Psalms 36

Deep in my heart I hear what the sin of the wicked person says: there is no fear of God in front of his eyes.

1The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes.

NoteThe Hebrew of this line is famously difficult. The word behind "saith" (ne'um) is the formal term for a solemn pronouncement, normally used of a message from God (the poet describes sin speaking to him with that same oracular authority. Hebrew manuscripts also differ over whether the speech happens in "my heart" (the poet's) or "his heart" (the wicked man's), which is why translations vary. "Fear of God" here means reverence and awe, the sense that God must be reckoned with), not fright.

2He thinks so well of himself that he never notices his own sin or hates it.

2For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.

NoteAnother badly damaged line in the Hebrew, and translations diverge sharply. The words can mean that the man flatters himself too much to detect his own sin, or that he flatters himself until his sin is exposed and found hateful. Either way the point is self-deception; the exact grammar is disputed.

3The words of his mouth are wicked and full of lies. He has stopped being wise and stopped doing good.

3The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, and to do good.

4Even lying on his bed he plans ways to do harm. He sets himself on a path that is not good. He does not hate evil.

4He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way that is not good; he abhorreth not evil.

5LORD, your faithful love reaches up to the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.

5Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds.

Note"Mercy" translates the Hebrew hesed, one of the key words of the Psalms. It means committed, loyal love, the steady care owed within a binding relationship, not pity or leniency. It appears again in verses 7 and 10, where the King James has "lovingkindness."

6Your justice stands like the highest mountains. Your decisions are as deep as the deepest sea. LORD, you keep both people and animals alive.

6Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast.

NoteThe phrase behind "the great mountains" is literally "the mountains of God," a Hebrew way of saying the mightiest mountains there are. "Judgments" means God's rulings and decisions, not condemnations; "a great deep" is the vast primeval ocean, the standard Hebrew image for unmeasurable depth. The two halves set an unmissable height against an unfathomable depth.

7How precious your faithful love is, God! That is why people take shelter in the shadow of your wings.

7How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings.

Note"Shadow of thy wings" draws on a bird sheltering its young under its wings, a common image for protection; the same phrase could also call to mind the outstretched wings of the carved figures over the ark in the sanctuary. "Children of men" is a Hebrew idiom simply meaning human beings.

8They eat their fill of the rich food of your house, and you give them a drink from your river of delights.

8They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures.

Note"Thy house" is the temple, and "fatness" refers to the rich portions of animals offered there, which worshipers ate as a shared meal, so this describes guests being fed at God's table. The word behind "pleasures" (adanim) shares its root with the name Eden, so the river of delights faintly echoes the river that watered that garden.

9For you are the spring that life flows from. In your light we see light.

9For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.

Note"Fountain" here is a spring welling up from the ground, the source of a stream rather than an ornamental fountain, the picture is of water that never stops flowing.

10Keep giving your faithful love to those who know you, and your justice to those whose hearts are honest.

10O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee; and thy righteousness to the upright in heart.

11Do not let the foot of a proud person step on me, and do not let the hand of the wicked drive me away.

11Let not the foot of pride come against me, and let not the hand of the wicked remove me.

NoteFoot and hand stand for the whole person acting: being trodden underfoot was a standard image for total defeat, and the "hand" of the wicked is their power to drive someone from home or land.

12There the people who do evil lie fallen. They are thrown down and cannot get up.

12There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise.

Note"There" is abrupt in the Hebrew and points at a scene the poet seems to see in front of him, as though gesturing at the place where the wrongdoers have already fallen. Some translators read the verbs as past (it has happened), others as a confident view of what is certain to happen.