Psalms 36:5

36:5 O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky; ¹ 

your faithfulness to the clouds. ² 

Psalms 57:10-11

57:10 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, ³ 

and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.

57:11 Rise up ⁴  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ⁵ 

Psalms 68:4

68:4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!

Exalt the one who rides on the clouds! ⁶ 

For the Lord is his name! ⁷ 

Rejoice before him!

Psalms 108:4-5

108:4 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, ⁸ 

and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.

108:5 Rise up ⁹  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 108:1

Psalm 108 ¹¹ 

A song, a psalm of David.

108:1 I am determined, ¹²  O God!

I will sing and praise you with my whole heart. ¹³ 

Psalms 8:1

Psalm 8 ¹⁴ 

For the music director, according to the gittith style; ¹⁵  a psalm of David.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord, ¹⁶ 

how magnificent ¹⁷  is your reputation ¹⁸  throughout the earth!

You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! ¹⁹ 

Habakkuk 3:3

3:3 God comes ²⁰  from Teman, ²¹ 

the sovereign ²²  one from Mount Paran. ²³  Selah. ²⁴ 

His splendor covers the skies, ²⁵ 

his glory ²⁶  fills the earth.

Ephesians 4:10

4:10 He, the very one ²⁷  who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

Philippians 2:9-10

2:9 As a result God exalted him

and gave him the name

that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus

every knee will bow

– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

Hebrews 7:26

7:26 For it is indeed fitting for us to have such a high priest: holy, innocent, undefiled, separate from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.

[36:5]  ¹ tn Heb “[is] in the heavens.”

[36:5]  ² 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).

[57:10]  ³ tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”

[57:11]  ⁴ tn Or “be exalted.”

[57:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)

[68:4]  ⁶ tn Traditionally the Hebrew term עֲרָבוֹת (’aravot) is taken as “steppe-lands” (often rendered “deserts”), but here the form is probably a homonym meaning “clouds.” Verse 33, which depicts God as the one who “rides on the sky” strongly favors this (see as well Deut 33:26), as does the reference in v. 9 to God as the source of rain. The term עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “cloud”) is cognate with Akkadian urpatu/erpetu and with Ugaritic ’rpt. The phrase rkb ’rpt (“one who rides on the clouds”) appears in Ugaritic mythological texts as an epithet of the storm god Baal. The nonphonemic interchange of the bilabial consonants b and p is attested elsewhere in roots common to Hebrew and Ugaritic, though the phenomenon is relatively rare.

[68:4]  ⁷ tc Heb “in the Lord his name.” If the MT is retained, the preposition -בְ (bet) is introducing the predicate (the so-called bet of identity), “the Lord is his name.” However, some prefer to emend the text to כִּי יָהּ שְׁמוֹ (ki yah shÿmo, “for Yah is his name”). This emendation, reflected in the present translation, assumes a confusion of bet (ב) and kaf (כ) and haplography of yod (י).

[108:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”

[108:5]  ⁹ tn Or “be exalted.”

[108:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)

[108:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 108. With some minor variations, this psalm is a composite of Ps 57:7-11 (see vv. 1-5) and Ps 60:5-12 (see vv. 6-13).

[108:1]  ¹² tn Or perhaps “confident”; Heb “my heart is steadfast.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and/or emotions.

[108:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “also my glory,” but this makes little sense in the context. Some view the term כָּבוֹד (“glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvodiy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 30:12; 57:9; as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 3:93. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”

[8:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.

[8:1]  ¹⁵ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.

[8:1]  ¹⁶ tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the Lord’s absolute sovereignty.

[8:1]  ¹⁷ tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”

[8:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[8:1]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.

[3:3]  ²⁰ tn In vv. 3-15 there is a mixture of eleven prefixed verbal forms (without vav [ו] consecutive or with vav conjunctive), sixteen suffixed forms, and three prefixed forms with vav consecutive. All of the forms are best taken as indicating completed action from the speaker’s standpoint (all of the prefixed forms being regarded as preterites). The forms could be translated with the past tense, but this would be misleading, for this is not a mere recital of God’s deeds in Israel’s past history. Habakkuk here describes, in terms reminiscent of past theophanies, his prophetic vision of a future theophany (see v. 7, “I saw”). From the prophet’s visionary standpoint the theophany is “as good as done.” This translation uses the English present tense throughout these verses to avoid misunderstanding. A similar strategy is followed by the NEB; in contrast note the NIV and NRSV, which consistently use past tenses throughout the section, and the NASB, which employs present tenses in vv. 3-5 and mostly past tenses in vv. 6-15.

[3:3]  ²¹ sn Teman was a city or region in southern Edom.

[3:3]  ²² tn Or traditionally, “holy one.” The term קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, “holy [one]”) here refers to God’s sovereignty. See v. 3b.

[3:3]  ²³ sn The precise location of Mount Paran is unknown, but like Teman it was located to the southeast of Israel. Habakkuk saw God marching from the direction of Sinai.

[3:3]  ²⁴ tn Selah. The meaning of this musical term (which also appears in vv. 9, 13, and in the Psalms as well) is unknown.

[3:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “heavens.”

[3:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “praise.” This could mean that the earth responds in praise as God’s splendor is observed in the skies. However, the Hebrew term תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) can stand by metonymy for what prompts it (i.e., fame, glory, deeds).

[4:10]  ²⁷ tn The Greek text lays specific emphasis on “He” through the use of the intensive pronoun, αὐτός (autos). This is reflected in the English translation through the use of “the very one.”