Psalms 8:1-3

Psalm 8 ¹ 

For the music director, according to the gittith style; ²  a psalm of David.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord, ³ 

how magnificent ⁴  is your reputation ⁵  throughout the earth!

You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! ⁶ 

8:2 From the mouths of children and nursing babies

you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, ⁷ 

so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy. ⁸ 

8:3 When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made,

and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, ⁹ 

Psalms 19:1-6

Psalm 19 ¹⁰ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; ¹¹ 

the sky displays his handiwork. ¹² 

19:2 Day after day it speaks out; ¹³ 

night after night it reveals his greatness. ¹⁴ 

19:3 There is no actual speech or word,

nor is its ¹⁵  voice literally heard.

19:4 Yet its voice ¹⁶  echoes ¹⁷  throughout the earth;

its ¹⁸  words carry ¹⁹  to the distant horizon. ²⁰ 

In the sky ²¹  he has pitched a tent for the sun. ²² 

19:5 Like a bridegroom it emerges ²³  from its chamber; ²⁴ 

like a strong man it enjoys ²⁵  running its course. ²⁶ 

19:6 It emerges from the distant horizon, ²⁷ 

and goes from one end of the sky to the other; ²⁸ 

nothing can escape ²⁹  its heat.

Psalms 89:36-37

89:36 His dynasty will last forever. ³⁰ 

His throne will endure before me, like the sun, ³¹ 

89:37 it will remain stable, like the moon, ³² 

his throne will endure like the skies.” ³³  (Selah)

Psalms 136:7-9

136:7 to the one who made the great lights,

for his loyal love endures,

136:8 the sun to rule by day,

for his loyal love endures,

136:9 the moon and stars to rule by night,

for his loyal love endures,

Genesis 1:14-16

1:14 God said, “Let there be lights ³⁴  in the expanse ³⁵  of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them be signs ³⁶  to indicate seasons and days and years, 1:15 and let them serve as lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth.” It was so. 1:16 God made two great lights ³⁷  – the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. ³⁸ 

Genesis 8:22

8:22 “While the earth continues to exist, ³⁹ 

planting time ⁴⁰  and harvest,

cold and heat,

summer and winter,

and day and night will not cease.”

Deuteronomy 4:19

4:19 When you look up ⁴¹  to the sky ⁴²  and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation ⁴³  – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, ⁴⁴  for the Lord your God has assigned ⁴⁵  them to all the people ⁴⁶  of the world. ⁴⁷ 

Jeremiah 33:20

33:20 “I, Lord, make the following promise: ⁴⁸  ‘I have made a covenant with the day ⁴⁹  and with the night that they will always come at their proper times. Only if you people ⁵⁰  could break that covenant

[8:1]  ¹ 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]  ² tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.

[8:1]  ³ tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the Lord’s absolute sovereignty.

[8:1]  ⁴ tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”

[8:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[8:1]  ⁶ 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.

[8:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “you establish strength because of your foes.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation follows the reading of the LXX which has “praise” (αἶνος, ainos) in place of “strength” (עֹז, ’oz); cf. NIV, NCV, NLT.

[8:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “to cause to cease an enemy and an avenger.” The singular forms are collective. The Hitpael participle of נָקַם (naqam) also occurs in Ps 44:16.

[8:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “when I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars which you established.” The verb “[and] see” is understood by ellipsis in the second half of the verse.

[19:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 19. The psalmist praises God for his self-revelation in the heavens and in the Mosaic law. The psalmist concludes with a prayer, asking the Lord to keep him from sinning and to approve of his thoughts and words.

[19:1]  ¹¹ sn God’s glory refers here to his royal majesty and power.

[19:1]  ¹² tn Heb “and the work of his hands the sky declares.” The participles emphasize the ongoing testimony of the heavens/sky.

[19:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “it gushes forth a word.” The “sky” (see v. 1b) is the subject of the verb. Though not literally speaking (see v. 3), it clearly reveals God’s royal majesty. The sun’s splendor and its movement across the sky is in view (see vv. 4-6).

[19:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “it [i.e., the sky] declares knowledge,” i.e., knowledge about God’s royal majesty and power (see v. 1). This apparently refers to the splendor and movements of the stars. The imperfect verbal forms in v. 2, like the participles in the preceding verse, combine with the temporal phrases (“day after day” and “night after night”) to emphasize the ongoing testimony of the sky.

[19:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their.” The antecedent of the plural pronoun is “heavens” (v. 1).

[19:4]  ¹⁶ tc The MT reads, “their measuring line” (קוּם, qum). The noun קַו (qav, “measuring line”) makes no sense in this context. The reading קוֹלָם (qolam, “their voice”) which is supported by the LXX, is preferable.

[19:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “goes out,” or “proceeds forth.”

[19:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “their” (see the note on the word “its” in v. 3).

[19:4]  ¹⁹ tn The verb is supplied in the translation. The Hebrew text has no verb; יָצָא (yatsa’, “goes out”) is understood by ellipsis.

[19:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “to the end of the world.”

[19:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “in them” (i.e., the heavens).

[19:4]  ²² sn He has pitched a tent for the sun. The personified sun emerges from this “tent” in order to make its daytime journey across the sky. So the “tent” must refer metaphorically to the place where the sun goes to rest during the night.

[19:5]  ²³ tn The participle expresses the repeated or regular nature of the action.

