Psalms 36:5-8

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

your faithfulness to the clouds. ² 

36:6 Your justice is like the highest mountains, ³ 

your fairness like the deepest sea;

you preserve ⁴  mankind and the animal kingdom. ⁵ 

36:7 How precious ⁶  is your loyal love, O God!

The human race finds shelter under your wings. ⁷ 

36:8 They are filled with food from your house,

and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.

[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).

[36:6]  ³ tn Heb “mountains of God.” The divine name אֵל (’el, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

[36:6]  ⁴ tn Or “deliver.”

[36:6]  ⁵ 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.

[36:7]  ⁶ tn Or “valuable.”

[36:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the sons of man in the shadow of your wings find shelter.” The preservation of physical life is in view, as the next verse makes clear.