18:21 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands; 1
I have not rebelled against my God. 2
18:28 Indeed, 3 you are my lamp, Lord. 4
My God 5 illuminates the darkness around me. 6
18:46 The Lord is alive! 7
My protector 8 is praiseworthy! 9
The God who delivers me 10 is exalted as king! 11
For the music director; a psalm of David.
19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; 13
the sky displays his handiwork. 14
20:7 Some trust in chariots and others in horses, 15
but we 16 depend on 17 the Lord our God.
29:3 The Lord’s shout is heard over the water; 18
the majestic God thunders, 19
the Lord appears over the surging water. 20
30:2 O Lord my God,
I cried out to you and you healed me. 21
33:12 How blessed 22 is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession. 23
37:31 The law of their God controls their thinking; 24
their 25 feet do not slip.
38:15 Yet 26 I wait for you, O Lord!
You will respond, O Lord, my God!
38:21 Do not abandon me, O Lord!
My God, do not remain far away from me!
41:13 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise 27
in the future and forevermore! 28
We agree! We agree! 29
46:7 The Lord who commands armies is on our side! 30
The God of Jacob 31 is our protector! 32 (Selah)
46:11 The Lord who commands armies is on our side! 33
The God of Jacob 34 is our protector! 35 (Selah)
54:4 Look, God is my deliverer! 36
The Lord is among those who support me. 37
55:14 We would share personal thoughts with each other; 38
in God’s temple we would walk together among the crowd.
56:10 In God – I boast in his promise 39 –
in the Lord – I boast in his promise 40 –
68:26 In your large assemblies praise God,
the Lord, in the assemblies of Israel! 41
78:59 God heard and was angry;
he completely rejected Israel.
80:4 O Lord God, invincible warrior! 42
How long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you? 43
86:8 None can compare to you among the gods, O Lord!
Your exploits are incomparable! 44
94:7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;
the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.” 45
94:22 But the Lord will protect me, 46
and my God will shelter me. 47
96:4 For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise;
he is more awesome than all gods. 48
99:5 Praise 49 the Lord our God!
Worship 50 before his footstool!
He is holy!
104:33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist! 51
109:26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Because you are faithful to me, deliver me! 52
135:5 Yes, 53 I know the Lord is great,
and our Lord is superior to all gods.
144:15 How blessed are the people who experience these things! 54
How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!
146:2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live!
I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist!
1 tn Heb “for I have kept the ways of the
2 tn Heb “I have not acted wickedly from my God.” The statement is elliptical; the idea is, “I have not acted wickedly and, in so doing, departed from my God.”
3 tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.
4 tn Ps 18:28 reads literally, “you light my lamp,
5 tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “
6 tn Heb “my darkness.”
7 tn Elsewhere the construction חַי־יְהוָה (khay-yÿhvah) is used exclusively as an oath formula, “as surely as the
8 tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection. See similar phrases in vv. 2, 31.
9 tn Or “blessed [i.e., praised] be.”
10 tn Heb “the God of my deliverance.” 2 Sam 22:48 reads, “the God of the rocky cliff of my deliverance.”
11 tn The words “as king” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Elsewhere in the psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 46:10; 57:5, 11).
12 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.
13 sn God’s glory refers here to his royal majesty and power.
14 tn Heb “and the work of his hands the sky declares.” The participles emphasize the ongoing testimony of the heavens/sky.
15 tn Heb “these in chariots and these in horses.” No verb appears; perhaps the verb “invoke” is to be supplied from the following line. In this case the idea would be that some “invoke” (i.e., trust in) their military might for victory (cf. NEB “boast”; NIV “trust”; NRSV “take pride”). Verse 8 suggests that the “some/others” mentioned here are the nation’s enemies.
16 tn The grammatical construction (conjunction + pronominal subject) highlights the contrast between God’s faithful people and the others mentioned in the previous line.
