36:6 Your justice is like the highest mountains, 1
your fairness like the deepest sea;
you preserve 2 mankind and the animal kingdom. 3
36:7 How precious 4 is your loyal love, O God!
The human race finds shelter under your wings. 5
36:8 They are filled with food from your house,
and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.
36:9 For you are the one who gives
and sustains life. 6
1 tn Heb “mountains of God.” The divine name אֵל (’el, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.
2 tn Or “deliver.”
3 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.
4 tn Or “valuable.”
5 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.
6 tn Heb “for with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.” Water (note “fountain”) and light are here metaphors for life.