2tn Heb “very great.”

3tn Heb “one who lays the beams on water [in] his upper rooms.” The “water” mentioned here corresponds to the “waters above” mentioned in Gen 1:7. For a discussion of the picture envisioned by the psalmist, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 44-45.

4sn Verse 3 may depict the Lord riding a cherub, which is in turn propelled by the wind current. Another option is that the wind is personified as a cherub. See Ps 18:10 and the discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallels to the imagery in M. Weinfeld, “‘Rider of the Clouds’ and ‘Gatherer of the Clouds’,” JANESCU 5 (1973): 422-24.

5tc Heb “and his attendants a flaming fire.” The lack of agreement between the singular “fire” and plural “attendants” has prompted various emendations. Some read “fire and flame.” The present translation assumes an emendation to “his attendant” (יו in the Hebrew text being virtually dittographic).

sn In Ugaritic mythology Yam’s messengers appear as flaming fire before the assembly of the gods. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 42.

6tc Heb “you covered it.” The masculine suffix is problematic if the grammatically feminine noun “earth” is the antecedent. For this reason some emend the form to a feminine verb with feminine suffix, כִּסַּתָּה (kisattah, “[the watery deep] covered it [i.e., the earth]”), a reading assumed by the present translation.

7tn Heb “stood.”

8sn Verse 6 refers to the condition described in Gen 1:2 (note the use of the Hebrew term תְּהוֹם [t˙hom, “watery deep”] in both texts).

9tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”

sn Verses 7-8 poetically depict Gen 1:9-10.

10tn Heb “a boundary you set up, they will not cross, they will not return to cover the earth.”

11tn Heb “[the] one who sends springs into streams.” Another option is to translate, “he sends streams [i.e., streams that originate from springs] into the valleys” (cf. NIV).

12tn Heb “among the thick foliage they give a sound.”

13tn Heb “from his upper rooms.”

14tn Heb “from the fruit of your works the earth is full.” The translation assumes that “fruit” is literal here. If “fruit” is understood more abstractly as “product; result,” then one could translate, “the earth flourishes as a result of your deeds” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB).

15tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”

16tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).

17tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”

18tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”

19tn Heb “to make [the] face shine from oil.” The Hebrew verb צָהַל (tsahal, “to shine”) occurs only here in the OT. It appears to be an alternate form of צָהַר (tsahar), a derivative from צָהָרִים (tsaharim, “noon”).

20tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”

21sn The trees of the Lord are the cedars of Lebanon (see the next line), which are viewed as special because of their great size and grandeur. The Lebanon forest was viewed elsewhere in the OT as the “garden of God” (see Ezek 31:8).

22tn Heb “are satisfied,” which means here that they receive abundant rain (see v. 13).

23tn Heb “[the] heron [in the] evergreens [is] its home.”

sn The cedars and evergreens of the Lebanon forest are frequently associated (see, for example, 2 Chr 2:8; Isa 14:8; 37:24; Ezek 31:8).

24tn Heb “the high mountains [are] for the goats.”

25tn Heb “he made [the] moon for appointed times.” The phrase “appointed times” probably refers to the months of the Hebrew lunar calendar.

26tn Heb more metaphorically, “knows its setting.”

27tn Heb “you make darkness, so that it might be night.”

28sn The lions’ roaring is viewed as a request for food from God.

29tn Heb “lie down.”

30tn Heb “man goes out to his work, and to his labor until evening.”

31tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.

32tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

33tn Heb “this [is] the sea, great and broad of hands [i.e., “sides” or “shores”].”

34tn Heb “where [there are] swimming things, and without number.”

35tn Heb “[and] this Leviathan, [which] you formed to play in it.” Elsewhere Leviathan is a multiheaded sea monster that symbolizes forces hostile to God (see Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1), but here it appears to be an actual marine creature created by God, probably some type of whale.

36tn Heb “All of them.” The pronoun “them” refers not just to the sea creatures mentioned in vv. 25-26, but to all living things (see v. 24). This has been specified in the translation as “all of your creatures” for clarity.

37tn Heb “to give their food in its time.”

38tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”

39tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”

40tn Heb “be forever.”

41tn Or “rejoice in his works.”

42tn Heb “in my duration.”

43tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.

44tn Or “be destroyed.”