Mazmur 104:1-35
Konteks104:1 Praise the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, you are magnificent. 2
You are robed in splendor and majesty.
104:2 He covers himself with light as if it were a garment.
He stretches out the skies like a tent curtain,
104:3 and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds. 3
He makes the clouds his chariot,
and travels along on the wings of the wind. 4
104:4 He makes the winds his messengers,
and the flaming fire his attendant. 5
104:5 He established the earth on its foundations;
it will never be upended.
104:6 The watery deep covered it 6 like a garment;
the waters reached 7 above the mountains. 8
104:7 Your shout made the waters retreat;
at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off –
104:8 as the mountains rose up,
and the valleys went down –
to the place you appointed for them. 9
104:9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,
so that they would not cover the earth again. 10
104:10 He turns springs into streams; 11
they flow between the mountains.
104:11 They provide water for all the animals in the field;
the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
104:12 The birds of the sky live beside them;
they chirp among the bushes. 12
104:13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace; 13
the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow. 14
104:14 He provides grass 15 for the cattle,
and crops for people to cultivate, 16
so they can produce food from the ground, 17
104:15 as well as wine that makes people feel so good, 18
and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, 19
as well as food that sustains people’s lives. 20
104:16 The trees of the Lord 21 receive all the rain they need, 22
the cedars of Lebanon which he planted,
104:17 where the birds make nests,
near the evergreens in which the herons live. 23
104:18 The wild goats live in the high mountains; 24
the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs.
104:19 He made the moon to mark the months, 25
and the sun sets according to a regular schedule. 26
104:20 You make it dark and night comes, 27
during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.
104:21 The lions roar for prey,
seeking their food from God. 28
104:22 When the sun rises, they withdraw
and sleep 29 in their dens.
104:23 Men then go out to do their work,
and labor away until evening. 30
104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! 31
You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; 32
the earth is full of the living things you have made.
104:25 Over here is the deep, wide sea, 33
which teems with innumerable swimming creatures, 34
living things both small and large.
104:26 The ships travel there,
and over here swims the whale 35 you made to play in it.
104:27 All of your creatures 36 wait for you
to provide them with food on a regular basis. 37
104:28 You give food to them and they receive it;
you open your hand and they are filled with food. 38
104:29 When you ignore them, they panic. 39
When you take away their life’s breath, they die
and return to dust.
104:30 When you send your life-giving breath, they are created,
and you replenish the surface of the ground.
104:31 May the splendor of the Lord endure! 40
May the Lord find pleasure in the living things he has made! 41
104:32 He looks down on the earth and it shakes;
he touches the mountains and they start to smolder.
104:33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist! 42
104:34 May my thoughts 43 be pleasing to him!
I will rejoice in the Lord.
104:35 May sinners disappear 44 from the earth,
and the wicked vanish!
Praise the Lord, O my soul!
Praise the Lord!
Mazmur 139:1-24
KonteksFor the music director, a psalm of David.
139:1 O Lord, you examine me 46 and know.
139:2 You know when I sit down and when I get up;
even from far away you understand my motives.
139:3 You carefully observe me when I travel or when I lie down to rest; 47
you are aware of everything I do. 48
139:4 Certainly 49 my tongue does not frame a word
without you, O Lord, being thoroughly aware of it. 50
139:5 You squeeze me in from behind and in front;
you place your hand on me.
139:6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;
it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. 51
139:7 Where can I go to escape your spirit?
Where can I flee to escape your presence? 52
139:8 If I were to ascend 53 to heaven, you would be there.
If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. 54
139:9 If I were to fly away 55 on the wings of the dawn, 56
and settle down on the other side 57 of the sea,
139:10 even there your hand would guide me,
your right hand would grab hold of me.
139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, 58
and the light will turn to night all around me,” 59
139:12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, 60
and the night is as bright as 61 day;
darkness and light are the same to you. 62
139:13 Certainly 63 you made my mind and heart; 64
you wove me together 65 in my mother’s womb.
139:14 I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. 66
You knew me thoroughly; 67
139:15 my bones were not hidden from you,
when 68 I was made in secret
and sewed together in the depths of the earth. 69
139:16 Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. 70
All the days ordained for me
were recorded in your scroll
before one of them came into existence. 71
139:17 How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! 72
How vast is their sum total! 73
139:18 If I tried to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
Even if I finished counting them,
I would still have to contend with you. 74
139:19 If only 75 you would kill the wicked, O God!
