Mazmur 33:1

Psalm 33 ¹ 

33:1 You godly ones, shout for joy because of the Lord!

It is appropriate for the morally upright to offer him praise.

Mazmur 107:42

107:42 When the godly see this, they rejoice,

and every sinner ²  shuts his mouth.

Mazmur 112:2

112:2 His descendants ³  will be powerful on the earth;

the godly ⁴  will be blessed.

Mazmur 112:4

112:4 In the darkness a light ⁵  shines for the godly,

for each one who is merciful, compassionate, and just. ⁶ 

Mazmur 116:6

116:6 The Lord protects ⁷  the untrained; ⁸ 

I was in serious trouble ⁹  and he delivered me.

[33:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 33. In this hymn the psalmist praises the Lord as the sovereign creator and just ruler of the world who protects and vindicates those who fear him.

[107:42]  ² tn Heb “all evil,” which stands metonymically for those who do evil.

[112:2]  ³ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[112:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “His seed will be mighty on the earth, the generation of the godly.” The Hebrew term דוֹר (dor, “generation”) could be taken as parallel to “offspring” and translated “posterity,” but the singular more likely refers to the godly as a class. See BDB 189-90 s.v. for other examples where “generation” refers to a class of people.

[112:4]  ⁵ tn In this context “light” symbolizes divine blessing in its various forms (see v. 2), including material prosperity and stability.

[112:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “merciful and compassionate and just.” The Hebrew text has three singular adjectives, which are probably substantival and in apposition to the “godly” (which is plural, however). By switching to the singular, the psalmist focuses on each individual member of the group known as the “godly.” Note how vv. 5-9, like vv. 1-2a, use the singular to describe the representative godly individual who typifies the whole group.

[116:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.

[116:6]  ⁸ tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.

[116:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “I was low.”