Psalms 103

Praise the LORD, my soul. Everything inside me, praise his holy name.

1Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Note"Bless" translates a Hebrew verb whose root sense is to kneel. Used of God toward people it means to give good things; used of people toward God, as here, it means to kneel in praise and thanks (not to confer anything on him. "Soul" here is the Hebrew *nephesh*, the whole living self) appetite, breath, life, not an immaterial part housed inside the body. The psalmist is talking to himself, rousing his entire being.

2Praise the LORD, my soul, and do not forget all the good things he does for you.

2Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:

NoteWhere the King James has "benefits," the word in 1611 meant simply good things done for someone. It carries none of the modern sense of employment perks or state payments.

3He is the one who forgives all your sins, and who heals all your diseases.

3Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;

4He is the one who rescues your life from the pit of death, and who places love and mercy on your head like a crown.

4Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;

Note"Redeem" was a legal and family term: to buy a relative back out of slavery or debt, or to buy back property they had lost. The word assumes someone in trouble and a kinsman with the means and the obligation to pay. "Destruction" in the King James renders a Hebrew word for the pit (the grave, the hole in the ground and the shadowy realm of the dead. "Lovingkindness" is *hesed*, one of the key words of the Hebrew Bible: steady, loyal, committed love) the kind owed within a binding relationship rather than a passing feeling. It recurs in verses 8, 11 and 17.

5He is the one who fills you with good things, so that your youth is made new again, like an eagle's.

5Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

NoteAncient writers observed that a bird of prey sheds and regrows its feathers and emerges sleek again, and that such birds live a very long time; the image is of vigor restored, not of any literal transformation. The Hebrew word (*nesher*) covers both the eagle and the griffon vulture.

6The LORD does what is right, and gives fair judgments for everyone who is being crushed by others.

6The LORD executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed.

Note"Righteousness and judgment" is a fixed Hebrew pair meaning something like justice properly done. It pictures a ruler or judge who hears the case of people with no power and rules in their favor, rather than an abstract moral quality.

7He showed Moses his ways, and he showed the people of Israel the things he did.

7He made known his ways unto Moses, his acts unto the children of Israel.

NoteMoses is the leader who, in the book of Exodus, brought the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and received the law at Mount Sinai. The line draws a distinction: Moses was shown God's *ways* (what he is like) while the nation saw his *acts*, the rescue itself.

8The LORD is kind and full of mercy. He is slow to get angry, and his love is more than enough.

8The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

NoteThese exact words quote the description God gives of himself to Moses on Mount Sinai in Exodus 34:6. The phrase became a standard formula, repeated across the Hebrew Bible, and an Israelite hearing verse 8 would recognize it as a quotation, which is why verse 7 has just named Moses. "Slow to anger" is literally "long of nostrils", anger was pictured as hot, flaring breath, so a long nose meant a long fuse.

9He will not keep finding fault with us forever, and he will not hold on to his anger forever.

9He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever.

Note"Chide" here is a courtroom word: to press charges, to keep prosecuting a case against someone. The image is of a legal action that is dropped rather than pursued indefinitely.

10He has not treated us the way our sins deserve. He has not paid us back for the wrong things we have done.

10He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

11As high as the heavens are above the earth, that is how great his love is for those who fear him.

11For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.

NoteTo "fear" God in Hebrew usage means to hold him in awe and take him seriously, the attitude of someone standing before a king. It is closer to reverence than to terror, and it is used throughout this psalm as a simple description of the people who belong to him.

12As far as the east is from the west, that is how far he has carried our sins away from us.

12As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.

13The way a father feels tenderly toward his children, that is how the LORD feels toward those who fear him.

13Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

NoteThe Hebrew verb translated "pitieth" comes from the same root as the word for a womb. It means a deep, physical, gut-level tenderness, the feeling a parent has for a small child, rather than pity in the modern sense of looking down on someone.

14He knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.

14For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

Note"Frame" means how we are formed, the stuff we are made of. "Dust" points back to the story in Genesis where the first human is shaped from the dust of the ground and told he will return to it. Calling people dust is a statement about being fragile and temporary, not about being worthless.

15As for a human being, his days are like grass. He blooms like a wildflower in a field.

15As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.

NoteIn the dry hill country of Israel, grass and wildflowers spring up fast after the winter rains and are burnt off within weeks. The comparison is to something that appears at full beauty and is gone within a season, which is why it is such a common image in Hebrew poetry for a human life.

16The wind blows over it, and it is gone. The place where it grew does not know it anymore.

16For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more.

Note"The place thereof shall know it no more" is a Hebrew idiom: the patch of ground where the flower stood shows no trace that anything ever grew there. It is about leaving no mark, not about the ground literally having knowledge.

17But the love of the LORD lasts from forever past to forever ahead for those who fear him. He does right by their children's children,

17But the mercy of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children;

Note"From everlasting to everlasting" translates a Hebrew phrase reaching from the most distant past anyone can imagine to the most distant future, the whole span of time, rather than a philosophical notion of eternity. "Righteousness" here, as in verse 6, means acting rightly by people: keeping faith with them and putting things right for them.

18that is, by those who keep the agreement he made with them, and who remember his commands and obey them.

18To such as keep his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.

NoteA covenant was a formal, binding agreement, like a treaty between a great king and a smaller nation, with sworn obligations on both sides. The covenant meant here is the one made at Mount Sinai, where Israel agreed to live by God's commands and he committed himself to them as their God.

19The LORD has set up his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over everything.

19The LORD hath prepared his throne in the heavens; and his kingdom ruleth over all.

NoteThis is the language of a royal court. A king's throne "established" meant his rule was secure and unchallenged; his "kingdom" meant the whole territory under his authority. The claim is that this throne is not in Jerusalem or any other capital but in heaven, and its territory has no edges.

20Praise the LORD, all you angels of his, you who are strong and mighty, who carry out what he says and listen for the sound of his word.

20Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.

NoteThe Hebrew word behind "angels" simply means messengers. Together with the "hosts" and "ministers" of the next verse they make up a royal household: strong officers who stand waiting, listening for the king's spoken order and then carrying it out.

21Praise the LORD, all you armies of heaven, you servants of his who do what he wants.

21Bless ye the LORD, all ye his hosts; ye ministers of his, that do his pleasure.

Note"Hosts" means armies, the assembled ranks of heaven, pictured as the armed retinue of a king. "Ministers" in the King James means servants or court officials, not clergy; the word had no religious sense of its own.

22Praise the LORD, everything he has made, in every place he rules. Praise the LORD, my soul.

22Bless the LORD, all his works in all places of his dominion: bless the LORD, O my soul.