Mazmur 66:1-4

Psalm 66 ¹ 

For the music director; a song, a psalm.

66:1 Shout out praise to God, all the earth!

66:2 Sing praises about the majesty of his reputation! ² 

Give him the honor he deserves! ³ 

66:3 Say to God:

“How awesome are your deeds!

Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear ⁴  before you.

66:4 All the earth worships ⁵  you

and sings praises to you!

They sing praises to your name!” (Selah)

Mazmur 67:3-4

67:3 Let the nations thank you, O God!

Let all the nations thank you! ⁶ 

67:4 Let foreigners ⁷  rejoice and celebrate!

For you execute justice among the nations,

and govern the people living on earth. ⁸  (Selah)

Mazmur 68:32

68:32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God!

Sing praises to the Lord, (Selah)

Mazmur 97:1

Psalm 97 ⁹ 

97:1 The Lord reigns!

Let the earth be happy!

Let the many coastlands rejoice!

Mazmur 98:3-4

98:3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel. ¹⁰ 

All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us. ¹¹ 

98:4 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!

Break out in a joyful shout and sing!

Mazmur 138:4-5

138:4 Let all the kings of the earth give thanks ¹²  to you, O Lord,

when they hear the words you speak. ¹³ 

138:5 Let them sing about the Lord’s deeds, ¹⁴ 

for the Lord’s splendor is magnificent. ¹⁵ 

[66:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 66. The psalmist praises God because he has delivered his people from a crisis.

[66:2]  ² tn Heb “his name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[66:2]  ³ tn Heb “make honorable his praise.”

[66:3]  ⁴ tn 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).

[66:4]  ⁵ tn 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”).

[67:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “let the nations, all of them, thank you.” The prefixed verbal forms in vv. 3-4a are understood as jussives in this call to praise.

[67:4]  ⁷ tn Or “peoples.”

[67:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “for you judge nations fairly, and [as for the] peoples in the earth, you lead them.” The imperfects are translated with the present tense because the statement is understood as a generalization about God’s providential control of the world. Another option is to understand the statement as anticipating God’s future rule (“for you will rule…and govern”).

[97:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 97. The psalmist depicts the Lord as the sovereign, just king of the world who comes in power to vindicate his people.

[98:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”

[98:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).

[138:4]  ¹² tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in the following verse are understood as jussives, for the psalmist appears to be calling upon the kings to praise God. Another option is to take them as imperfects and translate, “the kings of the earth will give thanks…and will sing.” In this case the psalmist anticipates a universal response to his thanksgiving song.

[138:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “the words of your mouth.”

[138:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “ways.”

[138:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “great.”