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Psalm 62[a]

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

62 For God alone I patiently wait;[b]
he is the one who delivers me.[c]
He alone is my protector[d] and deliverer.
He is my refuge;[e] I will not be upended.[f]
How long will you threaten[g] a man like me?
All of you are murderers,[h]
as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence.[i]
They[j] spend all their time planning how to bring their victim[k] down.[l]
They love to use deceit;[m]
they pronounce blessings with their mouths,
but inwardly they utter curses.[n] (Selah)
Patiently wait for God alone, my soul![o]
For he is the one who gives me hope.[p]
He alone is my protector[q] and deliverer.
He is my refuge;[r] I will not be shaken.
God delivers me and exalts me;
God is my strong protector and my shelter.[s]
Trust in him at all times, you people!
Pour out your hearts before him.[t]
God is our shelter. (Selah)
Men are nothing but a mere breath;
human beings are unreliable.[u]
When they are weighed in the scales,
all of them together are lighter than air.[v]
10 Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression.[w]
Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery.[x]
If wealth increases, do not become attached to it.[y]
11 God has declared one principle;
two principles I have heard:[z]
God is strong,[aa]
12 and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love.[ab]
For you repay men for what they do.[ac]

Psalm 63[ad]

A psalm of David, written when he was in the Judean wilderness.[ae]

63 O God, you are my God. I long for you.[af]
My soul thirsts[ag] for you,
my flesh yearns for you,
in a dry and parched[ah] land where there is no water.
Yes,[ai] in the sanctuary I have seen you,[aj]
and witnessed[ak] your power and splendor.
Because[al] experiencing[am] your loyal love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
For this reason[an] I will praise you while I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.[ao]
As with choice meat[ap] you satisfy my soul.[aq]
My mouth joyfully praises you,[ar]
whenever[as] I remember you on my bed,
and think about you during the nighttime hours.
For you are my deliverer;[at]
under your wings[au] I rejoice.
My soul[av] pursues you;[aw]
your right hand upholds me.
Enemies seek to destroy my life,[ax]
but they will descend into the depths of the earth.[ay]
10 Each one will be handed over to the sword;[az]
their corpses will be eaten by jackals.[ba]
11 But the king[bb] will rejoice in God;
everyone who takes oaths in his name[bc] will boast,
for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up.[bd]

Psalm 64[be]

For the music director, a psalm of David.

64 Listen to me,[bf] O God, as I offer my lament!
Protect[bg] my life from the enemy’s terrifying attacks.[bh]
Hide me from the plots of evil men,
from the crowd of evildoers.[bi]
They[bj] sharpen their tongues like swords;
they aim their arrows, a slanderous charge,[bk]
in order to shoot down the innocent[bl] in secluded places.
They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation.[bm]
They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed.[bn]
They plan how to hide[bo] snares,
and boast,[bp] “Who will see them?”[bq]
They devise[br] unjust schemes;
they disguise[bs] a well-conceived plot.[bt]
Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered.[bu]
But God will shoot[bv] at them;
suddenly they will be[bw] wounded by an arrow.[bx]
Their slander will bring about their demise.[by]
All who see them will shudder,[bz]
and all people will fear.[ca]
They will proclaim what God has done,[cb]
and reflect on his deeds.
10 The godly will rejoice in the Lord
and take shelter in him.
All the morally upright[cc] will boast.[cd]

Psalm 65[ce]

For the music director, a psalm of David, a song.

