A blessing etched in steel

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Next Sunday's psalm will be the last until September.
Our fearless leader in Athens, Robert Geiss, has somehow gotten our little group (which you are welcome to join) to illustrate the first 67 psalms and now we will get summer vacation!
Visit his PsalmChallenge at daily athens photo blog.
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PSALM 67

1. For the leader; with stringed instruments. A psalm. A song.

2. May God be gracious to us and bless us; may He cause his face to shine among us. Selah.

3. That Your way be understood throughout the earth, Your salvation among all nationalities.

4. May peoples praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You.

5. Let nations exult and shout for joy, because You rule the peoples with equity, and nations You guide throughout the earth. Selah.

6. May peoples praise You, O God; may all the peoples praise You.

7. The earth yields its produce; may God, our God, bless us.

8. May God bless us, that all the ends of the earth fear Him.

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Photo
"Birkat Cohanim" (The Priestly Blessing) by Etchi Werner-Nyiri, at Mamilla Mall, 2011, based on Numbers 6:22-26:

The Lord said to Moses, “Tell Aaron and his sons, ‘This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them:

The Lord bless you and keep you;

the Lord make his face shine on you

and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you
and give you peace.
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The translation of today's psalm is by Rabbi Benjamin J. Segal.
His notes about Psalm 67 are worth reading, for example:

The terminology of verse 3 is drawn from the priestly blessing (Num. 6:24–26), cited several times in the Bible. Here the original application to “you” singular is transferred to first-person plural, “us.”

And also this:

Psalm 67 anticipates a new world, an ideal world. The psalm addresses the duality of God’s relationship to mankind as previously encountered in Psalms—He is God of both Israel and the world. Here, in this ideal, the two blend smoothly.

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