Psalms 67:1-4

Psalm 67 ¹ 

For the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm, a song.

67:1 May God show us his favor ²  and bless us! ³ 

May he smile on us! ⁴  (Selah)

67:2 Then those living on earth will know what you are like;

all nations will know how you deliver your people. ⁵ 

67:3 Let the nations thank you, O God!

Let all the nations thank you! ⁶ 

67:4 Let foreigners ⁷  rejoice and celebrate!

For you execute justice among the nations,

and govern the people living on earth. ⁸  (Selah)

Psalms 117:1-2

Psalm 117 ⁹ 

117:1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!

Applaud him, all you foreigners! ¹⁰ 

117:2 For his loyal love towers ¹¹  over us,

and the Lord’s faithfulness endures.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 138:4-5

138:4 Let all the kings of the earth give thanks ¹²  to you, O Lord,

when they hear the words you speak. ¹³ 

138:5 Let them sing about the Lord’s deeds, ¹⁴ 

for the Lord’s splendor is magnificent. ¹⁵ 

Romans 15:9

15:9 and thus the Gentiles glorify God for his mercy. ¹⁶  As it is written, “Because of this I will confess you among the Gentiles, and I will sing praises to your name.” ¹⁷ 

[67:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 67. The psalmist prays for God’s blessing upon his people and urges the nations to praise him for he is the just ruler of the world.

[67:1]  ² tn Or “have mercy on us.”

[67:1]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. Note the jussive form יָאֵר (ya’er) in the next line.

[67:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “may he cause his face to shine with us.”

[67:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “to know in the earth your way, among all nations your deliverance.” The infinitive with -לְ (lamed) expresses purpose/result. When God demonstrates his favor to his people, all nations will recognize his character as a God who delivers. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) refers here to God’s characteristic behavior, more specifically, to the way he typically saves his people.

[67:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “let the nations, all of them, thank you.” The prefixed verbal forms in vv. 3-4a are understood as jussives in this call to praise.

[67:4]  ⁷ tn Or “peoples.”

[67:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “for you judge nations fairly, and [as for the] peoples in the earth, you lead them.” The imperfects are translated with the present tense because the statement is understood as a generalization about God’s providential control of the world. Another option is to understand the statement as anticipating God’s future rule (“for you will rule…and govern”).

[117:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 117. The psalmist tells the nations to praise the Lord for his loyal love and faithfulness.

[117:1]  ¹⁰ tn Or “peoples” (see Ps 108:3).

[117:2]  ¹¹ tn For this sense of the Hebrew verb גָּבַר (gavar), see Ps 103:11 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[138:4]  ¹² tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in the following verse are understood as jussives, for the psalmist appears to be calling upon the kings to praise God. Another option is to take them as imperfects and translate, “the kings of the earth will give thanks…and will sing.” In this case the psalmist anticipates a universal response to his thanksgiving song.

[138:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “the words of your mouth.”

[138:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “ways.”

[138:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “great.”

[15:9]  ¹⁶ tn There are two major syntactical alternatives which are both awkward: (1) One could make “glorify” dependent on “Christ has become a minister” and coordinate with “to confirm” and the result would be rendered “Christ has become a minister of circumcision to confirm the promises…and so that the Gentiles might glorify God.” (2) One could make “glorify” dependent on “I tell you” and coordinate with “Christ has become a minister” and the result would be rendered “I tell you that Christ has become a minister of circumcision…and that the Gentiles glorify God.” The second rendering is preferred.

[15:9]  ¹⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 18:49.