Psalm 65
New English Translation
Psalm 65[a]
For the music director, a psalm of David, a song.
65 Praise awaits you,[b] O God, in Zion.
Vows made to you are fulfilled.
2 You hear prayers;[c]
all people approach you.[d]
3 Our record of sins overwhelms me,[e]
but you forgive[f] our acts of rebellion.
4 How blessed[g] is the one whom you choose,
and allow to live in your palace courts.[h]
May we be satisfied with the good things of your house—
your holy palace.[i]
5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,
O God, our savior.[j]
All the ends of the earth trust in you,[k]
as well as those living across the wide seas.[l]
6 You created the mountains by your power,[m]
and demonstrated your strength.[n]
7 You calmed the raging seas[o]
and their roaring waves,
as well as the commotion made by the nations.[p]
8 Even those living in the remotest areas are awestruck by your acts;[q]
you cause those living in the east and west to praise you.[r]
9 You visit the earth and give it rain;[s]
you make it rich and fertile.[t]
God’s streams are full of water;[u]
you provide grain for the people of the earth,[v]
for you have prepared the earth in this way.[w]
10 You saturate[x] its furrows,
and soak[y] its plowed ground.[z]
With rain showers you soften its soil,[aa]
and make its crops grow.[ab]
11 You crown the year with your good blessings,[ac]
and you leave abundance in your wake.[ad]
12 The pastures in the wilderness glisten with moisture,[ae]
and the hills are clothed with joy.[af]
13 The meadows are clothed with sheep,
and the valleys are covered with grain.
They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.
Footnotes
- Psalm 65:1 sn Psalm 65. The psalmist praises God because he forgives sin and blesses his people with an abundant harvest.
- Psalm 65:1 tn Heb “for you, silence, praise.” Many prefer to emend the noun דֻּמִיָּה (dumiyyah, “silence”) to a participle דּוֹמִיָּה (domiyyah), from the root דָּמָה (damah, “be silent”), understood here in the sense of “wait.”
- Psalm 65:2 tn Heb “O one who hears prayer.”
- Psalm 65:2 tn Heb “to you all flesh comes.”
- Psalm 65:3 tn Heb “the records of sins are too strong for me.”
- Psalm 65:3 tn Or “make atonement for.”
- Psalm 65:4 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; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
- Psalm 65:4 tn Heb “[whom] you bring near [so that] he might live [in] your courts.”
- Psalm 65:4 tn Or “temple.”
- Psalm 65:5 tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”
- Psalm 65:5 tn Heb “a source of confidence [for] all the ends of the earth.”sn All the ends of the earth trust in you. This idealistic portrayal of universal worship is typical hymnic hyperbole, though it does anticipate eschatological reality.
- Psalm 65:5 tc Heb “and [the] distant sea.” The plural adjective is problematic after the singular form “sea.” One could emend יָם (yam, “sea”) to יָמִים (yamim, “seas”), or emend the plural form רְחֹקִים (rekhoqim, “far”) to the singular רָחֹק (rakhoq). In this case the final mem (ם) could be treated as dittographic; note the mem on the beginning of the first word in v. 6.
- Psalm 65:6 tn Heb “[the] one who establishes [the] mountains by his power.”
- Psalm 65:6 tn Heb “one [who] is girded with strength”; or “one [who] girds himself with strength.”
- Psalm 65:7 tn Heb “the roar of the seas.”
- Psalm 65:7 sn The raging seas…the commotion made by the nations. The raging seas symbolize the turbulent nations of the earth (see Ps 46:2-3, 6; Isa 17:12).
- Psalm 65:8 tn Heb “and the inhabitants of the ends fear because of your signs.” God’s “signs” are the “awesome acts” (see v. 5) he performs in the earth.
- Psalm 65:8 tn Heb “the goings out of the morning and the evening you cause to shout for joy.” The phrase “goings out of the morning and evening” refers to the sunrise and sunset, that is, the east and the west.
- Psalm 65:9 tn The verb form is a Polel from שׁוּק (shuq, “be abundant”), a verb which appears only here and in Joel 2:24 and 3:13, where it is used in the Hiphil stem and means “overflow.”
- Psalm 65:9 tn Heb “you greatly enrich it.”
- Psalm 65:9 tn Heb “[with] a channel of God full of water.” The divine name is probably may be used here in a superlative sense to depict a very deep stream (“a stream fit for God,” as it were).
- Psalm 65:9 tn The pronoun apparently refers to the people of the earth, mentioned in v. 8.
- Psalm 65:9 tn Heb “for thus [referring to the provision of rain described in the first half of the verse] you prepare it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix attached to the verb “prepare” refers back to the “earth,” which is a feminine noun with regard to grammatical form.
- Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “saturating” [the form is an infinitive absolute].
- Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “flatten, cause to sink.”
- Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “trenches,” or “furrows.”
- Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “soften it,” that is, the earth.
- Psalm 65:10 tn Heb “its vegetation you bless.” Divine “blessing” often involves endowing an object with special power or capacity.
- Psalm 65:11 tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural blessings.
- Psalm 65:11 tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.”
- Psalm 65:12 tn Heb “drip.”
- Psalm 65:12 tn That is, with rich vegetation that brings joy to those who see it.
Psalm 65
Christian Standard Bible
Psalm 65
God’s Care for the Earth
For the choir director. A psalm of David. A song.
1 Praise is rightfully yours,[a]
God, in Zion;
vows to you will be fulfilled.(A)
2 All humanity will come to you,
the one who hears prayer.(B)
3 Iniquities overwhelm me;
only you can atone for our rebellions.(C)
4 How happy is the one you choose
and bring near to live in your courts!
We will be satisfied with the goodness of your house,(D)
the holiness of your temple.[b](E)
5 You answer us in righteousness,
with awe-inspiring works,
God of our salvation,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the distant seas.(F)
6 You establish the mountains by your power;
you are robed with strength.(G)
7 You silence the roar of the seas,
the roar of their waves,
and the tumult of the nations.(H)
8 Those who live far away are awed by your signs;
you make east and west shout for joy.(I)
9 You visit the earth and water it abundantly,
enriching it greatly.
God’s stream is filled with water,
for you prepare the earth in this way,
providing people with grain.(J)
10 You soften it with showers and bless its growth,
soaking its furrows and leveling its ridges.(K)
11 You crown the year with your goodness;
your carts overflow with plenty.[c](L)
12 The wilderness pastures overflow,
and the hills are robed with joy.(M)
13 The pastures are clothed with flocks
and the valleys covered with grain.(N)
They shout in triumph; indeed, they sing.(O)
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