Mazmur 18:47

18:47 The one true God ¹  completely vindicates me; ² 

he makes nations submit to me. ³ 

Mazmur 29:10

29:10 The Lord sits enthroned over the engulfing waters, ⁴ 

the Lord sits enthroned ⁵  as the eternal king.

Mazmur 33:5

33:5 The Lord promotes ⁶  equity and justice;

the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth. ⁷ 

Mazmur 33:7

33:7 He piles up the water of the sea; ⁸ 

he puts the oceans ⁹  in storehouses.

Mazmur 47:8

47:8 God reigns ¹⁰  over the nations!

God sits on his holy throne!

Mazmur 49:20

49:20 Wealthy people do not understand; ¹¹ 

they are like animals ¹²  that perish. ¹³ 

Mazmur 78:25-27

78:25 Man ate the food of the mighty ones. ¹⁴ 

He sent them more than enough to eat. ¹⁵ 

78:26 He brought the east wind through the sky,

and by his strength led forth the south wind.

78:27 He rained down meat on them like dust,

birds as numerous as the sand on the seashores. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 82:1

Psalm 82 ¹⁷ 

A psalm of Asaph.

82:1 God stands in ¹⁸  the assembly of El; ¹⁹ 

in the midst of the gods ²⁰  he renders judgment. ²¹ 

Mazmur 91:3

91:3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter ²² 

and from the destructive plague.

Mazmur 98:2

98:2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver; ²³ 

in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.

Mazmur 99:1

Psalm 99 ²⁴ 

99:1 The Lord reigns!

The nations tremble. ²⁵ 

He sits enthroned above the winged angels; ²⁶ 

the earth shakes. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 102:23

102:23 He has taken away my strength in the middle of life; ²⁸ 

he has cut short my days.

Mazmur 104:9

104:9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,

so that they would not cover the earth again. ²⁹ 

Mazmur 106:1

Psalm 106 ³⁰ 

106:1 Praise the Lord!

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,

and his loyal love endures! ³¹ 

Mazmur 107:7

107:7 He led them on a level road, ³² 

that they might find a city in which to live.

Mazmur 110:5

110:5 O sovereign Lord, ³³  at your right hand

he strikes down ³⁴  kings in the day he unleashes his anger. ³⁵ 

Mazmur 118:18

118:18 The Lord severely ³⁶  punished me,

but he did not hand me over to death.

Mazmur 147:13-15

147:13 For he makes the bars of your gates strong.

He blesses your children ³⁷  within you.

147:14 He ³⁸  brings peace to your territory. ³⁹ 

He abundantly provides for you ⁴⁰  the best grain.

147:15 He ⁴¹  sends his command through the earth; ⁴² 

swiftly his order reaches its destination. ⁴³ 

Mazmur 147:19

147:19 He proclaims his word to Jacob,

his statutes and regulations to Israel.

[18:47]  ¹ tn Heb “the God.” See v. 32.

[18:47]  ² tn Heb “is the one who grants vengeance to me.” The plural form of the noun indicates degree here, suggesting complete vengeance or vindication.

[18:47]  sn Completely vindicates me. In the ancient Near East military victory was sometimes viewed as a sign that one’s God had judged in favor of the victor, avenging and/or vindicating him. See, for example, Judg 11:27, 32-33, 36.

[18:47]  ³ tn Heb “he subdues nations beneath me.” On the meaning of the verb דָּבַר (davar, “subdue,” a homonym of דָּבַר, davar, “speak”), see HALOT 209-10 s.v. I דבר. See also Ps 47:3 and 2 Chr 22:10. 2 Sam 22:48 reads “and [is the one who] brings down nations beneath me.”

[29:10]  ⁴ tn The noun מַּבּוּל (mabbul, “flood”) appears only here and in Gen 6-11, where it refers to the Noahic flood. Some see a reference to that event here. The presence of the article (perhaps indicating uniqueness) and the switch to the perfect verbal form (which could be taken as describing a past situation) might support this. However, the immediate context indicates that the referent of מַּבּוּל is the “surging waters” mentioned in v. 3. The article indicates waters that are definite in the mind of the speaker and the perfect is probably descriptive in function, like “thunders” in v. 3. However, even though the historical flood is not the primary referent here, there may be a literary allusion involved. The psalmist views the threatening chaotic sea as a contemporary manifestation of the destructive waters of old.

[29:10]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the descriptive function of the preceding perfect.

[33:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of equity and justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world.

[33:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “fills the earth.”

[33:7]  ⁸ 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]  ⁹ tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tÿhomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).

[47:8]  ¹⁰ tn When a new king was enthroned, his followers would acclaim him king using this enthronement formula (Qal perfect 3ms מָלַךְ, malakh, “to reign,” followed by the name of the king). See 2 Sam 15:10; 1 Kgs 1:11, 13, 18; 2 Kgs 9:13, as well as Isa 52:7. In this context the perfect verbal form is generalizing, but the declaration logically follows the historical reference in v. 5 to the Lord’s having ascended his throne.

[49:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “mankind in honor does not understand.” The Hebrew term יְקָר (yÿqar, “honor”) probably refers here to the wealth mentioned in the preceding context. The imperfect verbal form draws attention to what is characteristically true. Some emend יָבִין (yavin, “understands”) to יָלִין (yalin, “remains”), but this is an unnecessary accommodation to the wording of v. 12.

