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.”
8 tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).
9 tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).
10 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).
11 tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”
12 tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”
13 tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.
14 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
15 tn Heb “sunrise.”
16 tn Or “sunset.”
17 tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.
18 tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.
19 tn Heb “those who fear him.”