Charles Ellicott 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. — Rather, wondrously, a noun used adverbially.

Wilt thou answer us. — Better, You do answer us; describing the usual course of God’s providence. The Septuagint and Vulgate make it a prayer: Hear us.

The conviction that God, the God of Israel’s salvation or deliverance, would answer wonderfully in righteousness, was, of course, based on the whole experience of the Divine dealings. Righteousness was recognised as the foundation on which the moral order rested.

The confidence of all the ends of the earth. — This might refer to Israel in exile; but it seems more in accordance with the general tenor of the psalm to give the words their widest range. Consciously or unconsciously the whole world rests in God.

Of them that are afar off upon the sea. — Literally, of the sea of those at a distance, i.e., of the farthest seas. (Compare to Isaiah 11:11: of the islands of the sea.)