Psalms 138

I will thank you with my whole heart. In front of the gods I will sing praise to you.

1I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

Note"The gods" translates Hebrew *elohim*, a word that can mean gods, or the divine beings of a heavenly court, or, as the ancient Greek and Latin translations took it here, angels; some older English versions and Jewish tradition read it as human judges or rulers. The Hebrew leaves the sense open. The point of the phrase is the setting: the singer praises in the presence of whatever other powers are supposed to be there.

2I will bow down toward your holy temple and thank your name for your faithful love and your faithfulness, because you have lifted your word high, above all your name.

2I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

NoteBowing or praying while facing the temple in Jerusalem was a normal practice for Israelites who were somewhere else; the direction you turned showed which God you were addressing. The line does not mean the singer is inside the building. "Faithful love" translates *hesed*, the loyalty owed inside a binding relationship, the steady commitment of someone who keeps their obligations to you, not warm feeling. "Faithfulness" translates a separate word, *emet*, meaning reliability or truth: what can be depended on. The last clause is one of the hardest lines in the Psalms. The Hebrew reads roughly "you have made your word great above all your name," which is odd, since a god's name normally outranks everything. Some translators rearrange it to "you have exalted your name and your word above all else." The rendering keeps the difficulty rather than smoothing it out.

3On the day I called out to you, you answered me. You made me bold and gave strength to my soul.

3In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

Note"Soul" here translates *nephesh*, which in Hebrew means the whole living person (your life, your appetite, your very self), not an immaterial part housed inside a body. "Strength in my soul" means strength in the person, through and through.

4All the kings of the earth will thank you, LORD, when they hear the words you speak.

4All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O LORD, when they hear the words of thy mouth.

Note"The words you speak" would be heard as a royal announcement, the kind of decree a king issues and messengers carry to other kingdoms. That is why kings, rather than ordinary people, are the ones pictured responding.

5Yes, they will sing about the ways of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD is great.

5Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the LORD: for great is the glory of the LORD.

Note"Ways" translates a word for roads or paths, used of how someone habitually acts. To sing about the LORD's ways is to sing about the manner in which he deals with people.

6The LORD is high above, yet he pays attention to people who are low and humble. But the proud he knows only from far away.

6Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

Note"Low" translates a word for those who are physically or socially down, poor, powerless, pressed on. "Knows only from far away" is a deliberate reversal of the usual picture: it is the high God who comes close to the low, and holds the high-and-mighty at arm's length.

7Even when I walk right through the middle of trouble, you keep me alive. You reach out your hand against the anger of my enemies, and your right hand saves me.

7Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

NoteThe right hand was the sword hand, the strong hand, and "right hand" became a standard Hebrew figure for someone's power in action. Saying God's right hand saves is saying his full force is applied.

8The LORD will finish what he has started for me. LORD, your faithful love lasts forever. Do not walk away from the things your own hands have made.

8The LORD will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O LORD, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.

NoteThe verb means to complete, finish off, or bring to its intended end. The Hebrew phrase is compressed (literally something like "the LORD will complete on my behalf") leaving what he will complete unstated, so translators supply "his purpose for me" or "what concerns me." "The things your own hands have made" is a potter-and-clay image applied to the speaker himself: he is asking the maker not to abandon his own handiwork.