36:5 O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky; 1
your faithfulness to the clouds. 2
36:6 Your justice is like the highest mountains, 3
your fairness like the deepest sea;
you preserve 4 mankind and the animal kingdom. 5
36:7 How precious 6 is your loyal love, O God!
The human race finds shelter under your wings. 7
1 tn Heb “[is] in the heavens.”
2 sn The Lord’s loyal love/faithfulness is almost limitless. He is loyal and faithful to his creation and blesses mankind and the animal kingdom with physical life and sustenance (vv. 6-9).
3 tn Heb “mountains of God.” The divine name אֵל (’el, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.
4 tn Or “deliver.”
5 sn God’s justice/fairness is firm and reliable like the highest mountains and as abundant as the water in the deepest sea. The psalmist uses a legal metaphor to describe God’s preservation of his creation. Like a just judge who vindicates the innocent, God protects his creation from destructive forces.
6 tn Or “valuable.”
7 tn Heb “and the sons of man in the shadow of your wings find shelter.” The preservation of physical life is in view, as the next verse makes clear.