65 Praise awaits you,[cf] O God, in Zion.
Vows made to you are fulfilled.
You hear prayers;[cg]
all people approach you.[ch]
Our record of sins overwhelms me,[ci]
but you forgive[cj] our acts of rebellion.
How blessed[ck] is the one whom you choose,
and allow to live in your palace courts.[cl]
May we be satisfied with the good things of your house—
your holy palace.[cm]
You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,
O God, our savior.[cn]
All the ends of the earth trust in you,[co]
as well as those living across the wide seas.[cp]
You created the mountains by your power,[cq]
and demonstrated your strength.[cr]
You calmed the raging seas[cs]
and their roaring waves,
as well as the commotion made by the nations.[ct]
Even those living in the remotest areas are awestruck by your acts;[cu]
you cause those living in the east and west to praise you.[cv]
You visit the earth and give it rain;[cw]
you make it rich and fertile.[cx]
God’s streams are full of water;[cy]
you provide grain for the people of the earth,[cz]
for you have prepared the earth in this way.[da]
10 You saturate[db] its furrows,
and soak[dc] its plowed ground.[dd]
With rain showers you soften its soil,[de]
and make its crops grow.[df]
11 You crown the year with your good blessings,[dg]
and you leave abundance in your wake.[dh]
12 The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture,[di]
and the hills are clothed with joy.[dj]
13 The meadows are clothed with sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.

Psalm 66[dk]

For the music director, a song, a psalm.

66 Shout out praise to God, all the earth!
Sing praises about the majesty of his reputation.[dl]
Give him the honor he deserves![dm]
Say to God:
“How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear[dn] before you.
All the earth worships[do] you
and sings praises to you.
They sing praises to your name.” (Selah)
Come and witness[dp] God’s exploits![dq]
His acts on behalf of people are awesome.[dr]
He turned the sea into dry land;[ds]
they passed through the river on foot.[dt]
Let us rejoice in him there.[du]
He rules[dv] by his power forever;
he watches[dw] the nations.
Stubborn rebels should not exalt[dx] themselves. (Selah)
Praise[dy] our God, you nations.
Loudly proclaim his praise.[dz]
He preserves our lives[ea]
and does not allow our feet to slip.
10 For[eb] you, O God, tested us;
you purified us like refined silver.
11 You led us into a trap;[ec]
you caused us to suffer.[ed]
12 You allowed men to ride over our heads;
we passed through fire and water,
but you brought us out into a wide open place.[ee]
13 I will enter[ef] your temple with burnt sacrifices;
I will fulfill the vows I made to you,
14 which my lips uttered
and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.
15 I will offer up to you fattened animals as burnt sacrifices,
along with the smell of sacrificial rams.
I will offer cattle and goats. (Selah)
16 Come! Listen, all you who are loyal to God.[eg]
I will declare what he has done for me.
17 I cried out to him for help[eh]
and praised him with my tongue.[ei]
18 If I had harbored sin in my heart,[ej]
the Lord would not have listened.
19 However, God heard;
he listened to my prayer.
20 God deserves praise,[ek]
for[el] he did not reject my prayer
or abandon his love for me.[em]

Psalm 67[en]

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm, a song.

67 May God show us his favor[eo] and bless us.[ep]
May he smile on us.[eq] (Selah)
Then those living on earth will know what you are like;
all nations will know how you deliver your people.[er]
Let the nations thank you, O God.
Let all the nations thank you.[es]
Let foreigners[et] rejoice and celebrate.
For you execute justice among the nations,
and govern the people living on earth.[eu] (Selah)
Let the nations thank you, O God.
Let all the nations thank you.[ev]
The earth yields its crops.
May God, our God, bless us.
May God bless us.[ew]
Then all the ends of the earth will give him the honor he deserves.[ex]

