18:11 He shrouded himself in darkness, 1
in thick rain clouds. 2
57:10 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, 3
and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
68:34 Acknowledge God’s power, 4
his sovereignty over Israel,
and the power he reveals in the skies! 5
77:17 The clouds poured down rain; 6
the skies thundered. 7
Yes, your arrows 8 flashed about.
89:6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord?
Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings, 9
108:4 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, 10
and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
1 tc Heb “he made darkness his hiding place around him, his covering.” 2 Sam 22:12 reads, “he made darkness around him coverings,” omitting “his hiding place” and pluralizing “covering.” Ps 18:11 may include a conflation of synonyms (“his hiding place” and “his covering”) or 2 Sam 22:12 may be the result of haplography/homoioarcton. Note that three successive words in Ps 18:11 begin with the Hebrew letter samek: סִתְרוֹ סְבִיבוֹתָיו סֻכָּתוֹ (sitro sÿvivotayv sukkato).
2 tc Heb “darkness of water, clouds of clouds.” The noun “darkness” (חֶשְׁכַת, kheshkhat) is probably a corruption of an original reading חשׁרת, a form that is preserved in 2 Sam 22:12. The latter is a construct form of חַשְׁרָה (khashrah, “sieve”) which occurs only here in the OT. A cognate Ugaritic noun means “sieve,” and a related verb חָשַׁר (khashar, “to sift”) is attested in postbiblical Hebrew and Aramaic. The phrase חַשְׁרַת מַיִם (khashrat mayim) means literally “a sieve of water.” It pictures the rain clouds as a sieve through which the rain falls to the ground (see F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry [SBLDS], 146, n. 33).
3 tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”
5 tn Heb “give strength to God.”
6 sn The language of v. 34 echoes that of Deut 33:26.
7 tn Heb “water.”
8 tn Heb “a sound the clouds gave.”
9 tn The lightning accompanying the storm is portrayed as the
9 tn Heb “sons of gods”; or “sons of God.” Though אֵלִים (’elim) is vocalized as a plural form (“gods”) in the Hebrew text, it is likely that the final mem (ם) is actually enclitic rather than a plural marker. In this case one may read “God.” Some, following a Qumran text and the LXX, also propose the phrase occurred in the original text of Deut 32:8. The phrase בְנֵי אֵלִים (vÿney ’elim, “sons of gods” or “sons of God”) occurs only here and in Ps 29:1. Since the “sons of gods/God” are here associated with “the assembly of the holy ones” and “council of the holy ones,” the heavenly assembly (comprised of so-called “angels” and other supernatural beings) appears to be in view. See Job 5:1; 15:15 and Zech 14:5, where these supernatural beings are referred to as “holy ones.” In Canaanite mythological texts the divine council of the high god El is called “the sons of El.” The OT apparently uses the Canaanite phrase, applying it to the supernatural beings that surround the
11 tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”