Psalms 103:1

Psalm 103 ¹ 

By David.

103:1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

With all that is within me, praise ²  his holy name!

Psalms 103:13

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ³ 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ⁴ 

Psalms 103:17

103:17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers, ⁵ 

and is faithful to their descendants, ⁶ 

Psalms 112:1

Psalm 112 ⁷ 

112:1 Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the one ⁸  who obeys ⁹  the Lord,

who takes great delight in keeping his commands. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 115:13

115:13 He will bless his loyal followers, ¹¹ 

both young and old. ¹² 

Psalms 147:11

147:11 The Lord takes delight in his faithful followers, ¹³ 

and in those who wait for his loyal love.

Luke 1:50

1:50 from ¹⁴  generation to generation he is merciful ¹⁵  to those who fear ¹⁶  him.

[103:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 103. The psalmist praises God for his mercy and willingness to forgive his people.

[103:1]  ² tn The verb “praise” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the preceding line).

[103:13]  ³ tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

[103:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “but the loyal love of the Lord [is] from everlasting to everlasting over those who fear him.”

[103:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his righteousness to sons of sons.”

[112:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 112. This wisdom psalm lists some of the benefits of living a godly life. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[112:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The individual is representative of a larger group, called the “godly” in vv. 3-4. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in the following verses.

[112:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “fears.”

[112:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in his commands he delights very much.” The words “in keeping” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Taking delight in the law is metonymic here for obeying God’s moral will. See Ps 1:2.

[115:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the fearers of the Lord.”

[115:13]  ¹² tn Heb “the small along with the great.” The translation assumes that “small” and “great” here refer to age (see 2 Chr 15:13). Another option is to translate “both the insignificant and the prominent” (see Job 3:19; cf. NEB “high and low alike”).

[147:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[1:50]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “and from.” Here καί (kai) has been translated by a semicolon to improve the English style.

[1:50]  ¹⁵ sn God’s mercy refers to his “loyal love” or “steadfast love,” expressed in faithful actions, as the rest of the psalm illustrates.

[1:50]  ¹⁶ tn That is, “who revere.” This refers to those who show God a reverential respect for his sovereignty.