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 62:1 sn Psalm 62. The psalmist expresses his unwavering confidence in God’s justice and in his ability to protect his people.
  2. Psalm 62:1 tn Heb “only for God [is] there silence [to] my soul.”
  3. Psalm 62:1 tn Heb “from him [is] my deliverance.”
  4. Psalm 62:2 tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”
  5. Psalm 62:2 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
  6. Psalm 62:2 tn The Hebrew text adds רַבָּה (rabbah, “greatly”) at the end of the line. It is unusual for this adverb to follow a negated verb. Some see this as qualifying the assertion to some degree, but this would water down the affirmation too much (see v. 6b, where the adverb is omitted). If the adverb has a qualifying function, it would suggest that the psalmist might be shaken, though not severely. This is inconsistent with the confident mood of the psalm. The adverb probably has an emphatic force here, “I will not be greatly shaken” meaning “I will not be upended.”
  7. Psalm 62:3 tn The verb form is plural; the psalmist addresses his enemies. The verb הוּת (hut) occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “shout at.” Here “man” is a generic reference to the victim of the psalmist’s enemies, but in context it ultimately refers to the psalmist himself. To clarify this, the words “like me” have been supplied in the translation.
  8. Psalm 62:3 tn The Hebrew text has a Pual (passive) form, but the verb form should be vocalized as a Piel (active) form. See BDB 953-54 s.v. רָצַח.
  9. Psalm 62:3 tn Heb “like a bent wall and a broken fence.” The point of the comparison is not entirely clear. Perhaps the enemies are depicted as dangerous, like a leaning wall or broken fence that is in danger of falling on someone (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:69).
  10. Psalm 62:4 tn That is, the psalmist’s enemies addressed in the previous verse.
  11. Psalm 62:4 tn That is, the generic “man” referred to in the previous verse. The words “their victim” have been supplied in the translation to clarify the referent.
  12. Psalm 62:4 tn Heb “only from his lofty place [or perhaps, “dignity”] they plan to drive [him] away.”
  13. Psalm 62:4 tn Heb “they delight [in] a lie.”
  14. Psalm 62:4 sn The enemies use deceit to bring down their victim. They make him think they are his friends by pronouncing blessings upon him, but inwardly they desire his demise.
  15. Psalm 62:5 tn Heb “only for God be silent, my soul.” The wording is similar to that of v. 1a. Here an imperatival form, דּוֹמִּי (dommi, “be silent”), appears instead of the noun דּוּמִיָּה (dumiyyah, “silence”). The psalmist is encouraging himself to maintain his trust in God.
  16. Psalm 62:5 tn Heb “for from him [is] my hope.”
  17. Psalm 62:6 tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”
  18. Psalm 62:6 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
  19. Psalm 62:7 tn Heb “upon God [is] my deliverance and my glory, the high rocky summit of my strength, my shelter [is] in God.”
  20. Psalm 62:8 tn To “pour out one’s heart” means to offer up to God intense, emotional lamentation and petitionary prayers (see Lam 2:19).
  21. Psalm 62:9 tn Heb “only a breath [are] the sons of mankind, a lie [are] the sons of man.” The phrases “sons of mankind” and “sons of man” also appear together in Ps 49:2. Because of the parallel line there, where “rich and poor” are mentioned, a number of interpreters and translators treat these expressions as polar opposites, בְּנֵי אָדָם (bene ʾadam) referring to the lower classes and בְּנֵי אִישׁ (bene ʾish) to higher classes. But usage does not support such a view. The rare phrase בְּנֵי אִישׁ (“sons of man”) appears to refer to human beings in general in its other uses (see Pss 4:2; Lam 3:33). It is better to understand the phrases as synonymous expressions.
  22. Psalm 62:9 tn The noun הֶבֶל (hevel), translated “a breath” earlier in the verse, appears again here.
  23. Psalm 62:10 tn Heb “do not trust in oppression.” Here “oppression” stands by metonymy for the riches that can be gained by oppressive measures, as the final line of the verse indicates.
  24. Psalm 62:10 tn Heb “and in robbery do not place vain hope.” Here “robbery” stands by metonymy for the riches that can be gained by theft, as the next line of the verse indicates.
  25. Psalm 62:10 tn Heb “[as for] wealth, when it bears fruit, do not set [your] heart [on it].”
