God's New Bible

The Book of Psalms

Catholic Public Domain Version 2009

- Chapter 97 -

Let the earth rejoice

1
This is to David, when his land was restored to him. The Lord has reigned, let the earth exult. Let the many islands rejoice.(a) (b)
2
Clouds and mist are all around him. Justice and judgment are corrections from his throne.(c)
3
A fire will precede him, and it will enflame his enemies all around.
4
His lightnings have enlightened the whole world. The earth saw, and it was shaken.
5
The mountains flowed like wax before the face of the Lord, before the face of the Lord of all the earth.
6
The heavens announced his justice, and all peoples saw his glory.
7
May all those who adore graven images be confounded, along with those who glory in their false images. All you his Angels: Adore him.
8
Zion heard, and was glad. And the daughters of Judah exulted because of your judgments, O Lord.
9
For you are the Most High Lord over all the earth. You are greatly exalted above all gods.
10
You who love the Lord: hate evil. The Lord watches over the souls of his holy ones. He will free them from the hand of the sinner.
11
The light has risen for the just, and joy for the upright of heart.
12
Rejoice in the Lord, you just ones, and confess to the memory of his sanctuary.

Footnotes

(a)96:1 The first two words are usually translated as ‘to this David,’ or ‘to the same David.’ The word ‘huic’ is dative, indicating an indirect object, which is often translated using the English ‘to’ or ‘for.’ Essentially, the first word, ‘huic’ translates as ‘for this,’ or ‘to this.’ The word ‘David’ (as with many non-Latin names) is not usually altered in its ending to indicate case. The translation could be ‘To this David,’ but then the word ‘this’ would not be of much use, except to indicate the case of the word ‘David,’ i.e. ‘To David,’ rather than ‘To this David.’ Another possible translation (a somewhat loose translation), would be to view ‘David’ as the subject: ‘David is for this,’ which can be rephrased in English as ‘This is for David.’(Conte)
(b)96:1 So the translation should be either: ‘To David,’ or, ‘This is for David.’ Both of which have approximately the same meaning.(Conte)
(c)96:2 Clouds and darkness:The coming of Christ in the clouds with great terror and majesty to judge the world, is here prophesied.(Challoner)