Psalms 33:13

33:13 The Lord watches ¹  from heaven;

he sees all people. ² 

Psalms 76:8

76:8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be. ³ 

The earth ⁴  was afraid and silent

Psalms 85:11

85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,

and deliverance looks down from the sky. ⁵ 

Psalms 14:2

14:2 The Lord looks down from heaven ⁶  at the human race, ⁷ 

to see if there is anyone who is wise ⁸  and seeks God. ⁹ 

Psalms 57:3

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ¹⁰ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ¹¹  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

Psalms 80:14

80:14 O God, invincible warrior, ¹²  come back!

Look down from heaven and take notice!

Take care of this vine,

Psalms 102:19

102:19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above; ¹³ 

from heaven the Lord will look toward earth, ¹⁴ 

Psalms 53:2

53:2 God looks down from heaven ¹⁵  at the human race, ¹⁶ 

to see if there is anyone who is wise ¹⁷  and seeks God. ¹⁸ 

[33:13]  ¹ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal forms in v. 13 state general facts.

[33:13]  ² tn Heb “all the sons of men.”

[76:8]  ³ tn Heb “a [legal] decision,” or “sentence.”

[76:8]  ⁴ tn “The earth” stands here by metonymy for its inhabitants.

[85:11]  ⁵ sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.

[14:2]  ⁷ sn The picture of the Lord looking down from heaven draws attention to his sovereignty over the world.

[14:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”

[14:2]  ⁹ tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.

[14:2]  ¹⁰ sn Anyone who is wise and seeks God refers to the person who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.

[57:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”

[80:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “O God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. See also vv. 4, 7 for a similar construction.

[102:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”

[102:19]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal forms in v. 19 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 18.

[53:2]  ¹⁵ sn The picture of the Lord looking down from heaven draws attention to his sovereignty over the world.

[53:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”

[53:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.

[53:2]  ¹⁸ tn That is, who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.