Mazmur 97:1

Psalm 97 ¹ 

97:1 The Lord reigns!

Let the earth be happy!

Let the many coastlands rejoice!

Mazmur 99:1

Psalm 99 ² 

99:1 The Lord reigns!

The nations tremble. ³ 

He sits enthroned above the winged angels; ⁴ 

the earth shakes. ⁵ 

Mazmur 145:1

Psalm 145 ⁶ 

A psalm of praise, by David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God, O king!

I will praise your name continually! ⁷ 

Mazmur 145:12-13

145:12 so that mankind ⁸  might acknowledge your mighty acts,

and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.

145:13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, ⁹ 

and your dominion endures through all generations.

[97:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 97. The psalmist depicts the Lord as the sovereign, just king of the world who comes in power to vindicate his people.

[99:1]  ² sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.

[99:1]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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).

[145:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ⁷ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[145:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[145:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”