Psalms 103:1-13

Psalm 103 ¹ 

By David.

103:1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

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

103:2 Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Do not forget all his kind deeds! ³ 

103:3 He is the one who forgives all your sins,

who heals all your diseases, ⁴ 

103:4 who delivers ⁵  your life from the Pit, ⁶ 

who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion,

103:5 who satisfies your life with good things, ⁷ 

so your youth is renewed like an eagle’s. ⁸ 

103:6 The Lord does what is fair,

and executes justice for all the oppressed. ⁹ 

103:7 The Lord revealed his faithful acts ¹⁰  to Moses,

his deeds to the Israelites.

103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;

he is patient ¹¹  and demonstrates great loyal love. ¹² 

103:9 He does not always accuse,

and does not stay angry. ¹³ 

103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; ¹⁴ 

he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve. ¹⁵ 

103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,

so his loyal love towers ¹⁶  over his faithful followers. ¹⁷ 

103:12 As far as the eastern horizon ¹⁸  is from the west, ¹⁹ 

so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions ²⁰  from us.

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ²¹ 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ²² 

[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).

[103:2]  ³ tn Or “his benefits” (see 2 Chr 32:25, where the noun is also used of kind deeds performed by the Lord).

[103:3]  ⁴ tn This relatively rare noun refers to deadly diseases (see Deut 29:22; Jer 14:18; 16:4; 2 Chr 21:19).

[103:4]  ⁵ tn Or “redeems.”

[103:4]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 55:24.

[103:5]  ⁷ tc Heb “who satisfies with the good of your ornaments.” The text as it stands makes little, if any, sense. The translation assumes an emendation of עֶדְיֵךְ (’ed’ekh, “your ornaments”) to עֹדֵכִי (’odekhiy, “your duration; your continuance”) that is, “your life” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 18).

[103:5]  ⁸ sn The expression your youth is renewed like an eagle’s may allude to the phenomenon of molting, whereby the eagle grows new feathers.

[103:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord does fairness, and [acts of] justice for all the oppressed.”

[103:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “made known his ways.” God’s “ways” in this context are his protective and salvific acts in fulfillment of his promise (see also Deut 32:4; Pss 18:30; 67:2; 77:13 [note vv. 11-12, 14]; 138:5; 145:17).

[103:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:8]  ¹² tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:9]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).

[103:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”

[103:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”

[103:11]  ¹⁶ tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[103:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sunrise.”

[103:12]  ¹⁹ tn Or “sunset.”

[103:12]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.

[103:13]  ²¹ tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

[103:13]  ²² tn Heb “those who fear him.”