  26. Psalm 62:11 tn Heb “one God spoke, two which I heard.” This is a numerical saying utilizing the “x” followed by “x + 1” pattern to facilitate poetic parallelism. (See W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament [VTSup], 55-56.) As is typical in such sayings, a list corresponding to the second number (in this case “two”) follows. Another option is to translate, “God has spoken once, twice [he has spoken] that which I have heard.” The terms אַחַת (ʾakhat, “one; once”) and שְׁתַיִם (shetayim, “two; twice”) are also juxtaposed in 2 Kgs 6:10 (where they refer to an action that was done more than “once or twice”) and in Job 33:14 (where they refer to God speaking “one way” and then in “another manner”).
  27. Psalm 62:11 tn Heb “that strength [belongs] to God.”
  28. Psalm 62:12 tn Heb “and to you, O Master, [is] loyal love.”
  29. Psalm 62:12 tn Heb “for you pay back to a man according to his deed.” Another option is to understand vv. 11b and 12a as the first principle and v. 12b as the second. In this case one might translate, “God has declared one principle, two principles I have heard, namely, that God is strong, and you, O Lord, demonstrate loyal love, and that you repay men for what they do.”sn You repay men for what they do. The psalmist views God’s justice as a demonstration of both his power (see v. 11c) and his loyal love (see v. 12a). When God judges evildoers, he demonstrates loyal love to his people.
  30. Psalm 63:1 sn Psalm 63. The psalmist expresses his intense desire to be in God’s presence and confidently affirms that God will judge his enemies.
  31. Psalm 63:1 sn According to the psalm superscription David wrote the psalm while in the “wilderness of Judah.” Perhaps this refers to the period described in 1 Sam 23-24 or to the incident mentioned in 2 Sam 15:23.
  32. Psalm 63:1 tn Or “I will seek you.”
  33. Psalm 63:1 tn Or “I thirst.”
  34. Psalm 63:1 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” This may picture the land as “faint” or “weary,” or it may allude to the effect this dry desert has on those who are forced to live in it.
  35. Psalm 63:2 tn The Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used here to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4).
  36. Psalm 63:2 tn The perfect verbal form is understood here as referring to a past experience which the psalmist desires to be repeated. Another option is to take the perfect as indicating the psalmist’s certitude that he will again stand in God’s presence in the sanctuary. In this case one can translate, “I will see you.”
  37. Psalm 63:2 tn Heb “seeing.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.
  38. Psalm 63:3 tn This line is understood as giving the basis for the praise promised in the following line. Another option is to take the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) as asseverative/emphasizing, “Indeed, your loyal love is better” (cf. NEB, which leaves the particle untranslated).
  39. Psalm 63:3 tn The word “experiencing” is supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist does not speak here of divine loyal love in some abstract sense, but of loyal love revealed and experienced.
  40. Psalm 63:4 tn Or perhaps “then.”
  41. Psalm 63:4 sn I will lift up my hands. Lifting up one’s hands toward God was a gesture of prayer (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19) or respect (Ps 119:48).
  42. Psalm 63:5 tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”
  43. Psalm 63:5 tn Or “me.”
  44. Psalm 63:5 tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”
  45. Psalm 63:6 tn The Hebrew term אִם (ʾim) is used here in the sense of “when; whenever,” as in Ps 78:34.
  46. Psalm 63:7 tn Or “[source of] help.”
  47. Psalm 63:7 tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”
  48. Psalm 63:8 tn Or “I.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
  49. Psalm 63:8 tn Heb “clings after.” The expression means “to pursue with determination” (see Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2; Jer 42:16).
  50. Psalm 63:9 tn Heb “but they for destruction seek my life.” The pronoun “they” must refer here to the psalmist’s enemies, referred to at this point for the first time in the psalm.
  51. Psalm 63:9 sn The depths of the earth refers here to the underworld dwelling place of the dead (see Ezek 26:20; 31:14, 16, 18; 32:18, 24). See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 167.
  52. Psalm 63:10 tn Heb “they will deliver him over to the sword.” The third masculine plural subject must be indefinite (see GKC 460 §144.f) and the singular pronominal suffix either representative or distributive (emphasizing that each one will be so treated). Active verbs with indefinite subjects may be translated as passives with the object (in the Hebrew text) as subject (in the translation).
  53. Psalm 63:10 tn Heb “they will be [the] portion of jackals”; traditionally, “of foxes.”
