Mazmur 36:5

36:5 O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky; ¹ 

your faithfulness to the clouds. ² 

Mazmur 57:10-11

57:10 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, ³ 

and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.

57:11 Rise up ⁴  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ⁵ 

Mazmur 68:4

68:4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!

Exalt the one who rides on the clouds! ⁶ 

For the Lord is his name! ⁷ 

Rejoice before him!

Mazmur 108:4-5

108:4 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, ⁸ 

and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.

108:5 Rise up ⁹  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ¹⁰ 

[36:5]  ¹ tn Heb “[is] in the heavens.”

[36:5]  ² sn The Lord’s loyal love/faithfulness is almost limitless. He is loyal and faithful to his creation and blesses mankind and the animal kingdom with physical life and sustenance (vv. 6-9).

[57:10]  ³ tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”

[57:11]  ⁴ tn Or “be exalted.”

[57:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)

[68:4]  ⁶ tn Traditionally the Hebrew term עֲרָבוֹת (’aravot) is taken as “steppe-lands” (often rendered “deserts”), but here the form is probably a homonym meaning “clouds.” Verse 33, which depicts God as the one who “rides on the sky” strongly favors this (see as well Deut 33:26), as does the reference in v. 9 to God as the source of rain. The term עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “cloud”) is cognate with Akkadian urpatu/erpetu and with Ugaritic ’rpt. The phrase rkb ’rpt (“one who rides on the clouds”) appears in Ugaritic mythological texts as an epithet of the storm god Baal. The nonphonemic interchange of the bilabial consonants b and p is attested elsewhere in roots common to Hebrew and Ugaritic, though the phenomenon is relatively rare.

[68:4]  ⁷ tc Heb “in the Lord his name.” If the MT is retained, the preposition -בְ (bet) is introducing the predicate (the so-called bet of identity), “the Lord is his name.” However, some prefer to emend the text to כִּי יָהּ שְׁמוֹ (ki yah shÿmo, “for Yah is his name”). This emendation, reflected in the present translation, assumes a confusion of bet (ב) and kaf (כ) and haplography of yod (י).

[108:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”

[108:5]  ⁹ tn Or “be exalted.”

[108:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)