Mazmur 103:6-18

103:6 The Lord does what is fair,

and executes justice for all the oppressed. ¹ 

103:7 The Lord revealed his faithful acts ²  to Moses,

his deeds to the Israelites.

103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;

he is patient ³  and demonstrates great loyal love. ⁴ 

103:9 He does not always accuse,

and does not stay angry. ⁵ 

103:10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve; ⁶ 

he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve. ⁷ 

103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,

so his loyal love towers ⁸  over his faithful followers. ⁹ 

103:12 As far as the eastern horizon ¹⁰  is from the west, ¹¹ 

so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions ¹²  from us.

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ¹³ 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ¹⁴ 

103:14 For he knows what we are made of; ¹⁵ 

he realizes ¹⁶  we are made of clay. ¹⁷ 

103:15 A person’s life is like grass. ¹⁸ 

Like a flower in the field it flourishes,

103:16 but when the hot wind ¹⁹  blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

103:17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers, ²⁰ 

and is faithful to their descendants, ²¹ 

103:18 to those who keep his covenant,

who are careful to obey his commands. ²² 

[103:6]  ¹ tn Heb “the Lord does fairness, and [acts of] justice for all the oppressed.”

[103:7]  ² tn Heb “made known his ways.” God’s “ways” in this context are his protective and salvific acts in fulfillment of his promise (see also Deut 32:4; Pss 18:30; 67:2; 77:13 [note vv. 11-12, 14]; 138:5; 145:17).

[103:8]  ³ tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:9]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).

[103:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”

[103:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”

[103:11]  ⁸ tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[103:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sunrise.”

[103:12]  ¹¹ tn Or “sunset.”

[103:12]  ¹² tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.

[103:13]  ¹³ tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

[103:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “our form.”

[103:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “remembers.”

[103:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “we [are] clay.”

[103:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.

[103:16]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[103:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “but the loyal love of the Lord [is] from everlasting to everlasting over those who fear him.”

[103:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “and his righteousness to sons of sons.”

[103:18]  ²² tn Heb “to those who remember his precepts to do them.”