45:17 I will proclaim your greatness through the coming years, 1
then the nations will praise you 2 forever.
48:13 Consider its defenses! 3
Walk through 4 its fortresses,
so you can tell the next generation about it! 5
68:7 O God, when you lead your people into battle, 6
when you march through the desert, 7 (Selah)
68:33 to the one who rides through the sky from ancient times! 8
Look! He thunders loudly. 9
100:5 For the Lord is good.
His loyal love endures, 10
and he is faithful through all generations. 11
105:41 He opened up a rock and water flowed out;
a river ran through dry regions.
107:16 For he shattered the bronze gates,
and hacked through the iron bars. 12
118:20 This is the Lord’s gate –
the godly enter through it.
119:130 Your instructions are a doorway through which light shines. 13
They give 14 insight to the untrained. 15
136:14 and led Israel through its midst,
for his loyal love endures,
136:16 to the one who led his people through the wilderness,
for his loyal love endures,
145:13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, 16
and your dominion endures through all generations.
147:15 He 17 sends his command through the earth; 18
swiftly his order reaches its destination. 19
1 tn Heb “I will cause your name to be remembered in every generation and generation.” The cohortative verbal form expresses the poet’s resolve. The king’s “name” stands here for his reputation and character, which the poet praised in vv. 2-7.
2 sn The nations will praise you. As God’s vice-regent on earth, the king is deserving of such honor and praise.
3 tn Heb “set your heart to its rampart.”
4 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word translated “walk through,” which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Cf. NEB “pass…in review”; NIV “view.”
5 sn The city’s towers, defenses, and fortresses are outward reminders and tangible symbols of the divine protection the city enjoys.
6 tn Heb “when you go out before your people.” The Hebrew idiom “go out before” is used here in a militaristic sense of leading troops into battle (see Judg 4:14; 9:39; 2 Sam 5:24).
7 sn When you march through the desert. Some interpreters think that v. 7 alludes to Israel’s exodus from Egypt and its subsequent travels in the desert. Another option is that v. 7, like v. 8, echoes Judg 5:4, which describes how the God of Sinai marched across the desert regions to do battle with Sisera and his Canaanite army.
8 tc Heb “to the one who rides through the skies of skies of ancient times.” If the MT is retained, one might translate, “to the one who rides through the ancient skies.” (שְׁמֵי [shÿmey, “skies of”] may be accidentally repeated.) The present translation assumes an emendation to בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִקֶּדֶם (bashamayim miqqedem, “[to the one who rides] through the sky from ancient times”), that is, God has been revealing his power through the storm since ancient times.
9 tn Heb “he gives his voice a strong voice.” In this context God’s “voice” is the thunder that accompanies the rain (see vv. 8-9, as well as Deut 33:26).
10 tn Or “is forever.”
11 tn Heb “and to a generation and a generation [is] his faithfulness.”
12 sn The language of v. 16 recalls Isa 45:2.
13 tn Heb “the doorway of your words gives light.” God’s “words” refer here to the instructions in his law (see vv. 9, 57).
14 tn Heb “it [i.e., the doorway] gives.”
15 tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Pss 19:7; 116:6.
16 tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”
17 tn Heb “the one who.”
18 tn Heb “the one who sends his word, the earth.” The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) is an adverbial accusative; one must supply a preposition before it (such as “through” or “to”) in the English translation.
19 tn Heb “swiftly his word runs.”