Psalms 66

1 For the Chief Musician. A song. A Psalm. Make a joyful shout to God, all the earth!

[Tell] everyone on the earth that they should sing joyfully to praise God!

2 Sing to the glory of his name! Offer glory and praise!

They should sing songs that say that God [MTY] is very great, and they should tell everyone that he is very glorious!

3 Tell God, “How awesome are your deeds! Through the greatness of your power, your enemies submit themselves to you.

They should say to God, “The things that you do are awesome! You are very powerful, with the result that your enemies (cringe/bow down) in front of you.”

4 All the earth will worship you, and will sing to you; they will sing to your name.” (Selah)

Everyone on the earth [should] worship God and sing to praise him and honor him [MTY].

5 Come, and see God’s deeds— awesome work on behalf of the children of men.

Come and think about what God has done! Think about the awesome things that he has done.

6 He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him.

He caused the [Red] Sea to become dry land, [with the result that our] ancestors were able to walk right through it. There we rejoiced because of what he [had done].

7 He rules by his might forever. His eyes watch the nations. Don’t let the rebellious rise up against him. (Selah)

By his great power he rules forever, and he keeps watching all the nations [to see what things they do], [so] those nations that want to rebel [against him] should not be proud.

8 Praise our God, you peoples! Make the sound of his praise heard,

You people [of all nations], praise our God! Praise him loudly in order that people will hear you as you praise him.

9 who preserves our life amongst the living, and doesn’t allow our feet to be moved.

He has kept us alive, and he has not allowed us to (stumble/be defeated).

10 For you, God, have tested us. You have refined us, as silver is refined.

God, you have tested us; you have allowed us to experience great difficulties [to make our lives become pure] as [people] put precious metals in a hot fire [to burn out what is impure] [MET].

11 You brought us into prison. You laid a burden on our backs.

[It is as if] you allowed us to fall into traps [MET], and you [forced us to endure difficult things which were like] putting heavy loads on our backs [MET].

12 You allowed men to ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water, but you brought us to the place of abundance.

You allowed [our] enemies to trample on us; we [experienced difficulties/troubles that were like] [MET] walking through fires and floods, but now you have brought us into a place where we have plenty.

13 I will come into your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to you,

[Yahweh], I will bring to your temple offerings that are to be completely burned [on the altar]; I will offer to you what I promised.

14 which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.

When I was experiencing [much] trouble, I said that I would bring offerings to you [if you rescued me]; [and you did rescue me, so] I will bring to you what I promised.

15 I will offer to you burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats. (Selah)

I will bring sheep to be burned on the altar, and I will [also] sacrifice bulls and goats, and when they are burning, [you will be pleased when] the smoke [rises up] ([to you/to the sky]).

16 Come and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what he has done for my soul.

All you [people] who revere God, come and listen, and I will tell you what he has done for me.

17 I cried to him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue.

I called out to him to help me, and I praised him while I was speaking to him [MTY].

18 If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened.

If I had ignored the sins that I had committed, the Lord would not have paid any attention to me.

19 But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer.

But because [I confessed my sins], God has listened to me and he paid attention to my prayers.

20 Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor his loving kindness from me.

I praise God because he has not ignored my prayers or stopped faithfully loving me.