Psalms 104:16

104:16 The trees of the Lord ¹  receive all the rain they need, ² 

the cedars of Lebanon which he planted,

Psalms 148:9

148:9 you mountains and all you hills,

you fruit trees and all you cedars,

Amos 2:9

2:9 For Israel’s sake I destroyed the Amorites. ³ 

They were as tall as cedars ⁴ 

and as strong as oaks,

but I destroyed the fruit on their branches ⁵ 

and their roots in the ground. ⁶ 

[104:16]  ¹ sn The trees of the Lord are the cedars of Lebanon (see the next line), which are viewed as special because of their great size and grandeur. The Lebanon forest was viewed elsewhere in the OT as the “garden of God” (see Ezek 31:8).

[104:16]  ² tn Heb “are satisfied,” which means here that they receive abundant rain (see v. 13).

[2:9]  ³ tn Heb “I destroyed the Amorites from before them.” The translation takes מִפְּנֵי (mippÿney) in the sense of “for the sake of.” See BDB 818 s.v. פָּנֻה II.6.a and H. W. Wolff, Joel and Amos (Hermeneia), 134. Another option is to take the phrase in a spatial sense, “I destroyed the Amorites, [clearing them out] from before them [i.e., Israel]” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[2:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “whose height was like the height of cedars.”

[2:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “his fruit from above.”

[2:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “and his roots from below.”