Psalm 66

Footnotes

1. 32 Psalm 66. The psalmist praises God because he has delivered his people from a crisis.
2. 1 Heb “his name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
3. 2 Heb “make honorable his praise.”
4. 3 See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).
5. 4 Or “bows down to.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are taken (1) as imperfects expressing what is typical. Another option (2) is to interpret them as anticipatory (“all the earth will worship you”) or (3) take them as jussives, expressing a prayer or wish (“may all the earth worship you”).
6. 5 Or “see.”
7. 6 Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).
8. 7 Heb “awesome [is] an act toward the sons of man.” It is unclear how the prepositional phrase relates to what precedes. If collocated with “act,” it may mean “on behalf of” or “toward.” If taken with “awesome” (see 1 Chr 16:25; Pss 89:7; 96:4; Zeph 2:11), one might translate “his awesome acts are beyond human comprehension” or “his awesome acts are superior to anything men can do.”
9. 8 He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).
10. 9 Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. ).
11. 10 The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” ( 1027 ).
12. 11 Heb “[the] one who rules.”
13. 12 Heb “his eyes watch.” “Eyes” are an anthropomorphism, attributed to God here to emphasize his awareness of all that happens on earth.
14. 13 The verb form is jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al). The Kethib (consonantal text) has a Hiphil form of the verb, apparently to be understood in an exhibitive sense (“demonstrate stubborn rebellion”; see 927 רוּם Hiph), while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Qal form, to be understood in an intransitive sense. The preposition -לְ (lamed) with pronominal suffix should be understood in a reflexive sense (“for themselves”) and indicates that the action is performed with the interest of the subject in mind.
15. 14 Heb “bless,” in the sense of declaring “God to be the source of … special power” (see II ברך pi).
16. 15 Heb “cause the voice of his praise to be heard.”
17. 16 Heb “the one who places our soul in life.”
18. 17 Or “indeed.”
19. 18 Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.
20. 19 Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun מוּעָקָה (mu’aqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.
21. 20 The reads רְוָיָה (“saturation”) but this should be emended to רְוָחָה (révakhah, “wide open place”; i.e., “relief”), a reading supported by several ancient versions (, , Jerome, ).
22. 21 Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.
23. 22 Heb “all of the fearers of God.”
24. 23 Heb “to him [with] my mouth I called.”
25. 24 Heb “and he was extolled under my tongue.” The form רוֹמַם (romam) appears to be a polal (passive) participle from רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), but many prefer to read רוֹמָם, “high praise [was under my tongue]” (cf. ). See 928 רוֹמָם.
26. 25 Heb “sin if I had seen in my heart.”
27. 26 Heb “blessed [be] God.”
28. 27 Or “who.” In a blessing formula after בָּרוּךְ (barukh, “blessed be”) the form אֲשֶׁר (’asher), whether taken as a relative pronoun or causal particle, introduces the basis for the blessing/praise.
29. 28 Heb “did not turn aside my prayer and his loyal love with me.”