Psalms 68:16-18

68:16 Why do you look with envy, ¹  O mountains ²  with many peaks,

at the mountain where God has decided to live? ³ 

Indeed ⁴  the Lord will live there ⁵  permanently!

68:17 God has countless chariots;

they number in the thousands. ⁶ 

The Lord comes from Sinai in holy splendor. ⁷ 

68:18 You ascend on high, ⁸ 

you have taken many captives. ⁹ 

You receive tribute ¹⁰  from ¹¹  men,

including even sinful rebels.

Indeed the Lord God lives there! ¹² 

Psalms 68:2

68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. ¹³ 

As wax melts before fire,

so the wicked are destroyed before God.

Colossians 1:19

1:19 For God ¹⁴  was pleased to have all his ¹⁵  fullness dwell ¹⁶  in the Son ¹⁷ 

Colossians 1:19

1:19 For God ¹⁸  was pleased to have all his ¹⁹  fullness dwell ²⁰  in the Son ²¹ 

Colossians 2:9

2:9 For in him all the fullness of deity lives ²²  in bodily form,

[68:16]  ¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb רָצַד (ratsad), translated here “look with envy,” is uncertain; it occurs only here in the OT. See BDB 952-53. A cognate verb occurs in later Aramaic with the meaning “to lie in wait; to watch” (Jastrow 1492 s.v. רְצַד).

[68:16]  ² tn Perhaps the apparent plural form should be read as a singular with enclitic mem (ם; later misinterpreted as a plural ending). The preceding verse has the singular form.

[68:16]  ³ tn Heb “[at] the mountain God desires for his dwelling place.” The reference is to Mount Zion/Jerusalem.

[68:16]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew particle אַף (’af) has an emphasizing function here.

[68:16]  ⁵ tn The word “there” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[68:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “thousands of [?].” The meaning of the word שִׁנְאָן (shin’an), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Perhaps the form should be emended to שַׁאֲנָן (sha’anan, “at ease”) and be translated here “held in reserve.”

[68:17]  ⁷ tc The MT reads, “the Lord [is] among them, Sinai, in holiness,” which is syntactically difficult. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֲדֹנָי בָּא מִסִּינַי (’adonay ba’ missinay; see BHS note b-b and Deut 33:2).

[68:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.

[68:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”

[68:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “gifts.”

[68:18]  ¹¹ tn Or “among.”

[68:18]  ¹² tn Heb “so that the Lord God might live [there].” Many take the infinitive construct with -לְ (lamed) as indicating purpose here, but it is unclear how the offering of tribute enables the Lord to live in Zion. This may be an occurrence of the relatively rare emphatic lamed (see HALOT 510-11 s.v. II לְ, though this text is not listed as an example there). If so, the statement corresponds nicely to the final line of v. 16, which also affirms emphatically that the Lord lives in Zion.

[68:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”

[1:19]  ¹⁴ tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ¹⁶ tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:19]  ¹⁸ tn The noun “God” does not appear in the Greek text, but since God is the one who reconciles the world to himself (cf. 2 Cor 5:19), he is clearly the subject of εὐδόκησεν (eudokhsen).

[1:19]  ¹⁹ tn The Greek article τό (to), insofar as it relates to God, may be translated as a possessive pronoun, i.e., “his.” BDAG 404 s.v. εὐδοκέω 1 translates the phrase as “all the fullness willed to dwell in him” thus leaving the referent as impersonal. Insofar as Paul is alluding to the so-called emanations from God this is acceptable. But the fact that “the fullness” dwells in a person (i.e., “in him”) seems to argue for the translation “his fullness” where “his” refers to God.

[1:19]  ²⁰ tn The aorist verb κατοικῆσαι (katoikhsai) could be taken as an ingressive, in which case it refers to the incarnation and may be translated as “begin to dwell, to take up residence.” It is perhaps better, though, to take it as a constative aorist and simply a reference to the fact that the fullness of God dwells in Jesus Christ. This is a permanent dwelling, though, not a temporary one, as the present tense in 2:9 makes clear.

[1:19]  ²¹ tn Grk “him”; the referent (the Son; see v. 13) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:9]  ²² sn In him all the fullness of deity lives. The present tense in this verse (“lives”) is significant. Again, as was stated in the note on 1:19, this is not a temporary dwelling, but a permanent one. Paul’s point is polemical against the idea that the fullness of God dwells anywhere else, as the Gnostics believed, except in Christ alone. At the incarnation, the second person of the Trinity assumed humanity, and is forever the God-man.