16:3 As for God’s chosen people who are in the land,
and the leading officials I admired so much 1 –
89:5 O Lord, the heavens 2 praise your amazing deeds,
as well as your faithfulness in the angelic assembly. 3
89:7 a God who is honored 4 in the great angelic assembly, 5
and more awesome than 6 all who surround him?
1 tn Heb “regarding the holy ones who [are] in the land, they; and the mighty [ones] in [whom is/was] all my desire.” The difficult syntax makes the meaning of the verse uncertain. The phrase “holy ones” sometimes refers to God’s angelic assembly (see Ps 89:5, 7), but the qualifying clause “who are in the land” suggests that here it refers to God’s people (Ps 34:9) or to their priestly leaders (2 Chr 35:3).
2 tn As the following context makes clear, the personified “heavens” here stand by metonymy for the angelic beings that surround God’s heavenly throne.
3 tn Heb “in the assembly of the holy ones.” The phrase “holy ones” sometimes refers to God’s people (Ps 34:9) or to their priestly leaders (2 Chr 35:3), but here it refers to God’s heavenly assembly and the angels that surround his throne (see vv. 6-7).
3 tn Heb “feared.”
4 tn Heb “in the great assembly of the holy ones.”
5 tn Or perhaps “feared by.”