Psalms 99:1

Psalm 99 ¹ 

99:1 The Lord reigns!

The nations tremble. ² 

He sits enthroned above the winged angels; ³ 

the earth shakes. ⁴ 

Psalms 18:7

18:7 The earth heaved and shook; ⁵ 

the roots of the mountains ⁶  trembled; ⁷ 

they heaved because he was angry.

Psalms 77:16

77:16 The waters ⁸  saw you, O God,

the waters saw you and trembled. ⁹ 

Yes, the depths of the sea ¹⁰  shook with fear. ¹¹ 

[99:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.

[99:1]  ² tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 1 are understood here as indicating the nations’ characteristic response to the reality of the Lord’s kingship. Another option is to take them as jussives: “let the nations tremble…let the earth shake!”

[99:1]  ³ sn Winged angels (Heb “cherubs”). Cherubs, as depicted in the OT, possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubs suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubs in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.

[99:1]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verb נוּט (nut) occurs only here in the OT, but the meaning can be determined on the basis of the parallelism with רָגַז (ragaz, “tremble”) and evidence from the cognate languages (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 121).

[18:7]  ⁵ sn The earth heaved and shook. The imagery pictures an earthquake in which the earth’s surface rises and falls. The earthquake motif is common in OT theophanies of God as warrior and in ancient Near Eastern literary descriptions of warring gods and kings. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 160-62.

[18:7]  ⁶ tn 2 Sam 22:8 has “heavens” which forms a merism with “earth” in the preceding line. The “foundations of the heavens” would be the mountains. However, the reading “foundations of the mountains” has a parallel in Deut 32:22.

[18:7]  ⁷ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the three prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive in the verse.

[77:16]  ⁹ tn The waters of the Red Sea are here personified; they are portrayed as seeing God and fearing him.

[77:16]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a preterite or as an imperfect with past progressive force.

[77:16]  ¹¹ tn The words “of the sea” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[77:16]  ¹² tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a preterite or as an imperfect with past progressive force.