Mazmur 33:4-15

33:4 For ¹  the Lord’s decrees ²  are just, ³ 

and everything he does is fair. ⁴ 

33:5 The Lord promotes ⁵  equity and justice;

the Lord’s faithfulness extends throughout the earth. ⁶ 

33:6 By the Lord’s decree ⁷  the heavens were made;

by a mere word from his mouth all the stars in the sky were created. ⁸ 

33:7 He piles up the water of the sea; ⁹ 

he puts the oceans ¹⁰  in storehouses.

33:8 Let the whole earth fear ¹¹  the Lord!

Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him!

33:9 For he spoke, and it ¹²  came into existence,

he issued the decree, ¹³  and it stood firm.

33:10 The Lord frustrates ¹⁴  the decisions of the nations;

he nullifies the plans ¹⁵  of the peoples.

33:11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;

his plans abide throughout the ages. ¹⁶ 

33:12 How blessed ¹⁷  is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession. ¹⁸ 

33:13 The Lord watches ¹⁹  from heaven;

he sees all people. ²⁰ 

33:14 From the place where he lives he looks carefully

at all the earth’s inhabitants.

33:15 He is the one who forms every human heart, ²¹ 

and takes note of all their actions.

[33:4]  ¹ sn For the Lord’s decrees are just… After the call to praise (vv. 1-3), the psalmist now gives a series of reasons why the Lord is worthy of praise.

[33:4]  ² tn Heb “word.” In this context, which depicts the Lord as the sovereign creator and ruler of the world, the Lord’s “word” refers to the decrees whereby he governs his dominion.

[33:4]  ³ tn Or “upright.”

[33:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and all his work [is] in faithfulness.”

[33:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of equity and justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world.

[33:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “fills the earth.”

[33:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “word.”

[33:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “and by the breath of his mouth all their host.” The words “were created” are added in the translation for stylistic reasons; they are understood by ellipsis (note “were made” in the preceding line). The description is consistent with Gen 1:16, which indicates that God spoke the heavenly luminaries into existence.

[33:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “[he] gathers like a pile the waters of the sea.” Some prefer to emend נֵד (ged, “heap, pile”; cf. NASB) to נֹד (nod, “bottle”; cf. NRSV; NIV “into jars”), but “pile” is used elsewhere to describe water that the Lord confines to one place (Exod 15:8; Josh 3:13, 16; Ps 78:13). This verse appears to refer to Gen 1:9, where God decrees that the watery deep be gathered to one place so that dry land might appear. If so, the participles in this and the following line depict this action with special vividness, as if the reader were present on the occasion. Another option is that the participles picture the confinement of the sea to one place as an ongoing divine activity.

[33:7]  ¹⁰ tn Or “watery depths.” The form תְּהוֹמוֹת (tÿhomot, “watery depths”) is the plural form of תְּהוֹם (tÿhom, “great deep”; see Gen 1:2).

[33:8]  ¹¹ tn In this context “fear” probably means “to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and authority by worshiping him and obeying his commandments.”

[33:9]  ¹² tn That is, “all the earth” in the first line of v. 8. The apparent antecedent of the masculine subject of the verbs in v. 9 (note וַיֶּהִי [vayyehiy] and וַיַּעֲמֹד [vayya’amod]) is “earth” or “world,” both of which are feminine nouns. However, כָּל (kol, “all”) may be the antecedent, or the apparent lack of agreement may be explained by the collective nature of the nouns involved here (see GKC 463 §145.e).

[33:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “he commanded.”

[33:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the Lord’s activity.

[33:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “thoughts.”

[33:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the thoughts of his heart for generation to generation.” The verb “abides” is supplied in the translation. The Lord’s “decisions” and “plans” here refer to his decrees and purposes.

[33:12]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[33:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “inheritance.”

[33:13]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal forms in v. 13 state general facts.

[33:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “all the sons of men.”

[33:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “the one who forms together their heart[s].” “Heart” here refers to human nature, composed of intellect, emotions and will. The precise force of יָחַד (yakhad, “together”) is unclear here. The point seems to be that the Lord is the creator of every human being.