Psalm 33:5-15
New English Translation
5 He promotes[a] equity and justice;
the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth.[b]
6 By the Lord’s decree[c] the heavens were made,
and by the breath[d] of his mouth all the starry hosts.
7 He piles up the water of the sea;[e]
he puts the oceans[f] in storehouses.
8 Let the whole earth fear[g] the Lord.
Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him.
9 For he spoke, and it[h] came into existence.
He issued the decree,[i] and it stood firm.
10 The Lord frustrates[j] the decisions of the nations;
he nullifies the plans[k] of the peoples.
11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;
his plans abide throughout the ages.[l]
12 How blessed[m] is the nation whose God is the Lord,
the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession.[n]
13 The Lord watches[o] from heaven;
he sees all people.[p]
14 From the place where he lives he looks carefully
at all the earth’s inhabitants.
15 He is the one who forms every human heart,[q]
and takes note of all their actions.
Footnotes
- Psalm 33:5 tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of equity and justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world.
- Psalm 33:5 tn Heb “fills the earth.”
- Psalm 33:6 tn Heb “word.”
- Psalm 33:6 tn The word רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit, wind, breath”) is used in the creation account in Gen 1:2 “the Spirit of God was moving.” Here parallel to “decree/word,” it recalls the account of God speaking in order to create (cf. Gen 1:14).
- Psalm 33:7 tn Heb “[he] gathers like a pile the waters of the sea.” Some prefer to emend נֵד (ned, “heap, pile”; cf. NASB) to נֹד (nod, “bottle”; cf. NRSV; NIV “into jars”), but “pile” is used elsewhere to describe water that the Lord confines to one place (Exod 15:8; Josh 3:13, 16; Ps 78:13). This verse appears to refer to Gen 1:9, where God decrees that the watery deep be gathered to one place so that dry land might appear. If so, the participles in this and the following line depict this action with special vividness, as if the reader were present on the occasion. Another option is that the participles picture the confinement of the sea to one place as an ongoing divine activity.
- Psalm 33:7 tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tehomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tehom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).
- Psalm 33:8 tn In this context “fear” probably means “to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and authority by worshiping him and obeying his commandments.”
- Psalm 33:9 tn That is, “all the earth” in the first line of v. 8. The apparent antecedent of the masculine subject of the verbs in v. 9 (note וַיֶּהִי [vayyehiy] and וַיַּעֲמֹד [vayyaʿamod]) is “earth” or “world,” both of which are feminine nouns. However, כָּל (kol, “all”) may be the antecedent, or the apparent lack of agreement may be explained by the collective nature of the nouns involved here (see GKC 463 §145.e).
- Psalm 33:9 tn Heb “he commanded.”
- Psalm 33:10 tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the Lord’s activity.
- Psalm 33:10 tn Heb “thoughts.”
- Psalm 33:11 tn Heb “the thoughts of his heart for generation to generation.” The verb “abides” is supplied in the translation. The Lord’s “decisions” and “plans” here refer to his decrees and purposes.
- Psalm 33:12 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).
- Psalm 33:12 tn Heb “inheritance.”
- Psalm 33:13 tn The Hebrew perfect verbal forms in v. 13 state general facts.
- Psalm 33:13 tn Heb “all the sons of men.”
- Psalm 33:15 tn Heb “the one who forms together their heart[s].” “Heart” here refers to human nature, composed of intellect, emotions and will. The precise force of יָחַד (yakhad, “together”) is unclear here. The point seems to be that the Lord is the creator of every human being.
Nehemiah 9:33
New English Translation
33 You are righteous with regard to all that has happened to us, for you have acted faithfully.[a] It is we who have been in the wrong!
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Nehemiah 9:33 tn Heb “you have done truth.”
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