Psalms 66:6-20

66:6 He turned the sea into dry land; ¹ 

they passed through the river on foot. ² 

Let us rejoice in him there! ³ 

66:7 He rules ⁴  by his power forever;

he watches ⁵  the nations.

Stubborn rebels should not exalt ⁶  themselves. (Selah)

66:8 Praise ⁷  our God, you nations!

Loudly proclaim his praise! ⁸ 

66:9 He preserves our lives ⁹ 

and does not allow our feet to slip.

66:10 For ¹⁰  you, O God, tested us;

you purified us like refined silver.

66:11 You led us into a trap; ¹¹ 

you caused us to suffer. ¹² 

66:12 You allowed men to ride over our heads;

we passed through fire and water,

but you brought us out into a wide open place. ¹³ 

66:13 I will enter ¹⁴  your temple with burnt sacrifices;

I will fulfill the vows I made to you,

66:14 which my lips uttered

and my mouth spoke when I was in trouble.

66:15 I will offer up to you fattened animals as burnt sacrifices,

along with the smell of sacrificial rams.

I will offer cattle and goats. (Selah)

66:16 Come! Listen, all you who are loyal to God! ¹⁵ 

I will declare what he has done for me.

66:17 I cried out to him for help ¹⁶ 

and praised him with my tongue. ¹⁷ 

66:18 If I had harbored sin in my heart, ¹⁸ 

the Lord would not have listened.

66:19 However, God heard;

he listened to my prayer.

66:20 God deserves praise, ¹⁹ 

for ²⁰  he did not reject my prayer

or abandon his love for me! ²¹ 

[66:6]  ¹ sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).

[66:6]  ² tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. NEB).

[66:6]  ³ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[66:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “[the] one who rules.”

[66:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “his eyes watch.” “Eyes” are an anthropomorphism, attributed to God here to emphasize his awareness of all that happens on earth.

[66:7]  ⁶ tn The verb form is jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al). The Kethib (consonantal text) has a Hiphil form of the verb, apparently to be understood in an exhibitive sense (“demonstrate stubborn rebellion”; see BDB 927 s.v. רוּם Hiph), while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Qal form, to be understood in an intransitive sense. The preposition -לְ (lamed) with pronominal suffix should be understood in a reflexive sense (“for themselves”) and indicates that the action is performed with the interest of the subject in mind.

[66:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “bless,” in the sense of declaring “God to be the source of…special power” (see HALOT 160 s.v. II ברך pi).

[66:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “cause the voice of his praise to be heard.”

[66:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “the one who places our soul in life.”

[66:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “indeed.”

[66:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.

[66:11]  ¹² tn Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun מוּעָקָה (mu’aqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.

[66:12]  ¹³ tc The MT reads רְוָיָה (“saturation”) but this should be emended to רְוָחָה (rÿvakhah, “wide open place”; i.e., “relief”), a reading supported by several ancient versions (LXX, Syriac, Jerome, Targum).

[66:13]  ¹⁴ sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.

[66:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all of the fearers of God.”

[66:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to him [with] my mouth I called.”

[66:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he was extolled under my tongue.” The form רוֹמַם (romam) appears to be a polal (passive) participle from רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), but many prefer to read רוֹמָם, “high praise [was under my tongue]” (cf. NEB). See BDB 928 s.v. רוֹמָם.

[66:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”

[66:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”

[66:20]  ²⁰ tn Or “who.” In a blessing formula after בָּרוּךְ (barukh, “blessed be”) the form אֲשֶׁר (’asher), whether taken as a relative pronoun or causal particle, introduces the basis for the blessing/praise.

[66:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “did not turn aside my prayer and his loyal love with me.”