Psalms 92:1-15

Psalm 92 ¹ 

A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.

92:1 It is fitting ²  to thank the Lord,

and to sing praises to your name, O sovereign One! ³ 

92:2 It is fitting ⁴  to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,

and your faithfulness during the night,

92:3 to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,

to the accompaniment of the meditative tone of the harp.

92:4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.

I will sing for joy because of what you have done. ⁵ 

92:5 How great are your works, O Lord!

Your plans are very intricate! ⁶ 

92:6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;

the fool does not understand this. ⁷ 

92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,

and all the evildoers glisten, ⁸ 

it is so that they may be annihilated. ⁹ 

92:8 But you, O Lord, reign ¹⁰  forever!

92:9 Indeed, ¹¹  look at your enemies, O Lord!

Indeed, ¹²  look at how your enemies perish!

All the evildoers are scattered!

92:10 You exalt my horn like that of a wild ox. ¹³ 

I am covered ¹⁴  with fresh oil.

92:11 I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me; ¹⁵ 

I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me. ¹⁶ 

92:12 The godly ¹⁷  grow like a palm tree;

they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon. ¹⁸ 

92:13 Planted in the Lord’s house,

they grow in the courts of our God.

92:14 They bear fruit even when they are old;

they are filled with vitality and have many leaves. ¹⁹ 

92:15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my protector,

is just and never unfair. ²⁰ 

[92:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 92. The psalmist praises God because he defeats the wicked and vindicates his loyal followers.

[92:1]  ² tn Or “good.”

[92:1]  ³ tn Traditionally “O Most High.”

[92:2]  ⁴ tn The words “it is fitting” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Verses 1-3 are actually one long sentence in the Hebrew text, but this has been divided up into two shorter sentences in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.

[92:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “the works of your hands.”

[92:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “very deep [are] your thoughts.” God’s “thoughts” refer here to his moral design of the world, as outlined in vv. 6-15.

[92:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).

[92:7]  ⁸ tn Or “flourish.”

[92:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”

[92:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[are elevated] on high.”

[92:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[92:9]  ¹² tn Or “for.”

[92:10]  ¹³ sn The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “to exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:24; Lam 2:17).

[92:10]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb בָּלַל (balal) usually has the nuance “to mix.” Here it seems to mean “to smear” or “to anoint.” Some emend the form to בַּלֹּתַנִי (ballotaniy; a second person form of the verb with a first person suffix) and read, “you anoint me.”

[92:11]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my eye gazes upon those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2. The form שׁוּרָי (shuray) should be emended to שׁוֹרְרָי (shorÿray).

[92:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “those who rise up against me, evil [foes], my ears hear.”

[92:12]  ¹⁷ tn The singular is used in a representative sense, with the typical godly person being in view.

[92:12]  ¹⁸ sn The cedars of the Lebanon forest were well-known in ancient Israel for their immense size.

[92:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they are juicy and fresh.”

[92:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “so that [they] proclaim that upright [is] the Lord, my rocky summit, and there is no injustice in him.”