Psalms 99:2
1028
the earth shakes. 
99:2 The Lord is elevated in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
99:3 Let them praise your great and awe-
some name!
He is holy!
99:4 The king is strong;
he loves justice.
You ensure that legal decisions will be
made fairly;
you promote justice and equity in Jacob.
99:5 Praise the Lord our God!
Worship before his footstool!
He is holy!
99:6 Moses and Aaron were among his
priests;
Samuel was one of those who prayed to
him.
They prayed to the Lord and he an-
swered them.
99:7 He spoke to them from a pillar of
cloud;10
they obeyed his regulations and the ordi-
nance he gave them.
99:8 O Lord our God, you answered
them.
They found you to be a forgiving God,
but also one who punished their sinful
deeds.11
99:9 Praise12 the Lord our God!
Worship on his holy hill,
for the Lord our God is holy!
to personify the wind.
 tn The Hebrew verb ‫( נוּט‬nut) occurs only here in the OT,
but the meaning can be determined on the basis of the paral-
lelism with ‫( רָ גַז‬ragaz, “tremble”) and evidence from the cog-
nate languages (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena
[SBLDS], 121).
 tn Heb “great.”
 tn The pronoun refers to the Lord himself (see vv. 5, 9).
 tn Heb “and strength, a king, justice he loves.” The syntax
of the Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation assumes
that two affirmations are made about the king, the Lord (see
v. 1, and Ps 98:6). The noun ‫’( עֹז‬oz, “strength”) should prob-
ably be revocalized as the adjective ‫’( עַ ז‬az, “strong”).
 tn Heb “you establish fairness.”
 tn Or “exalt.”
 tn Or “bow down.”
 tn Heb “among those who called on his name.”
 tn Heb “those who.” The participle is in apposition to the
phrase “those who called on his name” in the preceding line.
10 sn A pillar of cloud. The psalmist refers to the reality de-
scribed in Exod 33:9-10; Num 12:5; and Deut 31:15.
11 tn Heb “a God of lifting up [i.e., forgiveness] you were to
them, and an avenger concerning their deeds.” The present
translation reflects the traditional interpretation, which un-
derstands the last line as qualifying the preceding one. God
forgave Moses and Aaron, but he also disciplined them when
they sinned (cf. NIV, NRSV). Another option is to take “their
deeds” as referring to harmful deeds directed against Moses
and Aaron. In this case the verse may be translated, “and one
who avenged attacks against them.” Still another option is to
emend the participial form ‫( נֹקֵ ם‬noqem, “an avenger”) to ‫נֹקָ ם‬
(noqam), a rare Qal participial form of ‫( נָקַ ה‬naqah, “purify”)
with a suffixed pronoun. In this case one could translate, “and
one who purified them from their [sinful] deeds” (cf. NEB “and
held them innocent”).
12 tn Or “exalt.”
Psalm 10013
A thanksgiving psalm.
100:1 Shout out praises to the Lord, all
the earth!
100:2 Worship14 the Lord with joy!
Enter his presence with joyful singing!
100:3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us and we belong to him;15
we are his people, the sheep of his pas-
ture.
100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give him thanks!
Praise his name!
100:5 For the Lord is good.
His loyal love endures,16
and he is faithful through all generations.17
Psalm 10118
A psalm of David.
101:1 I will sing about loyalty and justice!
To you, O Lord, I will sing praises!
101:2 I will walk in19 the way of integrity.
When will you come to me?
I will conduct my business with integrity
in the midst of my palace.20
101:3 I will not even consider doing what
is dishonest.21
I hate doing evil;22
I will have no part of it.23
101:4 I will have nothing to do with a
perverse person;24
13 sn Psalm 100. The psalmist celebrates the fact that Israel
has a special relationship to God and summons worshipers
to praise the Lord for his faithfulness.
14 tn Or “serve.”
15 tn The present translation (like most modern translations)
follows the Qere (marginal reading), which reads literally,
“and to him [are] we.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “and
not we.” The suffixed preposition ‫“( לו‬to him”) was confused
aurally with the negative particle ‫ לא‬because the two sound
identical.
16 tn Or “is forever.”
17 tn Heb “and to a generation and a generation [is] his faith-
fulness.”
18 sn Psalm 101. The psalmist, who appears to be a king,
promises to promote justice in his land and vows to rid his
royal court of evildoers.
19 tn Heb “take notice of.”
20 tn Heb “I will walk about in the integrity of my heart in the
midst of my house.”
21 tn Heb “I will not set before my eyes a thing of worthless-
ness.”
22 tn Heb “the doing of swerving [deeds] I hate.” The He-
brew term ‫( סֵ ִטים‬setim) is probably an alternate spelling of
‫( ֵׂש ִטים‬setim), which appears in many medieval Hebrew mss.
The form appears to be derived from a verbal root ‫( שׂוּט‬sut, “to
fall away; to swerve”; see Ps 40:4).
23 tn Heb “it [i.e., the doing of evil deeds] does not cling to
me.”
24 tn Heb “a perverse heart will turn aside from me.”
The adjective ‫’( ִע ּ ֵק ׁש‬iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted;
crooked” and by extension refers to someone or something
that is morally perverse (see Ps 18:26). It appears frequently
in the Book of Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5),
speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20), and life styles
(2:15; 28:6).