Psalms 36:5-8

36:5 O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky;

your faithfulness to the clouds.

36:6 Your justice is like the highest mountains,

your fairness like the deepest sea;

you preserve mankind and the animal kingdom.

36:7 How precious is your loyal love, O God!

The human race finds shelter under your wings.

36:8 They are filled with food from your house,

and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.


tn Heb “[is] in the heavens.”

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).

tn Heb “mountains of God.” The divine name אֵל (’el, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

tn Or “deliver.”

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.

tn Or “valuable.”

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.