65:5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,
O God, our savior. 2
All the ends of the earth trust in you, 3
as well as those living across the wide seas. 4
66:3 Say to God:
“How awesome are your deeds!
Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear 5 before you.
66:5 Come and witness 6 God’s exploits! 7
His acts on behalf of people are awesome! 8
68:35 You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple! 9
It is the God of Israel 10 who gives the people power and strength.
God deserves praise! 11
76:12 He humbles princes; 12
the kings of the earth regard him as awesome. 13
106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,
mighty 14 acts by the Red Sea.
145:6 They will proclaim 15 the power of your awesome acts!
I will declare your great deeds!
64:3 When you performed awesome deeds that took us by surprise, 16
you came down, and the mountains trembled 17 before you.
1 tn Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).
2 tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”
3 tn Heb “a source of confidence [for] all the ends of the earth.”
4 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.
5 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).
6 tn Or “see.”
7 tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).
8 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.”
9 tn Heb “awesome [is] God from his holy places.” The plural of מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “holy places”) perhaps refers to the temple precincts (see Ps 73:17; Jer 51:51).
10 tn Heb “the God of Israel, he.”
11 tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”
12 tn Heb “he reduces the spirit of princes.” According to HALOT 148 s.v. II בצר, the Hebrew verb בָּצַר (batsar) is here a hapax legomenon meaning “reduce, humble.” The statement is generalizing, with the imperfect tense highlighting God’s typical behavior.
13 tn Heb “[he is] awesome to the kings of the earth.”
14 tn Or “awe-inspiring.”
15 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as an imperfect, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they proclaim.”
16 tn Heb “[for which] we were not waiting.”
17 tn See the note at v. 1.
18 tn Heb “You brought your people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders and with a mighty hand and with outstretched arm and with great terror.” For the figurative expressions involved here see the marginal notes on 27:5. The sentence has been broken down to better conform to contemporary English style.