Mazmur 96:1--99:1
Konteks96:1 Sing to the Lord a new song! 2
Sing to the Lord, all the earth!
96:2 Sing to the Lord! Praise his name!
Announce every day how he delivers! 3
96:3 Tell the nations about his splendor!
Tell 4 all the nations about his amazing deeds!
96:4 For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise;
he is more awesome than all gods. 5
96:5 For all the gods of the nations are worthless, 6
but the Lord made the sky.
96:6 Majestic splendor emanates from him; 7
his sanctuary is firmly established and beautiful. 8
96:7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the nations,
ascribe to the Lord splendor and strength!
96:8 Ascribe to the Lord the splendor he deserves! 9
Bring an offering and enter his courts!
96:9 Worship the Lord in holy attire! 10
Tremble before him, all the earth!
96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!
The world is established, it cannot be moved.
He judges the nations fairly.”
96:11 Let the sky rejoice, and the earth be happy!
Let the sea and everything in it shout!
96:12 Let the fields and everything in them celebrate!
Then let the trees of the forest shout with joy
96:13 before the Lord, for he comes!
For he comes to judge the earth!
He judges the world fairly, 11
and the nations in accordance with his justice. 12
97:1 The Lord reigns!
Let the earth be happy!
Let the many coastlands rejoice!
97:2 Dark clouds surround him;
equity and justice are the foundation of his throne. 14
97:3 Fire goes before him;
on every side 15 it burns up his enemies.
97:4 His lightning bolts light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
97:5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of the whole earth.
97:6 The sky declares his justice,
and all the nations see his splendor.
97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,
those who boast about worthless idols.
All the gods bow down before him. 16
97:8 Zion hears and rejoices,
the towns 17 of Judah are happy,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
97:9 For you, O Lord, are the sovereign king 18 over the whole earth;
you are elevated high above all gods.
97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He protects 19 the lives of his faithful followers;
he delivers them from the power 20 of the wicked.
97:11 The godly bask in the light;
the morally upright experience joy. 21
97:12 You godly ones, rejoice in the Lord!
Give thanks to his holy name. 22
A psalm.
98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, 24
for he performs 25 amazing deeds!
His right hand and his mighty arm
accomplish deliverance. 26
98:2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver; 27
in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.
98:3 He remains loyal and faithful to the family of Israel. 28
All the ends of the earth see our God deliver us. 29
98:4 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!
Break out in a joyful shout and sing!
98:5 Sing to the Lord accompanied by a harp,
accompanied by a harp and the sound of music!
98:6 With trumpets and the blaring of the ram’s horn,
shout out praises before the king, the Lord!
98:7 Let the sea and everything in it shout,
along with the world and those who live in it!
98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands!
Let the mountains sing in unison
98:9 before the Lord!
For he comes to judge the earth!
He judges the world fairly, 30
and the nations in a just manner.
99:1 The Lord reigns!
The nations tremble. 32
He sits enthroned above the winged angels; 33
the earth shakes. 34
[96:1] 1 sn Psalm 96. The psalmist summons everyone to praise the Lord, the sovereign creator of the world who preserves and promotes justice in the earth.
[96:1] 2 sn A new song is appropriate because the
[96:2] 3 tn Heb “announce from day to day his deliverance.”
[96:3] 4 tn The verb “tell” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
[96:4] 5 tn Or perhaps “and feared by all gods.” See Ps 89:7.
[96:5] 6 tn The Hebrew term אֱלִילִים (’elilim, “worthless”) sounds like אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “gods”). The sound play draws attention to the statement.
[96:6] 7 tn Heb “majesty and splendor [are] before him.”
[96:6] 8 tn Heb “strength and beauty [are] in his sanctuary.”
[96:8] 9 tn Heb “the splendor of [i.e., “due”] his name.”
[96:9] 10 tn Or “in holy splendor.”
[96:13] 11 tn The verbal forms in v. 13 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions, in which case they could be translated “will judge the world.”
[96:13] 12 tn Heb “and the nations with his integrity.”
[97:1] 13 sn Psalm 97. The psalmist depicts the Lord as the sovereign, just king of the world who comes in power to vindicate his people.
[97:2] 14 sn The Lord’s throne symbolizes his kingship.
[97:3] 15 tn Heb “all around.”
[97:7] 16 tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the
[97:8] 17 tn Heb “daughters.” The term “daughters” refers to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 48:11 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).
[97:9] 18 tn Traditionally “Most High.”
[97:10] 19 tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the
[97:11] 21 tn Heb “Light is planted for the godly, and for the upright of heart joy.” The translation assumes an emendation of זָרַע (zara’, “planted”) to זָרַח (zara’, “shines”) which collocates more naturally with “light.” “Light” here symbolizes the joy (note the following line) that accompanies deliverance and the outpouring of divine favor.
[97:12] 22 tn Heb “to his holy remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זָכַר (zakhar, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the
[98:1] 23 sn Psalm 98. The psalmist summons the whole earth to praise God because he reveals his justice and delivers Israel.
[98:1] 24 sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See Ps 96:1.
[98:1] 25 tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 1-3 are understood here as describing characteristic divine activities. Another option is to translate them as present perfects, “has performed…has accomplished deliverance, etc.” referring to completed actions that have continuing results.
[98:1] 26 tn Heb “his right hand delivers for him and his holy arm.” The right hand and arm symbolize his power as a warrior-king (see Isa 52:10). His arm is “holy” in the sense that it is in a category of its own; God’s power is incomparable.
[98:2] 27 tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”
[98:3] 28 tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”
[98:3] 29 tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).
[98:9] 30 tn The verbal forms in v. 9 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions (“will judge…”).
[99:1] 31 sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.
[99:1] 32 tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 1 are understood here as indicating the nations’ characteristic response to the reality of the
[99:1] 33 sn Winged angels (Heb “cherubs”). Cherubs, as depicted in the OT, possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubs suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubs in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.
[99:1] 34 tn The Hebrew verb נוּט (nut) occurs only here in the OT, but the meaning can be determined on the basis of the parallelism with רָגַז (ragaz, “tremble”) and evidence from the cognate languages (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 121).
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