’s not describing God as blessed by others; it’s declaring that God is worthy of blessing. It’s the psalmist stepping back and saying:
“Everything I’ve just prayed for, justice, righteousness, peace, dominion, comes from God alone. He deserves the praise.”
🇮🇱 “The God of Israel” – A Covenant Identity
Calling Him the God of Israel anchors the praise in history, the God who rescued Israel from Egypt, covenanted with Abraham, led them through the wilderness, and established their kings. This is not a distant deity but the God who acts within the human story (our human story).
✨ “Who Only Doeth Wondrous Things”, The Heart of the Verse
The Hebrew word for wondrous things ‘palaʾ, refers to works that are beyond human ability, explanation, or imagination. Miracles. Deliverance. Creation. Intervention.
And then comes the word only.
No king can do what God does.
No idol can rival Him.
No human achievement compares.
God alone is the source of true wonder.
🔍 How This Verse Fits the Flow of Psalm 72
Psalm 72 paints a portrait of an ideal king, one who judges with righteousness, defends the poor, crushes oppression, brings peace, and rules from sea to sea. But by the end, the psalmist recognises that no earthly king, not even Solomon, can fully embody this vision.
So verse 18 becomes a pivot:
“The kingdom we long for is ultimately God’s doing.”
🌅 Messianic Echoes
For Christians, Psalm 72 points toward Jesus, the King who brings justice, reigns eternally, and offers peace to the nations. In that light, verse 18 becomes a celebration of God’s redemptive plan: the wondrous act of sending the Messiah.
❤️ What This Verse Invites Us to Do
- Awe – seeing God’s works as extraordinary.
- Humility – recognising human limits.
- Trust – believing God is still working wonders.
- Worship – responding with praise, not just analysis.
🔔 A Thought to Carry Forward
The most astonishing things in life, grace, redemption, transformation, answered prayer and creation itself, are not accidents or human accomplishments. They are the wondrous works of a God who delights in doing the impossible.
And maybe that’s why this verse has landed so deeply with me right now. Coming back to the KJV has felt a bit like coming home, not just to an older style of English, but to memories of my nan’s Bible and the way Scripture first entered my life. Reading slowly, taking my time, letting the words sit with me, I’m noticing things I used to rush past.
Psalm 72:18 feels like one of those moments. A reminder that the same God who worked wonders in Israel’s story, and in the stories of the people who shaped my faith, is still at work today. Not always loudly. Not always quickly. But faithfully, in ways I often only recognise in hindsight.
It’s grounding to remember that. It takes the pressure off me to “make” spiritual progress happen and lets me simply pay attention to what God is already doing.
As I’ve just learnt what a Doxology is, I thought I would leave you with a version of the one I’ve known for a while. It’s fascinating to me that I’ve listened to this over and over but never noticed or even cared to look up what it meant.
Have a blessed week.
Elle x
The Eleven One 
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