  54. Psalm 63:11 sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.
  55. Psalm 63:11 tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”
  56. Psalm 63:11 tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.
  57. Psalm 64:1 sn Psalm 64. The psalmist asks God to protect him from his dangerous enemies and then confidently affirms that God will destroy his enemies and demonstrate his justice in the sight of all observers.
  58. Psalm 64:1 tn Heb “my voice.”
  59. Psalm 64:1 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s request.
  60. Psalm 64:1 tn Heb “from the terror of [the] enemy.” “Terror” is used here metonymically for the enemy’s attacks that produce fear because they threaten the psalmist’s life.
  61. Psalm 64:2 tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”
  62. Psalm 64:3 tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  63. Psalm 64:3 tn Heb “a bitter word.”
  64. Psalm 64:4 tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.
  65. Psalm 64:4 tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  66. Psalm 64:5 tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”
  67. Psalm 64:5 tn Heb “they report about hiding.”
  68. Psalm 64:5 tn Heb “they say.”
  69. Psalm 64:5 tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).
  70. Psalm 64:6 tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”
  71. Psalm 64:6 tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tamenu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).
  72. Psalm 64:6 tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.
  73. Psalm 64:6 tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.
  74. Psalm 64:7 tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive is normally used in narrative contexts to describe completed past actions. It is possible that the conclusion to the psalm (vv. 7-10) was added to the lament after God’s judgment of the wicked in response to the psalmist’s lament (vv. 1-6). The translation assumes that these verses are anticipatory and express the psalmist’s confidence that God would eventually judge the wicked. The psalmist uses a narrative style as a rhetorical device to emphasize his certitude. See GKC 329-30 §111.w.
  75. Psalm 64:7 tn The perfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s certitude about the coming demise of the wicked.
  76. Psalm 64:7 tn The translation follows the traditional accentuation of the MT. Another option is to translate, “But God will shoot them down with an arrow, suddenly they will be wounded” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
  77. Psalm 64:8 tc The MT reads literally, “and they caused him [or it] to stumble upon them, their tongue.” Perhaps the third plural subject of the verb is indefinite with the third singular pronominal suffix on the verb being distributive (see Ps 63:10). In this case one may translate, “each one will be made to stumble.” The preposition עַל (ʿal) might then be taken as adversative, “against them [is] their tongue.” Many prefer to emend the text to וַיַּכְשִׁילֵמוֹ עֲלֵי לְשׁוֹנָם (vayyakhshilemo ʿale leshonam, “and he caused them to stumble over their tongue”). However, if this reading is original, it is difficult to see how the present reading of the MT arose. Furthermore, the preposition is not collocated with the verb כָּשַׁל (kashal) elsewhere. Perhaps a better option is that the third singular pronominal suffix “it” refers to the following noun “tongue” translated “they caused it, their tongue, to stumble on themselves” (see GKC 425-26 §131.m, o).
  78. Psalm 64:8 tn The Hitpolel verbal form is probably from the root נוּד (nud; see HALOT 678 s.v. נוד), which is attested elsewhere in the Hitpolel stem, not the root נָדַד (nadad, as proposed by BDB 622 s.v. I נָדַד), which does not occur elsewhere in this stem.
  79. Psalm 64:9 tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read וַיִּרְאוּ (vayyirʾu, “and they will see”) instead of וַיִּירְאוּ (vayyireʾu, “and they will fear”).
  80. Psalm 64:9 tn Heb “the work of God,” referring to the judgment described in v. 7.
  81. Psalm 64:10 tn Heb “upright in heart.”
  82. Psalm 64:10 tn That is, about the Lord’s accomplishments on their behalf.
  83. Psalm 65:1 sn Psalm 65. The psalmist praises God because he forgives sin and blesses his people with an abundant harvest.
  84. Psalm 65:1 tn Heb “for you, silence, praise.” Many prefer to emend the noun דֻּמִיָּה (dumiyyah, “silence”) to a participle דּוֹמִיָּה (domiyyah), from the root דָּמָה (damah, “be silent”), understood here in the sense of “wait.”
  85. Psalm 65:2 tn Heb “O one who hears prayer.”
  86. Psalm 65:2 tn Heb “to you all flesh comes.”
