For the music director, according to the gittith style; 2 a psalm of David.
8:1 O Lord, our Lord, 3
how magnificent 4 is your reputation 5 throughout the earth!
You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! 6
21:13 Rise up, O Lord, in strength! 7
We will sing and praise 8 your power!
57:5 Rise up 9 above the sky, O God!
May your splendor cover the whole earth! 10
57:11 Rise up 11 above the sky, O God!
May your splendor cover the whole earth! 12
148:13 Let them praise the name of the Lord,
for his name alone is exalted;
his majesty extends over the earth and sky.
148:1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord from the sky!
Praise him in the heavens!
29:10 The Lord sits enthroned over the engulfing waters, 14
the Lord sits enthroned 15 as the eternal king.
1 sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.
2 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.
3 tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the
4 tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”
5 tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
6 tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.
7 tn Heb “in your strength,” but English idiom does not require the pronoun.
8 tn Heb “sing praise.”
9 tn Or “be exalted.”
10 tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)
11 tn Or “be exalted.”
12 tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)
13 sn Psalm 148. The psalmist calls upon all creation to praise the Lord, for he is the creator and sovereign king of the world.
14 tn The noun מַּבּוּל (mabbul, “flood”) appears only here and in Gen 6-11, where it refers to the Noahic flood. Some see a reference to that event here. The presence of the article (perhaps indicating uniqueness) and the switch to the perfect verbal form (which could be taken as describing a past situation) might support this. However, the immediate context indicates that the referent of מַּבּוּל is the “surging waters” mentioned in v. 3. The article indicates waters that are definite in the mind of the speaker and the perfect is probably descriptive in function, like “thunders” in v. 3. However, even though the historical flood is not the primary referent here, there may be a literary allusion involved. The psalmist views the threatening chaotic sea as a contemporary manifestation of the destructive waters of old.
15 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the descriptive function of the preceding perfect.