Charles Ellicott Commentary Psalms 72:16

"There shall be abundance of grain in the earth upon the top of the mountains; The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: And they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth." — Psalms 72:16 (ASV)

An handful. —Rather, abundance, from a root meaning to spread. The clauses, as arranged in the text, evidently miss the intention of the writer. A better translation is:

“Let there be abundance of corn on the earth;
On the top of the mountains let it wave like Libanus,”

That is, like the cedars of Libanus. The word translated “wave” elsewhere is used for “earthquakes” or “violent storm,” and suggests here a violent agitation rather than the quiet waving of a sunny cornfield, as if the very mountains were under cultivation, and their crowning woods that sway to and fro in the breeze were suddenly changed to grain. (Compare Psalm 92:13.) The images suggested by the Septuagint and Vulgate, of the corn in the lowlands growing high enough to overtop Lebanon, are grotesque.

And they of the city ... —A better translation is, and let them (men) spring forth from the city like grass from the earth. (As images of a large population, compare Psalm 92:7; Job 5:25.) But probably we ought to transpose a letter and read, “and let cities spring up like grass from the earth.”