Mazmur 8:3

8:3 When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made,

and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, ¹ 

Mazmur 33:6-9

33:6 By the Lord’s decree ²  the heavens were made;

by a mere word from his mouth all the stars in the sky were created. ³ 

33:7 He piles up the water of the sea; ⁴ 

he puts the oceans ⁵  in storehouses.

33:8 Let the whole earth fear ⁶  the Lord!

Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him!

33:9 For he spoke, and it ⁷  came into existence,

he issued the decree, ⁸  and it stood firm.

Mazmur 104:5

104:5 He established the earth on its foundations;

it will never be upended.

Mazmur 104:31

104:31 May the splendor of the Lord endure! ⁹ 

May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made! ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 119:90

119:90 You demonstrate your faithfulness to all generations. ¹¹ 

You established the earth and it stood firm.

Mazmur 139:13

139:13 Certainly ¹²  you made my mind and heart; ¹³ 

you wove me together ¹⁴  in my mother’s womb.

[8:3]  ¹ tn Heb “when I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars which you established.” The verb “[and] see” is understood by ellipsis in the second half of the verse.

[33:6]  ² tn Heb “word.”

[33:6]  ³ tn Heb “and by the breath of his mouth all their host.” The words “were created” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons; they are understood by ellipsis (note “were made” in the preceding line). The description is consistent with Gen 1:16, which indicates that God spoke the heavenly luminaries into existence.

[33:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “[he] gathers like a pile the waters of the sea.” Some prefer to emend נֵד (ged, “heap, pile”; cf. NASB) to נֹד (nod, “bottle”; cf. NRSV; NIV “into jars”), but “pile” is used elsewhere to describe water that the Lord confines to one place (Exod 15:8; Josh 3:13, 16; Ps 78:13). This verse appears to refer to Gen 1:9, where God decrees that the watery deep be gathered to one place so that dry land might appear. If so, the participles in this and the following line depict this action with special vividness, as if the reader were present on the occasion. Another option is that the participles picture the confinement of the sea to one place as an ongoing divine activity.

[33:7]  ⁵ tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tÿhomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).

[33:8]  ⁶ tn In this context “fear” probably means “to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and authority by worshiping him and obeying his commandments.”

[33:9]  ⁷ tn That is, “all the earth” in the first line of v. 8. The apparent antecedent of the masculine subject of the verbs in v. 9 (note וַיֶּהִי [vayyehiy] and וַיַּעֲמֹד [vayya’amod]) is “earth” or “world,” both of which are feminine nouns. However, כָּל (kol, “all”) may be the antecedent, or the apparent lack of agreement may be explained by the collective nature of the nouns involved here (see GKC 463 §145.e).

[33:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “he commanded.”

[104:31]  ⁹ tn Heb “be forever.”

[104:31]  ¹⁰ tn Or “rejoice in his works.”

[119:90]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation [is] your faithfulness.”

[139:13]  ¹² tn Or “for.”

[139:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).

[139:13]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.