Psalms 66

1 To the chief music-maker. A Song. A Psalm. Send up a glad cry to God, all the earth:

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

2 Make a song in honour of his name: give praise and glory to him.

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

3 Say to God, How greatly to be feared are your works! because of your great power your haters are forced to put themselves under your feet.

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 Let all the earth give you worship, and make songs to you; let them make songs to your name. (Selah)

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

5 Come and see the works of God: he is to be feared in all he does to the children of men.

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

6 The sea was turned into dry land: they went through the river on foot: there did we have joy 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 is ruling in power for ever; his eyes are watching the nations: may his haters have no strength 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 Give blessings to our God, O you peoples, let the voice of his praise be loud;

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

9 Because he gives us life, and has not let our feet be moved.

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

10 For you, O God, have put us to the test: testing us by fire like silver.

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 let us be put in prison; chains were put on our legs.

[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 let men go driving over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but you took us out into a wide place.

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 house with burned offerings, I will make payment of my debt 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 Keeping the word which came from my lips, and which my mouth said, when I was in trouble.

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 give you burned offerings of fat beasts, and the smoke of sheep; I will make offerings of oxen and 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, give ear to me, all you God-fearing men, so that I may make clear to you 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 My voice went up to him, and I was lifted up from the underworld.

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

18 I said in my heart, The Lord will not give ear to me:

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

19 But truly God's ear has been open; he has give attention to the voice of my prayer.

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

20 Praise be to God who has not taken away his good faith and his mercy from me.

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