Deuteronomy 10:21

10:21 He is the one you should praise; ¹  he is your God, the one who has done these great and awesome things for you that you have seen.

Psalms 40:5

40:5 O Lord, my God, you have accomplished many things;

you have done amazing things and carried out your purposes for us. ² 

No one can thwart you! ³ 

I want to declare them and talk about them,

but they are too numerous to recount! ⁴ 

Psalms 65:5

65:5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,

O God, our savior. ⁵ 

All the ends of the earth trust in you, ⁶ 

as well as those living across the wide seas. ⁷ 

Psalms 66:3

66:3 Say to God:

“How awesome are your deeds!

Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear ⁸  before you.

Psalms 106:22

106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,

mighty ⁹  acts by the Red Sea.

Psalms 145:6

145:6 They will proclaim ¹⁰  the power of your awesome acts!

I will declare your great deeds!

[10:21]  ¹ tn Heb “your praise.” The pronoun is subjective and the noun “praise” is used here metonymically for the object of their praise (the Lord).

[40:5]  ² tn Heb “many things you have done, you, O Lord my God, your amazing deeds and your thoughts toward us.” The precise meaning of the text is not clear, but the psalmist seems to be recalling the Lord’s miraculous deeds on Israel’s behalf (see Pss 9:1; 26:7), as well as his covenantal decrees and promises (see Ps 33:11).

[40:5]  ³ tn Heb “there is none arrayed against you.” The precise meaning of the text is unclear, but the collocation עָרַךְ אֶל (’arakh ’el, “array against”) is used elsewhere of military (Judg 20:30; 1 Chr 19:17) or verbal opposition (Job 32:14).

[40:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will declare and I will speak, they are too numerous to recount.” The present translation assumes that the cohortatives are used in a hypothetical manner in a formally unmarked conditional sentence, “Should I try to declare [them] and speak [of them]…” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). For other examples of cohortatives in the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, see GKC 320 §108.e. (It should be noted, however, that GKC understands this particular verse in a different manner. See GKC 320 §108.f, where it is suggested that the cohortatives are part of an apodosis with the protasis being suppressed.) Another option is to take the cohortatives as a declaration of the psalmist’s resolve to announce the truth expressed in the next line. In this case one might translate: “I will declare and speak [the truth]: They are too numerous to recount.”

[65:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”

[65:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “a source of confidence [for] all the ends of the earth.”

[65:5]  ⁷ tc Heb “and [the] distant sea.” The plural adjective is problematic after the singular form “sea.” One could emend יָם (yam, “sea”) to יָמִים (yamim, “seas”), or emend the plural form רְחֹקִים (rÿkhoqim, “far”) to the singular רָחֹק (rakhoq). In this case the final mem (ם) could be treated as dittographic; note the mem on the beginning of the first word in v. 6.

[66:3]  ⁸ tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).

[106:22]  ⁹ tn Or “awe-inspiring.”

[145:6]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as an imperfect, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they proclaim.”