Text -- Psalms 65:1-8 (NET)

Psalm 65

65:1 For the music director; a psalm of David, a song. Praise awaits you, O God, in Zion. Vows made to you are fulfilled. 65:2 You hear prayers; all people approach you. 65:3 Our record of sins overwhelms me, but you forgive our acts of rebellion. 65:4 How blessed is the one whom you choose, and allow to live in your palace courts. May we be satisfied with the good things of your house– your holy palace. 65:5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance, O God, our savior. All the ends of the earth trust in you, as well as those living across the wide seas. 65:6 You created the mountains by your power, and demonstrated your strength. 65:7 You calm the raging seas and their roaring waves, as well as the commotion made by the nations. 65:8 Even those living in the most remote areas are awestruck by your acts; you cause those living in the east and west to praise you.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 65:1

¹ sn Psalm 65. The psalmist praises God because he forgives sin and blesses his people with an abundant harvest.

² 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.”

NET Notes: Psa 65:2

¹ tn Heb “O one who hears prayer.”

² tn Heb “to you all flesh comes.”

NET Notes: Psa 65:3

¹ tn Heb “the records of sins are too strong for me.”

² tn Or “make atonement for.”

NET Notes: Psa 65:4

¹ 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).

² tn Heb “[whom] you bring near [so that] he might live [in] your courts.”

³ tn Or “temple.”

NET Notes: Psa 65:5

¹ tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”

² 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.

³ 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 (rÿkhoqim, “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.

NET Notes: Psa 65:6

¹ tn Heb “[the] one who establishes [the] mountains by his power.”

² tn Heb “one [who] is girded with strength”; or “one [who] girds himself with strength.”

NET Notes: Psa 65:7

¹ tn Heb “the roar of the seas.”

² 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).

NET Notes: Psa 65:8

¹ 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.

² 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.