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Psalm 33

The TorahRooted Bible (TRB), translated directly from the Hebrew and Greek.

Praise for the word and counsel of Yahweh

1 Shout for joy in Yahweh, you righteous! Praise is fitting for the upright. 2 Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre; sing praises to Him with the harp of ten strings. 3 Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy. 4 For the word of Yahweh is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the lovingkindness of Yahweh.

6 By the word of Yahweh the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host. 7 He gathers the waters of the sea as a heap; He puts the deeps in storehouses. 8 Let all the earth fear Yahweh; let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him. 9 For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.

10 Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; He frustrates the plans of the peoples. 11 The counsel of Yahweh stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations. 12 Blessed is the nation whose Elohim is Yahweh, the people He has chosen as His inheritance.

The eye of Yahweh on those who fear Him

13 Yahweh looks down from heaven; He sees all the sons of men. 14 From the place of His dwelling He gazes on all the inhabitants of the earth, 15 He who fashions the hearts of them all, who understands all their works.

16 The king is not saved by the greatness of an army; a mighty man is not delivered by great strength. 17 The horse is a false hope for victory, and by its great might it cannot save. 18 See, the eye of Yahweh is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His lovingkindness, 19 to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine.

20 Our soul waits for Yahweh; He is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart rejoices in Him, because we have trusted in His holy name. 22 Let Your lovingkindness, Yahweh, be upon us, even as we hope in You.

Notes

  • 33:1 Psalm 33 has no title in the Hebrew (the ancient Greek translation adds "Of David"), and it takes up where Psalm 32 ended: "you righteous… shout for joy, all you upright" (32:11); some manuscripts even join the two as one psalm. Its twenty-two verses match the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet, though it is not an alphabet poem.
  • 33:6 Verses 6-9 look back to Genesis 1, where the works of creation begin "Then Elohim said," and again and again "And it was so" follows; verse 9 sums it up: "He spoke, and it came to be." "All their host" recalls Genesis 2:1, "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their host." "Breath" is ruach, the word used of the Spirit of Elohim over the waters (Genesis 1:2); here it stands beside "word" as the breath that carries speech. Hebrews 11:3 says the worlds were framed by the word of God, and John 1:1-3 speaks of the Word through whom all things were made; many Christian readers have seen in this verse the Word and the Spirit together at creation.
  • 33:12 The counsel of the nations (goyim) comes to nothing (verse 10), but one nation (goy) is called blessed: not for its strength (verses 16-17), but because Yahweh is its Elohim and He has chosen it. "Inheritance" (nachalah) is the language of Moses: "For Yahweh's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance" (Deuteronomy 32:9); He chose Israel not because it was more numerous than other peoples (Deuteronomy 7:6-7). The psalm then widens at once to "all the sons of men" under His eye (verses 13-15).
  • 33:17 "A false hope" is literally "a lie" (sheker): the war horse promises victory and cannot deliver it. The Torah said of Israel's king, "he shall not multiply horses for himself" (Deuteronomy 17:16), and Psalm 20:7 says, "Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of Yahweh our Elohim." The answer comes in verse 18: the eye of Yahweh.

Psalm 32 · Psalm 34

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