89:5 O Lord, the heavens 1 praise your amazing deeds,
as well as your faithfulness in the angelic assembly. 2
89:8 O Lord, sovereign God! 3
Who is strong like you, O Lord?
Your faithfulness surrounds you.
89:33 But I will not remove 4 my loyal love from him,
nor be unfaithful to my promise. 5
89:49 Where are your earlier faithful deeds, 6 O Lord, 7
the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David? 8
1 tn As the following context makes clear, the personified “heavens” here stand by metonymy for the angelic beings that surround God’s heavenly throne.
2 tn Heb “in the assembly of the holy ones.” The phrase “holy ones” sometimes refers to God’s people (Ps 34:9) or to their priestly leaders (2 Chr 35:3), but here it refers to God’s heavenly assembly and the angels that surround his throne (see vv. 6-7).
3 tn Traditionally “God of hosts.” The title here pictures the
4 tn Heb “break”; “make ineffectual.” Some prefer to emend אָפִיר (’afir; the Hiphil of פָּרַר, parar, “to break”) to אָסִיר (’asir; the Hiphil of סוּר, sur, “to turn aside”), a verb that appears in 2 Sam 7:15.
5 tn Heb “and I will not deal falsely with my faithfulness.”
6 sn The Lord’s faithful deeds are also mentioned in Pss 17:7 and 25:6.
7 tc Many medieval Hebrew
8 tn Heb “[which] you swore on oath to David by your faithfulness.”