66:9 He preserves our lives 1
and does not allow our feet to slip.
66:10 For 2 you, O God, tested us;
you purified us like refined silver.
66:11 You led us into a trap; 3
you caused us to suffer. 4
66:12 You allowed men to ride over our heads;
we passed through fire and water,
but you brought us out into a wide open place. 5
66:13 I will enter 6 your temple with burnt sacrifices;
I will fulfill the vows I made to you,
66:14 which my lips uttered
and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.
66:15 I will offer up to you fattened animals as burnt sacrifices,
along with the smell of sacrificial rams.
I will offer cattle and goats. (Selah)
66:16 Come! Listen, all you who are loyal to God! 7
I will declare what he has done for me.
66:17 I cried out to him for help 8
and praised him with my tongue. 9
66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, 10
the Lord would not have listened.
66:19 However, God heard;
he listened to my prayer.
66:20 God deserves praise, 11
for 12 he did not reject my prayer
or abandon his love for me! 13
1 tn Heb “the one who places our soul in life.”
2 tn Or “indeed.”
3 tn Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.
4 tn Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun מוּעָקָה (mu’aqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.
5 tc The MT reads רְוָיָה (“saturation”) but this should be emended to רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah, “wide open place”; i.e., “relief”), a reading supported by several ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Jerome, Targum).
6 sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.
7 tn Heb “all of the fearers of God.”
8 tn Heb “to him [with] my mouth I called.”
9 tn Heb “and he was extolled under my tongue.” The form רוֹמַם (romam) appears to be a polal (passive) participle from רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), but many prefer to read רוֹמָם, “high praise [was under my tongue]” (cf. NEB). See BDB 928 s.v. רוֹמָם.
10 tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”
11 tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”
12 tn Or “who.” In a blessing formula after בָּרוּךְ (barukh, “blessed be”) the form אֲשֶׁר (’asher), whether taken as a relative pronoun or causal particle, introduces the basis for the blessing/praise.
13 tn Heb “did not turn aside my prayer and his loyal love with me.”