[49:20]  ¹² tn Or “cattle.”

[49:20]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew verb is derived from דָּמָה (damah, “cease, destroy”; BDB 198 s.v.). Another option is to derive the verb from דָּמָה (damah, “be silent”; see HALOT 225 s.v. II דמה, which sees two homonymic roots [I דָּמַה, “be silent,” and II דָּמַה, “destroy”] rather than a single root) and translate, “they are like dumb beasts.” This makes particularly good sense here, where the preceding line focuses on mankind’s lack of understanding.

[78:25]  ¹⁴ sn Because of the reference to “heaven” in the preceding verse, it is likely that mighty ones refers here to the angels of heaven. The LXX translates “angels” here, as do a number of modern translations (NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[78:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “provision he sent to them to satisfaction.”

[78:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and like the sand of the seas winged birds.”

[82:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 82. The psalmist pictures God standing in the “assembly of El” where he accuses the “gods” of failing to promote justice on earth. God pronounces sentence upon them, announcing that they will die like men. Having witnessed the scene, the psalmist then asks God to establish his just rule over the earth.

[82:1]  ¹⁸ tn Or “presides over.”

[82:1]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase עֲדַת אֵל (’adat ’el, “assembly of El”) appears only here in the OT. (1) Some understand “El” to refer to God himself. In this case he is pictured presiding over his own heavenly assembly. (2) Others take אֵל as a superlative here (“God stands in the great assembly”), as in Pss 36:6 and 80:10. (3) The present translation assumes this is a reference to the Canaanite high god El, who presided over the Canaanite divine assembly. (See Isa 14:13, where El’s assembly is called “the stars of El.”) In the Ugaritic myths the phrase ’dt ’ilm refers to the “assembly of the gods,” who congregate in King Kirtu’s house, where Baal asks El to bless Kirtu’s house (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). If the Canaanite divine assembly is referred to here in Ps 82:1, then the psalm must be understood as a bold polemic against Canaanite religion. Israel’s God invades El’s assembly, denounces its gods as failing to uphold justice, and announces their coming demise. For an interpretation of the psalm along these lines, see W. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” EBC 5:533-36.

[82:1]  ²⁰ sn The present translation assumes that the Hebrew term אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “gods”) here refers to the pagan gods who supposedly comprise El’s assembly according to Canaanite religion. Those who reject the polemical view of the psalm prefer to see the referent as human judges or rulers (אֱלֹהִים sometimes refers to officials appointed by God, see Exod 21:6; 22:8-9; Ps 45:6) or as angelic beings (אֱלֹהִים sometimes refers to angelic beings, see Gen 3:5; Ps 8:5).

[82:1]  ²¹ sn The picture of God rendering judgment among the gods clearly depicts his sovereign authority as universal king (see v. 8, where the psalmist boldly affirms this truth).

[91:3]  ²² tn The word refers specifically to a fowler (or hunter of birds).

[98:2]  ²³ tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”

[99:1]  ²⁴ sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.

[99:1]  ²⁵ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 1 are understood here as indicating the nations’ characteristic response to the reality of the Lord’s kingship. Another option is to take them as jussives: “let the nations tremble…let the earth shake!”

[99:1]  ²⁶ sn Winged angels (Heb “cherubs”). Cherubs, as depicted in the OT, possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubs suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubs in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.

[99:1]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew verb נוּט (nut) occurs only here in the OT, but the meaning can be determined on the basis of the parallelism with רָגַז (ragaz, “tremble”) and evidence from the cognate languages (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 121).

[102:23]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he has afflicted my strength in the way.” The term “way” refers here to the course of the psalmist’s life, which appears to be ending prematurely (vv. 23b-24).

[104:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a boundary you set up, they will not cross, they will not return to cover the earth.”

[106:1]  ³⁰ sn Psalm 106. The psalmist recalls Israel’s long history of rebellion against God, despite his mighty saving deeds on their behalf.

[106:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “for forever [is] his loyal love.”

[107:7]  ³² sn A level road. See Jer 31:9.

[110:5]  ³³ tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew mss read יְהוָה, yehveh, “Lord” here). The present translation assumes that the psalmist here addresses the Lord as he celebrates what the king is able to accomplish while positioned at God’s “right hand.” According to this view the king is the subject of the third person verb forms in vv. 5b-7. (2) Another option is to understand the king as the addressee (as in vv. 2-3). In this case “the Lord” is the subject of the third person verbs throughout vv. 5-7 and is depicted as a warrior in a very anthropomorphic manner. In this case the Lord is pictured as being at the psalmist’s right hand (just the opposite of v. 1). See Pss 16:8; 121:5. (3) A third option is to revocalize אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”; see v. 1). In this case one may translate, “My lord, at his [God’s] right hand, strikes down.” In this case the king is the subject of the third person verbs in vv. 5b-7.

[110:5]  ³⁴ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.

[110:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”

[118:18]  ³⁶ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea.

[147:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “your sons.”

[147:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the one who.”

[147:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he makes your boundary peace.”

[147:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “satisfies you with.”

[147:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the one who.”

[147:15]  ⁴² tn Heb “the one who sends his word, the earth.” The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) is an adverbial accusative; one must supply a preposition before it (such as “through” or “to”) in the English translation.

[147:15]  ⁴³ tn Heb “swiftly his word runs.”