Discovery BoxPsalms 103:8-12 
Context103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he is patient 1 and demonstrates great loyal love. 2
103:9 He does not always accuse,
and does not stay angry. 3
103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; 4
he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve. 5
103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,
so his loyal love towers 6 over his faithful followers. 7
103:12 As far as the eastern horizon 8 is from the west, 9
so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions 10 from us.
1 tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).
2 tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).
3 tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).
4 tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”
5 tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”
6 tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.
7 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
8 tn Heb “sunrise.”
9 tn Or “sunset.”
10 tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.
