Discovery BoxPsalms 103:8-18 
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.
103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, 11
so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. 12
103:14 For he knows what we are made of; 13
he realizes 14 we are made of clay. 15
103:15 A person’s life is like grass. 16
Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
103:16 but when the hot wind 17 blows by, it disappears,
and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.
103:17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers, 18
and is faithful to their descendants, 19
103:18 to those who keep his covenant,
who are careful to obey his commands. 20
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.
11 tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.
12 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
13 tn Heb “our form.”
14 tn Heb “remembers.”
15 tn Heb “we [are] clay.”
16 tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.
17 tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
18 tn Heb “but the loyal love of the
19 tn Heb “and his righteousness to sons of sons.”
20 tn Heb “to those who remember his precepts to do them.”