  87. Psalm 65:3 tn Heb “the records of sins are too strong for me.”
  88. Psalm 65:3 tn Or “make atonement for.”
  89. Psalm 65:4 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
  90. Psalm 65:4 tn Heb “[whom] you bring near [so that] he might live [in] your courts.”
  91. Psalm 65:4 tn Or “temple.”
  92. Psalm 65:5 tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”
  93. Psalm 65:5 tn Heb “a source of confidence [for] all the ends of the earth.”sn All the ends of the earth trust in you. This idealistic portrayal of universal worship is typical hymnic hyperbole, though it does anticipate eschatological reality.
  94. Psalm 65:5 tc Heb “and [the] distant sea.” The plural adjective is problematic after the singular form “sea.” One could emend יָם (yam, “sea”) to יָמִים (yamim, “seas”), or emend the plural form רְחֹקִים (rekhoqim, “far”) to the singular רָחֹק (rakhoq). In this case the final mem (ם) could be treated as dittographic; note the mem on the beginning of the first word in v. 6.
  95. Psalm 65:6 tn Heb “[the] one who establishes [the] mountains by his power.”
  96. Psalm 65:6 tn Heb “one [who] is girded with strength”; or “one [who] girds himself with strength.”
  97. Psalm 65:7 tn Heb “the roar of the seas.”
  98. Psalm 65:7 sn The raging seas…the commotion made by the nations. The raging seas symbolize the turbulent nations of the earth (see Ps 46:2-3, 6; Isa 17:12).
  99. Psalm 65:8 tn Heb “and the inhabitants of the ends fear because of your signs.” God’s “signs” are the “awesome acts” (see v. 5) he performs in the earth.
  100. Psalm 65:8 tn Heb “the goings out of the morning and the evening you cause to shout for joy.” The phrase “goings out of the morning and evening” refers to the sunrise and sunset, that is, the east and the west.
  101. Psalm 65:9 tn The verb form is a Polel from שׁוּק (shuq, “be abundant”), a verb which appears only here and in Joel 2:24 and 3:13, where it is used in the Hiphil stem and means “overflow.”
  102. Psalm 65:9 tn Heb “you greatly enrich it.”
  103. Psalm 65:9 tn Heb “[with] a channel of God full of water.” The divine name is probably may be used here in a superlative sense to depict a very deep stream (“a stream fit for God,” as it were).
  104. Psalm 65:9 tn The pronoun apparently refers to the people of the earth, mentioned in v. 8.
  105. Psalm 65:9 tn Heb “for thus [referring to the provision of rain described in the first half of the verse] you prepare it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix attached to the verb “prepare” refers back to the “earth,” which is a feminine noun with regard to grammatical form.
  106. Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “saturating” [the form is an infinitive absolute].
  107. Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “flatten, cause to sink.”
  108. Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “trenches,” or “furrows.”
  109. Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “soften it,” that is, the earth.
  110. Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “its vegetation you bless.” Divine “blessing” often involves endowing an object with special power or capacity.
  111. Psalm 65:11 tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural blessings.
  112. Psalm 65:11 tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.”
  113. Psalm 65:12 tn Heb “drip.”
  114. Psalm 65:12 tn That is, with rich vegetation that brings joy to those who see it.
  115. Psalm 66:1 sn Psalm 66. The psalmist praises God because he has delivered his people from a crisis.
  116. Psalm 66:2 tn Heb “his name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
  117. Psalm 66:2 tn Heb “make honorable his praise.”
  118. Psalm 66:3 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).
  119. Psalm 66:4 tn Or “bows down to.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are taken (1) as imperfects expressing what is typical. Another option (2) is to interpret them as anticipatory (“all the earth will worship you”) or (3) take them as jussives, expressing a prayer or wish (“may all the earth worship you”).
  120. Psalm 66:5 tn Or “see.”
  121. Psalm 66:5 tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).
  122. Psalm 66:5 tn Heb “awesome [is] an act toward the sons of man.” It is unclear how the prepositional phrase relates to what precedes. If collocated with “act,” it may mean “on behalf of” or “toward.” If taken with “awesome” (see 1 Chr 16:25; Pss 89:7; 96:4; Zeph 2:11), one might translate “his awesome acts are beyond human comprehension” or “his awesome acts are superior to anything men can do.”
  123. Psalm 66:6 sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).
