19:4 Yet its voice 1 echoes 2 throughout the earth;
its 3 words carry 4 to the distant horizon. 5
In the sky 6 he has pitched a tent for the sun. 7
81:5 He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,
when he attacked the land of Egypt. 8
I heard a voice I did not recognize. 9
1 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.
2 tn Heb “goes out,” or “proceeds forth.”
3 tn Heb “their” (see the note on the word “its” in v. 3).
4 tn The verb is supplied in the translation. The Hebrew text has no verb; יָצָא (yatsa’, “goes out”) is understood by ellipsis.
5 tn Heb “to the end of the world.”
6 tn Heb “in them” (i.e., the heavens).
7 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.
8 tn Heb “in his going out against the land of Egypt.” This apparently refers to the general time period of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The LXX reads, “from Egypt,” in which case “Joseph” (see the preceding line) would be the subject of the verb, “when he [Joseph = Israel] left Egypt.”
9 tn Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip” probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalmist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is recorded in the following verses.