Psalms 104:19

104:19 He made the moon to mark the months, ¹ 

and the sun sets according to a regular schedule. ² 

Psalms 104:22

104:22 When the sun rises, they withdraw

and sleep ³  in their dens.

Psalms 121:6

121:6 The sun will not harm you by day,

or the moon by night. ⁴ 

Psalms 72:5

72:5 People will fear ⁵  you ⁶  as long as the sun and moon remain in the sky,

for generation after generation. ⁷ 

Psalms 89:36

89:36 His dynasty will last forever. ⁸ 

His throne will endure before me, like the sun, ⁹ 

Psalms 113:3

113:3 From east to west ¹⁰ 

the Lord’s name is deserving of praise.

Psalms 136:8

136:8 the sun to rule by day,

for his loyal love endures,

Psalms 148:3

148:3 Praise him, O sun and moon!

Praise him, all you shiny stars! ¹¹ 

Psalms 19:4

19:4 Yet its voice ¹²  echoes ¹³  throughout the earth;

its ¹⁴  words carry ¹⁵  to the distant horizon. ¹⁶ 

In the sky ¹⁷  he has pitched a tent for the sun. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 50:1

Psalm 50 ¹⁹ 

A psalm by Asaph.

50:1 El, God, the Lord ²⁰  speaks,

and summons the earth to come from the east and west. ²¹ 

Psalms 58:8

58:8 Let them be ²²  like a snail that melts away as it moves along! ²³ 

Let them be like ²⁴  stillborn babies ²⁵  that never see the sun!

Psalms 72:17

72:17 May his fame endure! ²⁶ 

May his dynasty last as long as the sun remains in the sky! ²⁷ 

May they use his name when they formulate their blessings! ²⁸ 

May all nations consider him to be favored by God! ²⁹ 

Psalms 74:16

74:16 You established the cycle of day and night; ³⁰ 

you put the moon ³¹  and sun in place. ³² 

Psalms 84:11

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ³³ 

The Lord bestows favor ³⁴  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ³⁵ 

[104:19]  ¹ tn Heb “he made [the] moon for appointed times.” The phrase “appointed times” probably refers to the months of the Hebrew lunar calendar.

[104:19]  ² tn Heb more metaphorically, “knows its setting.”

[104:22]  ³ tn Heb “lie down.”

[121:6]  ⁵ sn One hardly thinks of the moon’s rays as being physically harmful, like those of the sun. The reference to the moon may simply lend poetic balance to the verse, but it is likely that the verse reflects an ancient, primitive belief that the moon could have an adverse effect on the mind (note the English expression “moonstruck,” which reflects such a belief). Another possibility is that the sun and moon stand by metonymy for harmful forces characteristic of the day and night, respectively.

[72:5]  ⁷ tn In this context “fear” probably means “to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and authority by worshiping him and obeying his commandments.” See Ps 33:8. Some interpreters, with the support of the LXX, prefer to read וְיַאֲרִיךְ (vÿ’a’arikh, “and he [the king in this case] will prolong [days]”), that is, “will live a long time” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[72:5]  ⁸ tn God is the addressee (see vv. 1-2).

[72:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “with [the] sun, and before [the] moon [for] a generation, generations.” The rare expression דּוֹר דּוֹרִים (dor dorim, “generation, generations”) occurs only here, in Ps 102:24, and in Isa 51:8.

[89:36]  ⁹ tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”

[89:36]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”

[113:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the rising of the sun to its setting.” The extent is not temporal (“from sunrise to sunset”) but spatial (“from the place where the sun rises [the east] to the place where it sets [the west].” In the phenomenological language of OT cosmology, the sun was described as rising in the east and setting in the west.

[148:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “stars of light.”

[19:4]  ¹⁵ tc The MT reads, “their measuring line” (קוּם, qum). The noun קַו (qav, “measuring line”) makes no sense in this context. The reading קוֹלָם (qolam, “their voice”) which is supported by the LXX, is preferable.

[19:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “goes out,” or “proceeds forth.”

[19:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “their” (see the note on the word “its” in v. 3).

[19:4]  ¹⁸ tn The verb is supplied in the translation. The Hebrew text has no verb; יָצָא (yatsa’, “goes out”) is understood by ellipsis.

[19:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to the end of the world.”

[19:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in them” (i.e., the heavens).

[19:4]  ²¹ sn He has pitched a tent for the sun. The personified sun emerges from this “tent” in order to make its daytime journey across the sky. So the “tent” must refer metaphorically to the place where the sun goes to rest during the night.

[50:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 50. This psalm takes the form of a covenant lawsuit in which the Lord comes to confront his people in a formal manner (as in Isa 1:2-20). The Lord emphasizes that he places priority on obedience and genuine worship, not empty ritual.

