Psalms 33:1-21

Psalm 33 ¹ 

33:1 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord!

It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise.

33:2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp!

Sing to him to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument!

33:3 Sing to him a new song! ² 

Play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him! ³ 

33:4 For ⁴  the Lord’s decrees ⁵  are just, ⁶ 

and everything he does is fair. ⁷ 

33:5 The Lord promotes ⁸  equity and justice;

the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth. ⁹ 

33:6 By the Lord’s decree ¹⁰  the heavens were made;

by a mere word from his mouth all the stars in the sky were created. ¹¹ 

33:7 He piles up the water of the sea; ¹² 

he puts the oceans ¹³  in storehouses.

33:8 Let the whole earth fear ¹⁴  the Lord!

Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him!

33:9 For he spoke, and it ¹⁵  came into existence,

he issued the decree, ¹⁶  and it stood firm.

33:10 The Lord frustrates ¹⁷  the decisions of the nations;

he nullifies the plans ¹⁸  of the peoples.

33:11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;

his plans abide throughout the ages. ¹⁹ 

33:12 How blessed ²⁰  is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession. ²¹ 

33:13 The Lord watches ²²  from heaven;

he sees all people. ²³ 

33:14 From the place where he lives he looks carefully

at all the earth’s inhabitants.

33:15 He is the one who forms every human heart, ²⁴ 

and takes note of all their actions.

33:16 No king is delivered by his vast army;

a warrior is not saved by his great might.

33:17 A horse disappoints those who trust in it for victory; ²⁵ 

despite its great strength, it cannot deliver.

33:18 Look, the Lord takes notice of his loyal followers, ²⁶ 

those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness ²⁷ 

33:19 by saving their lives from death ²⁸ 

and sustaining them during times of famine. ²⁹ 

33:20 We ³⁰  wait for the Lord;

he is our deliverer ³¹  and shield. ³² 

33:21 For our hearts rejoice in him,

for we trust in his holy name.

[33:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 33. In this hymn the psalmist praises the Lord as the sovereign creator and just ruler of the world who protects and vindicates those who fear him.

[33:3]  ² sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the lives of his people in fresh and exciting ways.

[33:3]  ³ tn Heb “play skillfully with a loud shout.”

[33:4]  ⁴ sn For the Lord’s decrees are just… After the call to praise (vv. 1-3), the psalmist now gives a series of reasons why the Lord is worthy of praise.

[33:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “word.” In this context, which depicts the Lord as the sovereign creator and ruler of the world, the Lord’s “word” refers to the decrees whereby he governs his dominion.

[33:4]  ⁶ tn Or “upright.”

[33:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and all his work [is] in faithfulness.”

[33:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of equity and justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world.

[33:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “fills the earth.”

[33:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “word.”

[33:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and by the breath of his mouth all their host.” The words “were created” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons; they are understood by ellipsis (note “were made” in the preceding line). The description is consistent with Gen 1:16, which indicates that God spoke the heavenly luminaries into existence.

[33:7]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tÿhomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).

[33:8]  ¹⁴ tn In this context “fear” probably means “to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and authority by worshiping him and obeying his commandments.”

[33:9]  ¹⁵ tn That is, “all the earth” in the first line of v. 8. The apparent antecedent of the masculine subject of the verbs in v. 9 (note וַיֶּהִי [vayyehiy] and וַיַּעֲמֹד [vayya’amod]) is “earth” or “world,” both of which are feminine nouns. However, כָּל (kol, “all”) may be the antecedent, or the apparent lack of agreement may be explained by the collective nature of the nouns involved here (see GKC 463 §145.e).

[33:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he commanded.”

[33:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the Lord’s activity.

[33:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “thoughts.”

[33:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the thoughts of his heart for generation to generation.” The verb “abides” is supplied in the translation. The Lord’s “decisions” and “plans” here refer to his decrees and purposes.

[33:12]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[33:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “inheritance.”

[33:13]  ²² tn The Hebrew perfect verbal forms in v. 13 state general facts.

[33:13]  ²³ tn Heb “all the sons of men.”

[33:15]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the one who forms together their heart[s].” “Heart” here refers to human nature, composed of intellect, emotions and will. The precise force of יָחַד (yakhad, “together”) is unclear here. The point seems to be that the Lord is the creator of every human being.

[33:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a lie [is] the horse for victory.”

[33:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “look, the eye of the Lord [is] toward the ones who fear him.” The expression “the eye…[is] toward” here indicates recognition and the bestowing of favor. See Ps 34:15. The one who fears the Lord respects his sovereignty and obeys his commandments. See Ps 128:1; Prov 14:2.

[33:18]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for the ones who wait for his faithfulness.”

[33:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to save from death their live[s].”

[33:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and to keep them alive in famine.”

[33:20]  ³⁰ tn Or “our lives.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[33:20]  ³¹ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[33:20]  ³² tn Or “protector.”