17 tn Heb “we invoke the name of.” The Hiphil of זָכַר (zakhar), when combined with the phrase “in the name,” means “to invoke” (see Josh 23:7; Isa 48:1; Amos 6:10). By invoking the
18 tn Heb “the voice of the
19 tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form is probably descriptive. In dramatic fashion the psalmist portrays the
20 tn Traditionally “many waters.” The geographical references in the psalm (Lebanon, Sirion, Kadesh) suggest this is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (see Ezek 26:19; 27:26). The psalmist describes a powerful storm moving in from the sea and sweeping over the mountainous areas north of Israel. The “surging waters” may symbolize the hostile enemies of God who seek to destroy his people (see Pss 18:17; 32:6; 77:20; 93:4; 144:7; Isa 17:13; Jer 51:55; Ezek 26:19; Hab 3:15). In this case the
21 sn You healed me. Apparently the psalmist was plagued by a serious illness that threatened his life. See Ps 41.
22 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
23 tn Heb “inheritance.”
24 tn Heb “the law of his God [is] in his heart.” The “heart” is here the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.
25 tn Heb “his.” The pronoun has been translated as plural to agree with the representative or typical “godly” in v. 30.
26 tn Or perhaps “surely.”
27 tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.
28 tn Heb “from everlasting to everlasting.” See 1 Chr 16:36; Neh 9:5; Pss 90:2; 106:48.
29 tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God.
30 tn Heb “the
31 tn That is, Israel, or Judah (see Ps 20:1).
32 tn Heb “our elevated place” (see Pss 9:9; 18:2).
33 tn Heb “the
34 tn That is, Israel, or Judah (see Ps 20:1).
35 tn Heb “our elevated place” (see Pss 9:9; 18:2).
36 tn Or “my helper.”
37 tn Or “sustain my life.”
38 tn Heb “who together we would make counsel sweet.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the ongoing nature of the actions (the so-called customary use of the imperfect). Their relationship was characterized by such intimacy and friendship. See IBHS 502-3 §31.2b.
39 tn Heb “in God I praise a word.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult. The statement is similar to that of v. 4, except that the third person pronominal suffix is omitted here, where the text has simply “a word” instead of “his word.” (1) One could translate, “in God I will boast [with] a word.” In this case, the “word” refers to a song of praise. (2) If one assumes that God’s word is in view, as in v. 4, then one option is to translate, “in God I boast, [in] his word.” In this case the prepositional phrase “in God” goes with the following verb “I boast” (see Ps 44:8) and “[his] word” is appositional to “in God” and more specifically identifies the basis for the psalmist’s confidence. God’s “word” is here understood as an assuring promise of protection. (3) The present translation reflects another option: In this case “I praise [his] word” is a parenthetical statement, with “[his] word” being the object of the verb. The sentence begun with the prepositional phrase “in God” is then completed in v. 11, with the prepositional phrase being repeated after the parenthesis.
40 tn The phrase “in the
41 tn Heb “from the fountain of Israel,” which makes little, if any, sense here. The translation assumes an emendation to בְּמִקְרָאֵי (bÿmiqra’ey, “in the assemblies of [Israel]”).
42 tn Heb “
43 tn Heb “How long will you remain angry during the prayer of your people.” Some take the preposition -בְּ (bet) in an adversative sense here (“at/against the prayer of your people”), but the temporal sense is preferable. The psalmist expects persistent prayer to pacify God.
44 tn Heb “and there are none like your acts.”
45 tn Heb “does not understand.”
46 tn Heb “and the
47 tn Heb “and my God [has become] a rocky summit of my safety.”
48 tn Or perhaps “and feared by all gods.” See Ps 89:7.
49 tn Or “exalt.”
50 tn Or “bow down.”
51 tn Heb “in my duration.”
52 tn Heb “deliver me according to your faithfulness.”
53 tn Or “for.”
54 tn Heb “[O] the happiness of the people who [it is] such to them.”