Albert Barnes Commentary Psalms 65:5

"By terrible things thou wilt answer us in righteousness, Oh God of our salvation, Thou that art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, And of them that are afar off upon the sea:" — Psalms 65:5 (ASV)

By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us - That is, by things suited to inspire us and all people with awe, or with a deep sense of your majesty, your power, and your glory.

The answer to their prayers would be in such a manner as to deeply impress their minds and hearts. God’s judgments on his foes, and the manner of his manifesting his favor to his people, would be such as to impress the mind with a deep sense of his own greatness.

Yet all this would be in righteousness: in the infliction of a just sentence on the wicked, and in direct interposition in favor of the righteous. The judgments of God on guilty people have always been such as to keep the world in awe, such as were adapted deeply to impress mankind with a sense of his own majesty and glory.

O God of our salvation - The God on whom our salvation, or our safety, depends.

Who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth - Of all parts of the earth, the word “ends” is used on the supposition that the earth is a plain having appropriate limits.

This allusion is often found in the Scriptures, as the sacred writers speak, as all people do, of things as they appear to be. Thus, all philosophers, as well as other people, speak of the sun as rising and setting, which is, in itself, no more strictly accurate than it is to speak of the earth as if it had limits or boundaries.

The word “confidence” as used here means that God is the source of trust, or that all proper reliance by all people, in all parts of the earth and on the sea, must be in him; that is, there is no other on whom people can properly rely. It does not mean that all people actually repose such confidence in him, which would not be true—but that he is the only true source of confidence.

And of them that are afar off upon the sea - That is, of all people on sea and land. The seaman has no other source of security amidst the dangers of the deep than God. Compare Psalms 107:23-30. The language does not mean that all mariners actually do put their trust in God, but that they cannot confide in the winds and the waves—in the strength of their vessel or their own power or skill in managing it—but that the true and only ground of trust is God.