  124. Psalm 66:6 tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. NEB).
  125. Psalm 66:6 tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).
  126. Psalm 66:7 tn Heb “[the] one who rules.”
  127. Psalm 66:7 tn Heb “his eyes watch.” “Eyes” are an anthropomorphism, attributed to God here to emphasize his awareness of all that happens on earth.
  128. Psalm 66:7 tn The verb form is jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ʾal). The Kethib (consonantal text) has a Hiphil form of the verb, apparently to be understood in an exhibitive sense (“demonstrate stubborn rebellion”; see BDB 927 s.v. רוּם Hiph), while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Qal form, to be understood in an intransitive sense. The preposition ל (lamed) with pronominal suffix should be understood in a reflexive sense (“for themselves”) and indicates that the action is performed with the interest of the subject in mind.
  129. Psalm 66:8 tn Heb “bless,” in the sense of declaring “God to be the source of…special power” (see HALOT 160 s.v. II ברך pi).
  130. Psalm 66:8 tn Heb “cause the voice of his praise to be heard.”
  131. Psalm 66:9 tn Heb “the one who places our soul in life.”
  132. Psalm 66:10 tn Or “indeed.”
  133. Psalm 66:11 tn Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.
  134. Psalm 66:11 tn Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun מוּעָקָה (muʿaqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.
  135. Psalm 66:12 tc The MT reads רְוָיָה (revayah, “saturation”) but this should be emended to רְוָחָה (revakhah, “wide open place”; i.e., “relief”), a reading supported by several ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Jerome, Targum).
  136. Psalm 66:13 sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.
  137. Psalm 66:16 tn Heb “all of the fearers of God.”
  138. Psalm 66:17 tn Heb “to him [with] my mouth I called.”
  139. Psalm 66:17 tn Heb “and he was extolled under my tongue.” The form רוֹמַם (romam) appears to be a Polal (passive) participle from רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), but many prefer to read רוֹמָם, “high praise [was under my tongue]” (cf. NEB). See BDB 928 s.v. רוֹמָם.
  140. Psalm 66:18 tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”
  141. Psalm 66:20 tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”
  142. Psalm 66:20 tn Or “who.” In a blessing formula after בָּרוּךְ (barukh, “blessed be”) the form אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher), whether taken as a relative pronoun or causal particle, introduces the basis for the blessing/praise.
  143. Psalm 66:20 tn Heb “did not turn aside my prayer, or his loyal love from with me.”
  144. Psalm 67:1 sn Psalm 67. The psalmist prays for God’s blessing upon his people and urges the nations to praise him for he is the just ruler of the world.
  145. Psalm 67:1 tn Or “have mercy on us.”
  146. Psalm 67:1 tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. Note the jussive form יָאֵר (yaʾer) in the next line.
  147. Psalm 67:1 tn Heb “may he cause his face to shine with us.”
  148. Psalm 67:2 tn Heb “to know in the earth your way, among all nations your deliverance.” The infinitive with ל (lamed) expresses purpose/result. When God demonstrates his favor to his people, all nations will recognize his character as a God who delivers. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) refers here to God’s characteristic behavior, more specifically, to the way he typically saves his people.
  149. Psalm 67:3 tn Heb “let the nations, all of them, thank you.” The prefixed verbal forms in vv. 3-4a are understood as jussives in this call to praise.
  150. Psalm 67:4 tn Or “peoples.”
  151. Psalm 67:4 tn Heb “for you judge nations fairly, and [as for the] peoples in the earth, you lead them.” The imperfects are translated with the present tense because the statement is understood as a generalization about God’s providential control of the world. Another option is to understand the statement as anticipating God’s future rule (“for you will rule…and govern”).
  152. Psalm 67:5 tn Heb “let the nations, all of them, thank you.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 5 are understood as jussives in this call to praise.
  153. Psalm 67:7 tn The prefixed verb forms in vv. 6b-7a are understood as jussives.
  154. Psalm 67:7 tn Heb “will fear him.” After the jussive of the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive is understood as indicating purpose/result. (Note how v. 3 anticipates the universal impact of God showing his people blessing.) Another option is to take the verb as a jussive and translate, “Let all the ends of the earth fear him.”