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Psalms 66:16
65:10 You saturate its furrows,

they passed through the river on foot.19
and soak its plowed ground. Let us rejoice in him there!20
With rain showers you soften its soil, 66:7 He rules21 by his power forever;
and make its crops grow. he watches22 the nations.
65:11 You crown the year with your good Stubborn rebels should not exalt23 them-
blessings, selves. (Selah)
and you leave abundance in your wake. 66:8 Praise24 our God, you nations!
65:12 The pastures in the wilderness glis- Loudly proclaim his praise!25
ten with moisture, 66:9 He preserves our lives26
and the hills are clothed with joy. and does not allow our feet to slip.
65:13 The meadows are clothed with 66:10 For27 you, O God, tested us;
sheep, you purified us like refined silver.
and the valleys are covered with grain. 66:11 You led us into a trap;28
They shout joyfully, yes, they sing. you caused us to suffer.29
66:12 You allowed men to ride over our
Psalm 6610 heads;
For the music director; a song, a psalm. we passed through fire and water,
but you brought us out into a wide open
66:1 Shout out praise to God, all the earth! place.30
66:2 Sing praises about the majesty of his 66:13 I will enter31 your temple with burnt
reputation!11 sacrifices;
Give him the honor he deserves!12 I will fulfill the vows I made to you,
66:3 Say to God: 66:14 which my lips uttered
“How awesome are your deeds! and my mouth spoke when I was in
Because of your great power your en- trouble.
emies cower in fear13 before you. 66:15 I will offer up to you fattened ani-
66:4 All the earth worships14 you mals as burnt sacrifices,
and sings praises to you! along with the smell of sacrificial rams.
They sing praises to your name!” (Selah) I will offer cattle and goats. (Selah)
66:5 Come and witness15 God’s exploits!16 66:16 Come! Listen, all you who are loyal
His acts on behalf of people are awesome!17 to God!32
66:6 He turned the sea into dry land;18
19 tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some under-
 tn Heb “saturating” [the form is an infinitive absolute].
stand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River.
 tn Heb “flatten, cause to sink.”
However, the Hebrew term ‫( נָהָ ר‬nahad) does not always refer
 tn Heb “trenches,” or “furrows.” to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea cur-
 tn Heb “soften it,” that is, the earth. rents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red
 tn Heb “its vegetation you bless.” Divine “blessing” often Sea crossing (cf. NEB).
involves endowing an object with special power or capacity. 20 tn The adverb ‫שם‬ ָ ׁ (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in
 tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized
blessings. vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).
 tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.” 21 tn Heb “[the] one who rules.”
 tn Heb “drip.” 22 tn Heb “his eyes watch.” “Eyes” are an anthropomor-
 tn That is, with rich vegetation that brings joy to those who phism, attributed to God here to emphasize his awareness of
see it. all that happens on earth.
10 sn Psalm 66. The psalmist praises God because he has 23 tn The verb form is jussive (note the negative particle
delivered his people from a crisis. ‫ ַאל‬, ’al). The Kethib (consonantal text) has a Hiphil form of
11 tn Heb “his name,” which here stands metonymically for the verb, apparently to be understood in an exhibitive sense
God’s reputation. (“demonstrate stubborn rebellion”; see BDB 927 s.v. ‫רוּם‬
12 tn Heb “make honorable his praise.” Hiph), while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Qal form, to
13 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb be understood in an intransitive sense. The preposition -‫ְל‬
‫( ּ ָכ ַח ׁש‬kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the (lamed) with pronominal suffix should be understood in a re-
verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see flexive sense (“for themselves”) and indicates that the action
also Ps 109:24). is performed with the interest of the subject in mind.
14 tn Or “bows down to.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 24 tn Heb “bless,” in the sense of declaring “God to be the

are taken (1) as imperfects expressing what is typical. Anoth- source of…special power” (see HALOT 160 s.v. II ‫ ברך‬pi).
25 tn Heb “cause the voice of his praise to be heard.”
er option (2) is to interpret them as anticipatory (“all the earth
will worship you”) or (3) take them as jussives, expressing a 26 tn Heb “the one who places our soul in life.”
prayer or wish (“may all the earth worship you”). 27 tn Or “indeed.”
15 tn Or “see.” 28 tn Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for
16 tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8). “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.
17 tn Heb “awesome [is] an act toward the sons of man.” It 29 tn Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun ‫מוּעָ ־‬
is unclear how the prepositional phrase relates to what pre- ‫( קָ ה‬mu’aqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.
cedes. If collocated with “act,” it may mean “on behalf of” 30 tc The MT reads ‫“( ְר ָויָה‬saturation”) but this should be
or “toward.” If taken with “awesome” (see 1 Chr 16:25; Pss emended to ‫( ְרו ָָחה‬rÿvakhah, “wide open place”; i.e., “relief”),
89:7; 96:4; Zeph 2:11), one might translate “his awesome a reading supported by several ancient versions (LXX, Syriac,
acts are beyond human comprehension” or “his awesome Jerome, Targum).
acts are superior to anything men can do.” 31 sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks
18 sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes as the representative of the nation.
to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21). 32 tn Heb “all of the fearers of God.”