Psalms 105:32

105:32 He sent hail along with the rain; ¹ 

there was lightning in their land. ² 

Psalms 111:5

111:5 He gives ³  food to his faithful followers; ⁴ 

he always remembers his covenant. ⁵ 

Psalms 33:7

33:7 He piles up the water of the sea; ⁶ 

he puts the oceans ⁷  in storehouses.

Psalms 66:9

66:9 He preserves our lives ⁸ 

and does not allow our feet to slip.

Psalms 78:24

78:24 He rained down manna for them to eat;

he gave them the grain of heaven. ⁹ 

Psalms 78:66

78:66 He drove his enemies back;

he made them a permanent target for insults. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 115:16

115:16 The heavens belong to the Lord, ¹¹ 

but the earth he has given to mankind. ¹² 

Psalms 136:25

136:25 to the one who gives food to all living things, ¹³ 

for his loyal love endures.

Psalms 148:6

148:6 He established them so they would endure; ¹⁴ 

he issued a decree that will not be revoked. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 46:6

46:6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms are overthrown. ¹⁶ 

God ¹⁷  gives a shout, ¹⁸  the earth dissolves. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 99:7

99:7 He spoke to them from a pillar of cloud; ²⁰ 

they obeyed his regulations and the ordinance he gave them.

Psalms 112:9

112:9 He generously gives ²¹  to the needy;

his integrity endures. ²² 

He will be vindicated and honored. ²³ 

Psalms 146:7

146:7 vindicates the oppressed, ²⁴ 

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord releases the imprisoned.

Psalms 15:5

15:5 He does not charge interest when he lends his money. ²⁵ 

He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. ²⁶ 

The one who lives like this ²⁷  will never be upended.

Psalms 68:35

68:35 You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple! ²⁸ 

It is the God of Israel ²⁹  who gives the people power and strength.

God deserves praise! ³⁰ 

Psalms 51:1

Psalm 51 ³¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ³² 

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of ³³  your loyal love!

Because of ³⁴  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ³⁵ 

[105:32]  ¹ tn Heb “he gave their rains hail.”

[105:32]  ² tn Heb “fire of flames [was] in their land.”

[111:5]  ³ tn Or “gave,” if the events of the exodus and conquest period (see v. 6, 9) are primarily in view.

[111:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[111:5]  ⁵ tn Or “he remembers his covenant forever” (see Ps 105:8).

[33:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “[he] gathers like a pile the waters of the sea.” Some prefer to emend נֵד (ged, “heap, pile”; cf. NASB) to נֹד (nod, “bottle”; cf. NRSV; NIV “into jars”), but “pile” is used elsewhere to describe water that the Lord confines to one place (Exod 15:8; Josh 3:13, 16; Ps 78:13). This verse appears to refer to Gen 1:9, where God decrees that the watery deep be gathered to one place so that dry land might appear. If so, the participles in this and the following line depict this action with special vividness, as if the reader were present on the occasion. Another option is that the participles picture the confinement of the sea to one place as an ongoing divine activity.

[33:7]  ⁶ tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tÿhomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).

[66:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “the one who places our soul in life.”

[78:24]  ⁹ sn Manna was apparently shaped like a seed (Exod 16:31), perhaps explaining why it is here compared to grain.

[78:66]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a permanent reproach he made them.”

[115:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord.”

[115:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to the sons of man.”

[136:25]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to all flesh,” which can refer to all people (see Pss 65:2; 145:21) or more broadly to mankind and animals. Elsewhere the psalms view God as the provider for all living things (see Pss 104:27-28; 145:15).

[148:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “forever and ever.”

[148:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and it will not pass away.”

[46:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “nations roar, kingdoms shake.” The Hebrew verb הָמָה (hamah, “roar, be in uproar”) is used in v. 3 of the waves crashing, while the verb מוֹט (mot, “overthrown”) is used in v. 2 of mountains tumbling into the sea (see also v. 5, where the psalm affirms that Jerusalem “cannot be moved”). The repetition of the verbs suggests that the language of vv. 2-3 is symbolic and depicts the upheaval that characterizes relationships between the nations of the earth. As some nations (symbolized by the surging, chaotic waters) show hostility, others (symbolized by the mountains) come crashing down to destruction. The surging waters are symbolic of chaotic forces in other poetic texts (see, for example, Isa 17:12; Jer 51:42) and mountains can symbolize strong kingdoms (see, for example, Jer 51:25).

[46:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “He.” God is the obvious referent here (see v. 5), and has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[46:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “offers his voice.” In theophanic texts the phrase refers to God’s thunderous shout which functions as a battle cry (see Pss 18:13; 68:33).

[46:6]  ²² tn Or “melts.” See Amos 9:5. The image depicts the nation’s helplessness before Jerusalem’s defender, who annihilates their armies (see vv. 8-9). The imperfect verbal form emphasizes the characteristic nature of the action described.

[99:7]  ²¹ sn A pillar of cloud. The psalmist refers to the reality described in Exod 33:9-10; Num 12:5; and Deut 31:15.

[112:9]  ²³ tn Heb “he scatters, he gives.”

[112:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “stands forever.”

[112:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “his horn will be lifted up in honor.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17).

[146:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “executes justice for the oppressed.”

[15:5]  ²⁷ sn He does not charge interest. Such an individual is truly generous, and not simply concerned with making a profit.

[15:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “a bribe against the innocent he does not take.” For other texts condemning the practice of a judge or witness taking a bribe, see Exod 23:8; Deut 16:19; 27:25; 1 Sam 8:3; Ezek 22:12; Prov 17:23.

[15:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “does these things.”

[68:35]  ²⁹ tn Heb “awesome [is] God from his holy places.” The plural of מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “holy places”) perhaps refers to the temple precincts (see Ps 73:17; Jer 51:51).

[68:35]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the God of Israel, he.”

[68:35]  ³¹ tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”

[51:1]  ³¹ sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.

[51:1]  ³² tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”

[51:1]  ³³ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ³⁴ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ³⁵ tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”