[50:1]  ¹⁸ sn Israel’s God is here identified with three names: El (אֵל [’el], or “God”), Elohim (אֱלֹהִים [’elohim], or “God”), and Yahweh (יְהוָה [yÿhvah] or “the Lord”). There is an obvious allusion here to Josh 22:22, the only other passage where these three names appear in succession. In that passage the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh declare, “El, God, the Lord! El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth! Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord, don’t spare us today!” In that context the other tribes had accused the trans-Jordanian tribes of breaking God’s covenant by worshiping idols. The trans-Jordanian tribes appealed to “El, God, the Lord” as their witness that they were innocent of the charges brought against them. Ironically here in Ps 50 “El, God, the Lord” accuses his sinful covenant people of violating the covenant and warns that he will not spare them if they persist in their rebellion.

[50:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and calls [the] earth from the sunrise to its going.”

[58:8]  ¹⁹ tn There is no “to be” verb in the Hebrew text at this point, but a jussive tone can be assumed based on vv. 6-7.

[58:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “like a melting snail [that] moves along.” A. Cohen (Psalms [SoBB], 184) explains that the text here alludes “to the popular belief that the slimy trail which the snail leaves in its track is the dissolution of its substance.”

[58:8]  ²¹ tn The words “let them be like” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The jussive mood is implied from the preceding context, and “like” is understood by ellipsis (see the previous line).

[58:8]  ²² tn This rare word also appears in Job 3:16 and Eccles 6:3.

[72:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “may his name [be] permanent.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect.

[72:17]  ²² tn Heb “before the sun may his name increase.” The Kethib (consonantal text) assumes יָנִין (yanin; a Hiphil of the verbal root נִין, nin) or יְנַיֵן (yÿnayen; a Piel form), while the Qere (marginal reading) assumes יִנּוֹן (yinnon; a Niphal form). The verb נִין occurs only here, though a derived noun, meaning “offspring,” appears elsewhere (see Isa 14:22). The verb appears to mean “propagate, increase” (BDB 630 s.v. נוּן, נִין) or “produce shoots, get descendants” (HALOT 696 s.v. נין). In this context this appears to be a prayer for a lasting dynasty that will keep the king’s name and memory alive.

[72:17]  ²³ tn Heb “may they bless one another by him,” that is, use the king’s name in their blessing formulae because he is a prime example of one blessed by God (for examples of such blessing formulae, see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11). There is some debate on whether the Hitpael form of בָּרַךְ (barakh, “bless”) is reflexive-reciprocal (as assumed in the present translation) or passive. The Hitpael of בָּרַךְ occurs in five other passages, including the hotly debated Gen 22:18 and 26:4. In these two texts one could understand the verb form as passive and translate, “all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring,” or one could take the Hitpael as reflexive or reciprocal and translate, “all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings [i.e., on themselves or one another] by your offspring.” In the first instance Abraham’s (or Isaac’s) offspring are viewed as a channel of divine blessing. In the second instance they are viewed as a prime example of blessing that will appear as part of the nations’ blessing formulae, but not necessarily as a channel of blessing to the nations. In Deut 29:18 one reads: “When one hears the words of this covenant [or “oath”] and invokes a blessing on himself (Hitpael of בָּרַךְ) in his heart, saying: ‘I will have peace, even though I walk with a rebellious heart.’” In this case the Hitpael is clearly reflexive, as the phrases “in his heart” and “I will have peace” indicate. The Hitpael of בָּרַךְ appears twice in Isaiah 65:16: “The one who invokes a blessing on himself (see Deut 9:18) in the land will invoke that blessing by the God of truth; and the one who makes an oath in the land will make that oath by the God of truth.” A passive nuance does not fit here. The parallel line, which mentions making an oath, suggests that the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ refers here to invoking a blessing. Both pronouncements of blessing and oaths will appeal to God as the one who rewards and judges, respectively. Jer 4:2 states: “If you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ with truth, integrity, and honesty, then the nations will pronounce blessings by him and boast in him.” A passive nuance might work (“the nations will be blessed”), but the context refers to verbal pronouncements (swearing an oath, boasting), suggesting that the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ refers here to invoking a blessing. The logic of the verse seems to be as follows: If Israel conducts its affairs with integrity, the nation will be favored by the Lord, which will in turn attract the surrounding nations to Israel’s God. To summarize, while the evidence might leave the door open for a passive interpretation, there is no clear cut passive use. Usage favors a reflexive or reciprocal understanding of the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ. In Ps 72:17 the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ is followed by the prepositional phrase בוֹ (vo, “by him”). The verb could theoretically be taken as passive, “may all the nations be blessed through him” (cf. NIV, NRSV), because the preceding context describes the positive effects of this king’s rule on the inhabitants of the earth. But the parallel line, which employs the Piel of אָשַׁר (’ashar) in a factitive/declarative sense, “regard as happy, fortunate,” suggests a reflexive or reciprocal nuance for the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ here. If the nations regard the ideal king as a prime example of one who is fortunate or blessed, it is understandable that they would use his name in their pronouncements of blessing.

[72:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “all the nations, may they regard him as happy.” The Piel is used here in a delocutive sense (“regard as”).

[74:16]  ²³ tn Heb “To you [is] day, also to you [is] night.”

[74:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[the] light.” Following the reference to “day and night” and in combination with “sun,” it is likely that the Hebrew term מָאוֹר (ma’or, “light”) refers here to the moon.

[74:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “you established [the] light and [the] sun.”

[84:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ²⁶ tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”