[19:5]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew noun חֻפָּה (khufah, “chamber”) occurs elsewhere only in Isa 4:5 and Joel 2:16 (where it refers to the bedroom of a bride and groom).

[19:5]  ²⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the regularity of the action.

[19:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “[on] a path.”

[19:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from the end of the heavens [is] its going forth.”

[19:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and its circuit [is] to their ends.”

[19:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “is hidden from.”

[89:36]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”

[89:36]  ³¹ tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”

[89:37]  ³² tn Heb “like the moon it will be established forever.”

[89:37]  ³³ tn Heb “and a witness in the sky, secure.” Scholars have offered a variety of opinions as to the identity of the “witness” referred to here, none of which is very convincing. It is preferable to join וְעֵד (vÿ’ed) to עוֹלָם (’olam) in the preceding line and translate the commonly attested phrase עוֹלָם וְעֵד (“forever”). In this case one may translate the second line, “[it] will be secure like the skies.” Another option (the one reflected in the present translation) is to take עד as a rare noun meaning “throne” or “dais.” This noun is attested in Ugaritic; see, for example, CTA 16 vi 22-23, where ksi (= כִּסֵּא, kisse’, “throne”) and ’d (= עד, “dais”) appear as synonyms in the poetic parallelism (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). Emending בַּשַּׁחַק (bashakhaq, “in the heavens”) to כַּשַׁחַק (kashakhaq, “like the heavens”) – bet/kaf (כ/ב) confusion is widely attested – one can then read “[his] throne like the heavens [is] firm/stable.” Verse 29 refers to the enduring nature of the heavens, while Job 37:18 speaks of God spreading out the heavens (שְׁחָקִים, shÿkhaqim) and compares their strength to a bronze mirror. Ps 89:29 uses the term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim, “skies”) which frequently appears in parallelism to שְׁחָקִים.

[1:14]  ³⁴ sn Let there be lights. Light itself was created before the light-bearers. The order would not seem strange to the ancient Hebrew mind that did not automatically link daylight with the sun (note that dawn and dusk appear to have light without the sun).

[1:14]  ³⁵ tn The language describing the cosmos, which reflects a prescientific view of the world, must be interpreted as phenomenal, describing what appears to be the case. The sun and the moon are not in the sky (below the clouds), but from the viewpoint of a person standing on the earth, they appear that way. Even today we use similar phenomenological expressions, such as “the sun is rising” or “the stars in the sky.”

[1:14]  ³⁶ tn The text has “for signs and for seasons and for days and years.” It seems likely from the meanings of the words involved that “signs” is the main idea, followed by two categories, “seasons” and “days and years.” This is the simplest explanation, and one that matches vv. 11-13. It could even be rendered “signs for the fixed seasons, that is [explicative vav (ו)] days and years.”

[1:16]  ³⁷ sn Two great lights. The text goes to great length to discuss the creation of these lights, suggesting that the subject was very important to the ancients. Since these “lights” were considered deities in the ancient world, the section serves as a strong polemic (see G. Hasel, “The Polemical Nature of the Genesis Cosmology,” EvQ 46 [1974]: 81-102). The Book of Genesis is affirming they are created entities, not deities. To underscore this the text does not even give them names. If used here, the usual names for the sun and moon [Shemesh and Yarih, respectively] might have carried pagan connotations, so they are simply described as greater and lesser lights. Moreover, they serve in the capacity that God gives them, which would not be the normal function the pagans ascribed to them. They merely divide, govern, and give light in God’s creation.

[1:16]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and the stars.” Now the term “stars” is added as a third object of the verb “made.” Perhaps the language is phenomenological, meaning that the stars appeared in the sky from this time forward.

[8:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “yet all the days of the earth.” The idea is “[while there are] yet all the days of the earth,” meaning, “as long as the earth exists.”

[8:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “seed,” which stands here by metonymy for the time when seed is planted.

[4:19]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “lest you lift up your eyes.” In the Hebrew text vv. 16-19 are subordinated to “Be careful” in v. 15, but this makes for an unduly long sentence in English.

[4:19]  ⁴² tn Or “heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heaven(s)” or “sky” depending on the context.

[4:19]  ⁴³ tn Heb “all the host of heaven.”

[4:19]  ⁴⁴ tn In the Hebrew text the verbal sequence in v. 19 is “lest you look up…and see…and be seduced…and worship them…and serve them.” However, the first two actions are not prohibited in and of themselves. The prohibition pertains to the final three actions. The first two verbs describe actions that are logically subordinate to the following actions and can be treated as temporal or circumstantial: “lest, looking up…and seeing…, you are seduced.” See Joüon 2:635 §168.h.

[4:19]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “allotted.”

[4:19]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “nations.”

[4:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “under all the heaven.”

[33:20]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “Thus says the Lord.” However, the Lord is speaking so the first person introduction has again been adopted. The content of the verse shows that it is a promise to David (vv. 21-22) and the Levites based on a contrary to fact condition (v. 20). See further the translator’s note at the end of the next verse for explanation of the English structure adopted here.

[33:20]  ⁴⁹ tn The word יוֹמָם (yomam) is normally an adverb meaning “daytime, by day, daily.” However, here and in v. 25 and in Jer 15:9 it means “day, daytime” (cf. BDB 401 s.v. יוֹמָם 1).

[33:20]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “you.” The pronoun is plural as in 32:36, 43; 33:10.