Text -- Psalms 65:9-13 (NET)

65:9 You visit the earth and give it rain; you make it rich and fertile with overflowing streams full of water. You provide grain for them, for you prepare the earth to yield its crops. 65:10 You saturate its furrows, and soak its plowed ground. With rain showers you soften its soil, and make its crops grow. 65:11 You crown the year with your good blessings, and you leave abundance in your wake. 65:12 The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture, and the hills are clothed with joy. 65:13 The meadows are clothed with sheep, and the valleys are covered with grain. They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 65:9

¹ 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.”

² tn Heb “you greatly enrich it.”

³ tn Heb “[with] a channel of God full of water.” The divine name is probably used here in a superlative sense to depict a very deep stream (“a stream fit for God,” as it were).

⁴ tn The pronoun apparently refers to the people of the earth, mentioned in v. 8.

⁵ 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.

NET Notes: Psa 65:10

¹ tn Heb “saturating” [the form is an infinitive absolute].

² tn Heb “flatten, cause to sink.”

³ tn Heb “trenches,” or “furrows.”

⁴ tn Heb “soften it,” that is, the earth.

⁵ tn Heb “its vegetation you bless.” Divine “blessing” often involves endowing an object with special power or capacity.

NET Notes: Psa 65:11

¹ tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural blessings.

² tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.”

NET Notes: Psa 65:12

¹ tn Heb “drip.”

² tn That is, with rich vegetation that brings joy to those who see it.