Get away from me, you violent men! 76
139:20 They 77 rebel against you 78 and act deceitfully; 79
your enemies lie. 80
139:21 O Lord, do I not hate those who hate you,
and despise those who oppose you? 81
139:22 I absolutely hate them, 82
they have become my enemies!
139:23 Examine me, and probe my thoughts! 83
Test me, and know my concerns! 84
139:24 See if there is any idolatrous tendency 85 in me,
and lead me in the reliable ancient path! 86
[104:1] 1 sn Psalm 104. The psalmist praises God as the ruler of the world who sustains all life.
[104:1] 2 tn Heb “very great.”
[104:3] 3 tn Heb “one who lays the beams on water [in] his upper rooms.” The “water” mentioned here corresponds to the “waters above” mentioned in Gen 1:7. For a discussion of the picture envisioned by the psalmist, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 44-45.
[104:3] 4 sn Verse 3 may depict the Lord riding a cherub, which is in turn propelled by the wind current. Another option is that the wind is personified as a cherub. See Ps 18:10 and the discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallels to the imagery in M. Weinfeld, “‘Rider of the Clouds’ and ‘Gatherer of the Clouds’,” JANESCU 5 (1973): 422-24.
[104:4] 5 tc Heb “and his attendants a flaming fire.” The lack of agreement between the singular “fire” and plural “attendants” has prompted various emendations. Some read “fire and flame.” The present translation assumes an emendation to “his attendant” (יו in the Hebrew text being virtually dittographic).
[104:4] sn In Ugaritic mythology Yam’s messengers appear as flaming fire before the assembly of the gods. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 42.
[104:6] 6 tc Heb “you covered it.” The masculine suffix is problematic if the grammatically feminine noun “earth” is the antecedent. For this reason some emend the form to a feminine verb with feminine suffix, כִּסַּתָּה (kisattah, “[the watery deep] covered it [i.e., the earth]”), a reading assumed by the present translation.
[104:6] 8 sn Verse 6 refers to the condition described in Gen 1:2 (note the use of the Hebrew term תְּהוֹם [tÿhom, “watery deep”] in both texts).
[104:8] 9 tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”
[104:8] sn Verses 7-8 poetically depict Gen 1:9-10.
[104:9] 10 tn Heb “a boundary you set up, they will not cross, they will not return to cover the earth.”
[104:10] 11 tn Heb “[the] one who sends springs into streams.” Another option is to translate, “he sends streams [i.e., streams that originate from springs] into the valleys” (cf. NIV).
[104:12] 12 tn Heb “among the thick foliage they give a sound.”
[104:13] 13 tn Heb “from his upper rooms.”
[104:13] 14 tn Heb “from the fruit of your works the earth is full.” The translation assumes that “fruit” is literal here. If “fruit” is understood more abstractly as “product; result,” then one could translate, “the earth flourishes as a result of your deeds” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB).
[104:14] 15 tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”
[104:14] 16 tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).
[104:14] 17 tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”
[104:15] 18 tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”
[104:15] 19 tn Heb “to make [the] face shine from oil.” The Hebrew verb צָהַל (tsahal, “to shine”) occurs only here in the OT. It appears to be an alternate form of צָהַר (tsahar), a derivative from צָהָרִים (tsaharim, “noon”).
[104:15] 20 tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”
[104:16] 21 sn The trees of the
[104:16] 22 tn Heb “are satisfied,” which means here that they receive abundant rain (see v. 13).
[104:17] 23 tn Heb “[the] heron [in the] evergreens [is] its home.”
[104:17] sn The cedars and evergreens of the Lebanon forest are frequently associated (see, for example, 2 Chr 2:8; Isa 14:8; 37:24; Ezek 31:8).
[104:18] 24 tn Heb “the high mountains [are] for the goats.”
[104:19] 25 tn Heb “he made [the] moon for appointed times.” The phrase “appointed times” probably refers to the months of the Hebrew lunar calendar.
[104:19] 26 tn Heb more metaphorically, “knows its setting.”
[104:20] 27 tn Heb “you make darkness, so that it might be night.”
