Psalms 103:8-13

103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;

he is patient ¹  and demonstrates great loyal love. ² 

103:9 He does not always accuse,

and does not stay angry. ³ 

103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; ⁴ 

he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve. ⁵ 

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

so his loyal love towers ⁶  over his faithful followers. ⁷ 

103:12 As far as the eastern horizon ⁸  is from the west, ⁹ 

so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions ¹⁰  from us.

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ¹¹ 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ¹² 

[103:8]  ¹ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:8]  ² tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:9]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”

[103:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”

[103:11]  ⁶ tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[103:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “sunrise.”

[103:12]  ⁹ tn Or “sunset.”

[103:12]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.

[103:13]  ¹¹ tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

[103:13]  ¹² tn Heb “those who fear him.”