103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he is patient 8 and demonstrates great loyal love. 9
103:9 He does not always accuse,
and does not stay angry. 10
103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; 11
he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve. 12
103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,
so his loyal love towers 13 over his faithful followers. 14
103:12 As far as the eastern horizon 15 is from the west, 16
so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions 17 from us.
103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, 18
so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. 19
1 tn Grk “And behold he.” The Greek word ἰδού (idou) has not been translated because it has no exact English equivalent here, but adds interest and emphasis (BDAG 468 s.v. 1).
2 tn “And” is not in Greek, but is supplied for the sake of English style.
3 tn Or “going.” Though the participle is anarthrous, so also is the subject. Thus, the participle could be either adverbial or adjectival.
4 tn Grk “(who go/going) according to their own lusts.”
5 tn Grk “and their mouth speaks bombastic things.”
6 sn Enchanting folks (Grk “awing faces”) refers to the fact that the speeches of these false teachers are powerful and seductive.
7 tn Or “to their own advantage.”
3 tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).
4 tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).
4 tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).
5 tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”
6 tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”
6 tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.
7 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
7 tn Heb “sunrise.”
8 tn Or “sunset.”
9 tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.
8 tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.
9 tn Heb “those who fear him.”