Psalms 19:1

Psalm 19 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; ² 

the sky displays his handiwork. ³ 

Psalms 36:5-6

36:5 O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky; ⁴ 

your faithfulness to the clouds. ⁵ 

36:6 Your justice is like the highest mountains, ⁶ 

your fairness like the deepest sea;

you preserve ⁷  mankind and the animal kingdom. ⁸ 

Psalms 50:6

50:6 The heavens declare his fairness, ⁹ 

for God is judge. ¹⁰  (Selah)

Psalms 89:2

89:2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established; ¹¹ 

in the skies you set up your faithfulness.” ¹² 

Psalms 89:5

89:5 O Lord, the heavens ¹³  praise your amazing deeds,

as well as your faithfulness in the angelic assembly. ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 1:2

Obedience, not Sacrifice

1:2 Listen, O heavens,

pay attention, O earth! ¹⁵ 

For the Lord speaks:

“I raised children, ¹⁶  I brought them up, ¹⁷ 

but ¹⁸  they have rebelled ¹⁹  against me!

Revelation 19:2

19:2 because his judgments are true and just. ²⁰ 

For he has judged ²¹  the great prostitute

who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality,

and has avenged the blood of his servants ²²  poured out by her own hands!” ²³ 

[19:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 19. The psalmist praises God for his self-revelation in the heavens and in the Mosaic law. The psalmist concludes with a prayer, asking the Lord to keep him from sinning and to approve of his thoughts and words.

[19:1]  ² sn God’s glory refers here to his royal majesty and power.

[19:1]  ³ tn Heb “and the work of his hands the sky declares.” The participles emphasize the ongoing testimony of the heavens/sky.

[36:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “[is] in the heavens.”

[36:5]  ⁵ sn The Lord’s loyal love/faithfulness is almost limitless. He is loyal and faithful to his creation and blesses mankind and the animal kingdom with physical life and sustenance (vv. 6-9).

[36:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “mountains of God.” The divine name אֵל (’el, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

[36:6]  ⁷ tn Or “deliver.”

[36:6]  ⁸ sn God’s justice/fairness is firm and reliable like the highest mountains and as abundant as the water in the deepest sea. The psalmist uses a legal metaphor to describe God’s preservation of his creation. Like a just judge who vindicates the innocent, God protects his creation from destructive forces.

[50:6]  ⁹ tn Or “justice.”

[50:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for God, he is about to judge.” The participle may be taken as substantival (as in the translation above) or as a predicate (indicating imminent future action in this context).

[89:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “built.”

[89:2]  ¹² sn You set up your faithfulness. This may allude to the Lord’s heavenly throne, which symbolizes his just rule and from which the Lord decrees his unconditional promises (see vv. 8, 14).

[89:5]  ¹³ tn As the following context makes clear, the personified “heavens” here stand by metonymy for the angelic beings that surround God’s heavenly throne.

[89:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the assembly of the holy ones.” The phrase “holy ones” sometimes refers to God’s people (Ps 34:9) or to their priestly leaders (2 Chr 35:3), but here it refers to God’s heavenly assembly and the angels that surround his throne (see vv. 6-7).

[1:2]  ¹⁵ sn The personified heavens and earth are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people. Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).

[1:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “sons” (NAB, NASB).

[1:2]  ¹⁷ sn The normal word pair for giving birth to and raising children is יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth to”) and גָּדַל (gadal, “to grow, raise”). The pair גָּדַל and רוּם (rum, “to raise up”) probably occur here to highlight the fact that Yahweh made something important of Israel (cf. R. Mosis, TDOT 2:403).

[1:2]  ¹⁸ sn Against the backdrop of Yahweh’s care for his chosen people, Israel’s rebellion represents abhorrent treachery. The conjunction prefixed to a nonverbal element highlights the sad contrast between Yahweh’s compassionate care for His people and Israel’s thankless rebellion.

[1:2]  ¹⁹ sn To rebel carries the idea of “covenant treachery.” Although an act of פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, “rebellion”) often signifies a breach of the law, the legal offense also represents a violation of an existing covenantal relationship (E. Carpenter and M. Grisanti, NIDOTTE 3:707).

[19:2]  ²⁰ tn Compare the similar phrase in Rev 16:7.

[19:2]  ²¹ tn Or “has punished.” See BDAG 568 s.v. κρίνω 5.b.α, describing the OT background which involves both the vindication of the innocent and the punishment of the guilty.

[19:2]  ²² tn See the note on the word “servants” in 1:1.

[19:2]  ²³ tn Grk “from her hand” (referring to her responsibility in causing the blood of God’s followers to be shed).