Psalm 103:6-14
New Catholic Bible
6 The Lord performs acts of righteousness
and administers justice for all who are oppressed.
7 [a]He made known his ways[b] to Moses,
his wondrous deeds to the people of Israel.
8 [c]The Lord is merciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in kindness.
9 He will not always rebuke,
nor will he remain angry forever.
10 He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our offenses.
11 As high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his kindness toward those who fear him.[d]
12 As far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.[e]
13 [f]As a father has compassion for his children,
so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him.
14 For he knows how we were formed;
he remembers that we are only dust.[g]
Footnotes
- Psalm 103:7 God made known his ways to Moses on Mount Sinai, telling him that his attitude toward human beings and his great works find their inspiration in his loving kindness. Passing mysteriously before Moses, God cried out: “The Lord, the Lord, a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and fidelity, who shows mercy to thousands. He forgives iniquity and transgression and sin, but will by no means forgive the iniquity of the fathers, visiting it upon their sons and their sons’ sons, to the third and fourth generation” (Ex 34:6f).
- Psalm 103:7 His ways: see note on Ps 25:10.
- Psalm 103:8 God pardons sinners who repent, a truth often affirmed (see Pss 86:15; 145:8; Ex 34:6; Neh 9:17; Isa 57:16; Jer 3:12; Joel 2:13; Jon 4:2). Kindness: see note on Ps 6:5.
- Psalm 103:11 Kindness: see note on 6:5. Those who fear him: see note on Ps 15:2-5.
- Psalm 103:12 God places a huge gulf between his faithful and their sins, extending, as it were, from one end of the earth to the other (see Isa 1:18; 43:25; Jer 31:34; 50:20; Mic 7:18f).
- Psalm 103:13 What an amazing condescension on the part of God’s love. Although he is well aware that we are fragile and ephemeral creatures who, like grass or flowers, are carried off by the slightest breeze, God keeps in his love the whole lives of his servants. He presents a just account of their merits and blesses their descendants who are faithful to his covenant.
- Psalm 103:14 The Lord has compassion on those “who fear him” (v. 13) because he knows their frailty, that they are but dust (see Gen 2:7; 3:19; Job 4:19; Eccl 3:20; 12:7).