[104:21] 28 sn The lions’ roaring is viewed as a request for food from God.
[104:22] 29 tn Heb “lie down.”
[104:23] 30 tn Heb “man goes out to his work, and to his labor until evening.”
[104:24] 31 tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O
[104:24] 32 tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”
[104:25] 33 tn Heb “this [is] the sea, great and broad of hands [i.e., “sides” or “shores”].”
[104:25] 34 tn Heb “where [there are] swimming things, and without number.”
[104:26] 35 tn Heb “[and] this Leviathan, [which] you formed to play in it.” Elsewhere Leviathan is a multiheaded sea monster that symbolizes forces hostile to God (see Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1), but here it appears to be an actual marine creature created by God, probably some type of whale.
[104:27] 36 tn Heb “All of them.” The pronoun “them” refers not just to the sea creatures mentioned in vv. 25-26, but to all living things (see v. 24). This has been specified in the translation as “all of your creatures” for clarity.
[104:27] 37 tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”
[104:28] 38 tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”
[104:29] 39 tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”
[104:31] 40 tn Heb “be forever.”
[104:31] 41 tn Or “rejoice in his works.”
[104:33] 42 tn Heb “in my duration.”
[104:34] 43 tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.
[104:35] 44 tn Or “be destroyed.”
[139:1] 45 sn Psalm 139. The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.
[139:1] 46 tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.
[139:3] 47 tn Heb “my traveling and my lying down you measure.” The verb זָרָה (zarah, “to measure”) is probably here a denominative from זָרָת (zarat, “a span; a measure”), though some derive it from זָרָה (zarat, “to winnow; to sift”; see BDB 279-80 s.v. זָרָה).
[139:3] 48 tn Heb “all my ways.”
[139:4] 50 tn Heb “look, O
[139:6] 51 tn Heb “too amazing [is this] knowledge for me, it is elevated, I cannot attain to it.”
[139:7] 52 tn Heb “Where can I go from your spirit, and where from your face can I flee?” God’s “spirit” may refer here (1) to his presence (note the parallel term, “your face,” and see Ps 104:29-30, where God’s “face” is his presence and his “spirit” is the life-giving breath he imparts) or (2) to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).
[139:8] 53 tn The Hebrew verb סָלַק (salaq, “to ascend”) occurs only here in the OT, but the word is well-attested in Aramaic literature from different time periods and displays a wide semantic range (see DNWSI 2:788-90).
[139:8] 54 tn Heb “look, you.”
[139:9] 56 sn On the wings of the dawn. This personification of the “dawn” may find its roots in mythological traditions about the god Shachar, whose birth is described in an Ugaritic myth (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 126) and who is mentioned in Isa 14:12 as the father of Helel.
[139:9] 57 tn Heb “at the end.”
[139:11] 58 tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.
[139:11] 59 tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”
[139:12] 60 tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.
[139:12] 61 tn Heb “shines like.”
[139:12] 62 tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”
[139:13] 64 tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).
[139:13] 65 tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.
[139:14] 66 tc Heb “because awesome things, I am distinct, amazing [are] your works.” The text as it stands is syntactically problematic and makes little, if any, sense. The Niphal of פָּלָה (pala’) occurs elsewhere only in Exod 33:16. Many take the form from פָלָא (pala’; see GKC 216 §75.qq), which in the Niphal perfect means “to be amazing” (see 2 Sam 1:26; Ps 118:23; Prov 30:18). Some, following the LXX and some other ancient witnesses, also prefer to emend the verb from first to second person, “you are amazing” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 249, 251). The present translation assumes the text conflates two variants: נפלאים, the otherwise unattested masculine plural participle of פָלָא, and נִפְלָאוֹת (nifla’ot), the usual (feminine) plural form of the Niphal participle. The latter has been changed to a verb by later scribes in an attempt to accommodate it syntactically. The original text likely read, נוראות נפלאותים מעשׂיך (“your works [are] awesome [and] amazing”).
[139:14] 67 tc Heb “and my being knows very much.” Better parallelism is achieved (see v. 15a) if one emends יֹדַעַת (yoda’at), a Qal active participle, feminine singular form, to יָדַעְתָּ (yada’ta), a Qal perfect second masculine singular perfect. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252.
