Bible Reading June 26 
Psalms 97:1--99:9
Context97:1 The Lord reigns!
Let the earth be happy!
Let the many coastlands rejoice!
97:2 Dark clouds surround him;
equity and justice are the foundation of his throne. 2
97:3 Fire goes before him;
on every side 3 it burns up his enemies.
97:4 His lightning bolts light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
97:5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of the whole earth.
97:6 The sky declares his justice,
and all the nations see his splendor.
97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,
those who boast about worthless idols.
All the gods bow down before him. 4
97:8 Zion hears and rejoices,
the towns 5 of Judah are happy,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
97:9 For you, O Lord, are the sovereign king 6 over the whole earth;
you are elevated high above all gods.
97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He protects 7 the lives of his faithful followers;
he delivers them from the power 8 of the wicked.
97:11 The godly bask in the light;
the morally upright experience joy. 9
97:12 You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord!
Give thanks to his holy name. 10
A psalm.
98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, 12
for he performs 13 amazing deeds!
His right hand and his mighty arm
accomplish deliverance. 14
98:2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver; 15
in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.
98:3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel. 16
All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us. 17
98:4 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!
Break out in a joyful shout and sing!
98:5 Sing to the Lord accompanied by a harp,
accompanied by a harp and the sound of music!
98:6 With trumpets and the blaring of the ram’s horn,
shout out praises before the king, the Lord!
98:7 Let the sea and everything in it shout,
along with the world and those who live in it!
98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands!
Let the mountains sing in unison
98:9 before the Lord!
For he comes to judge the earth!
He judges the world fairly, 18
and the nations in a just manner.
99:1 The Lord reigns!
The nations tremble. 20
He sits enthroned above the winged angels; 21
the earth shakes. 22
99:2 The Lord is elevated 23 in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
99:3 Let them praise your great and awesome name!
He 24 is holy!
99:4 The king is strong;
he loves justice. 25
You ensure that legal decisions will be made fairly; 26
you promote justice and equity in Jacob.
99:5 Praise 27 the Lord our God!
Worship 28 before his footstool!
He is holy!
99:6 Moses and Aaron were among his priests;
Samuel was one of those who prayed to him. 29
They 30 prayed to the Lord and he answered them.
99:7 He spoke to them from a pillar of cloud; 31
they obeyed his regulations and the ordinance he gave them.
99:8 O Lord our God, you answered them.
They found you to be a forgiving God,
but also one who punished their sinful deeds. 32
99:9 Praise 33 the Lord our God!
Worship on his holy hill,
for the Lord our God is holy!
[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.
[97:2] 2 sn The Lord’s throne symbolizes his kingship.
[97:7] 4 tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the
[97:8] 5 tn Heb “daughters.” The term “daughters” refers to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 48:11 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).
[97:9] 6 tn Traditionally “Most High.”
[97:10] 7 tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the
[97:11] 9 tn Heb “Light is planted for the godly, and for the upright of heart joy.” The translation assumes an emendation of זָרַע (zara’, “planted”) to זָרַח (zara’, “shines”) which collocates more naturally with “light.” “Light” here symbolizes the joy (note the following line) that accompanies deliverance and the outpouring of divine favor.
[97:12] 10 tn Heb “to his holy remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זָכַר (zakhar, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the
[98:1] 11 sn Psalm 98. The psalmist summons the whole earth to praise God because he reveals his justice and delivers Israel.
[98:1] 12 sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See Ps 96:1.
[98:1] 13 tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 1-3 are understood here as describing characteristic divine activities. Another option is to translate them as present perfects, “has performed…has accomplished deliverance, etc.” referring to completed actions that have continuing results.
[98:1] 14 tn Heb “his right hand delivers for him and his holy arm.” The right hand and arm symbolize his power as a warrior-king (see Isa 52:10). His arm is “holy” in the sense that it is in a category of its own; God’s power is incomparable.
[98:2] 15 tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”
[98:3] 16 tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”
[98:3] 17 tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).
[98:9] 18 tn The verbal forms in v. 9 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions (“will judge…”).
[99:1] 19 sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.
[99:1] 20 tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 1 are understood here as indicating the nations’ characteristic response to the reality of the
[99:1] 21 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] 22 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).
[99:3] 24 tn The pronoun refers to the
[99:4] 25 tn Heb “and strength, a king, justice he loves.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation assumes that two affirmations are made about the king, the
[99:4] 26 tn Heb “you establish fairness.”
[99:6] 29 tn Heb “among those who called on his name.”
[99:6] 30 tn Heb “those who.” The participle is in apposition to the phrase “those who called on his name” in the preceding line.
[99:7] 31 sn A pillar of cloud. The psalmist refers to the reality described in Exod 33:9-10; Num 12:5; and Deut 31:15.
[99:8] 32 tn Heb “a God of lifting up [i.e., forgiveness] you were to them, and an avenger concerning their deeds.” The present translation reflects the traditional interpretation, which understands the last line as qualifying the preceding one. God forgave Moses and Aaron, but he also disciplined them when they sinned (cf. NIV, NRSV). Another option is to take “their deeds” as referring to harmful deeds directed against Moses and Aaron. In this case the verse may be translated, “and one who avenged attacks against them.” Still another option is to emend the participial form נֹקֵם (noqem, “an avenger”) to נֹקָם (noqam), a rare Qal participial form of נָקַה (naqah, “purify”) with a suffixed pronoun. In this case one could translate, “and one who purified them from their [sinful] deeds” (cf. NEB “and held them innocent”).