[139:15] 68 tc The Hebrew term אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) should probably be emended to כֲּאַשֶׁר (ka’asher, “when”). The kaf (כ) may have been lost by haplography (note the kaf at the end of the preceding form).
[139:15] 69 sn The phrase depths of the earth may be metaphorical (euphemistic) or it may reflect a prescientific belief about the origins of the embryo deep beneath the earth’s surface (see H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 96-97). Job 1:21 also closely associates the mother’s womb with the earth.
[139:16] 70 tn Heb “Your eyes saw my shapeless form.” The Hebrew noun גֹּלֶם (golem) occurs only here in the OT. In later Hebrew the word refers to “a lump, a shapeless or lifeless substance,” and to “unfinished matter, a vessel wanting finishing” (Jastrow 222 s.v. גּוֹלֶם). The translation employs the dynamic rendering “when I was inside the womb” to clarify that the speaker was still in his mother’s womb at the time he was “seen” by God.
[139:16] 71 tn Heb “and on your scroll all of them were written, [the] days [which] were formed, and [there was] not one among them.” This “scroll” may be the “scroll of life” mentioned in Ps 69:28 (see the note on the word “living” there).
[139:17] 72 tn Heb “and to me how precious are your thoughts, O God.” The Hebrew verb יָקַר (yaqar) probably has the sense of “difficult [to comprehend]” here (see HALOT 432 s.v. יקר qal.1 and note the use of Aramaic יַקִּר in Dan 2:11). Elsewhere in the immediate context the psalmist expresses his amazement at the extent of God’s knowledge about him (see vv. 1-6, 17b-18).
[139:17] 73 tn Heb “how vast are their heads.” Here the Hebrew word “head” is used of the “sum total” of God’s knowledge of the psalmist.
[139:18] 74 tc Heb “I awake and I [am] still with you.” A reference to the psalmist awaking from sleep makes little, if any, sense contextually. For this reason some propose an emendation to הֲקִצּוֹתִי (haqitsoti), a Hiphil perfect form from an otherwise unattested verb קָצַץ (qatsats) understood as a denominative of קֵץ (qets, “end”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252-53.
[139:19] 75 tn The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (see Pss 81:8; 95:7, as well as GKC 321 §109.b).
[139:19] 76 tn Heb “men of bloodshed.”
[139:20] 78 tc Heb “they speak [of] you.” The suffixed form of the verb אָמַר (’amar, “to speak”) is peculiar. The translation assumes an emendation to יַמְרֻךָ (yamrukha), a Hiphil form from מָרָה (marah, “to rebel”; see Ps 78:40).
[139:20] 79 tn Heb “by deceit.”
[139:20] 80 tc Heb “lifted up for emptiness, your cities.” The Hebrew text as it stands makes no sense. The form נָשֻׂא (nasu’; a Qal passive participle) should be emended to נָשְׂאוּ (nosÿu; a Qal perfect, third common plural, “[they] lift up”). Many emend עָרֶיךָ (’arekha, “your cities”) to עָלֶיךָ (’alekha, “against you”), but it is preferable to understand the noun as an Aramaism and translate “your enemies” (see Dan 4:16 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 253).
[139:21] 81 tc Heb “who raise themselves up against you.” The form וּבִתְקוֹמְמֶיךָ (uvitqomÿmekha) should be emended to וּבְמִתְקוֹמְמֶיךָ (uvÿmitqomÿmekha), a Hitpolel participle (the prefixed mem [מ] of the participle is accidentally omitted in the MT, though a few medieval Hebrew
[139:22] 82 tn Heb “[with] completeness of hatred I hate them.”
[139:23] 83 tn Heb “and know my heart.”
[139:23] 84 tn The Hebrew noun שַׂרְעַפַּי (sar’apay, “concerns”) is used of “worries” in Ps 94:19.
[139:24] 85 tn Many understand the Hebrew term עֹצֶב (’otsev) as a noun meaning “pain,” and translate the phrase דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֶב (derekh ’otsev) as “of pain,” but this makes little sense here. (Some interpret it to refer to actions which bring pain to others.) It is preferable to take עֹצֶב as “idol” (see HALOT 865 s.v. I עֹצֶב) and understand “way of an idol” to refer to idolatrous actions or tendency. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.
[139:24] 86 tn Heb “in the path of antiquity.” This probably refers to the moral path prescribed by the
