Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for Bible-translators and others doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still early looks into the drafted texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

ULT To the music director. psalm of

WEBBE For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET For the music director; a psalm of David.

FBV For the music director. A psalm of David.

BBE To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.

Moff From the Choirmaster’s collection. A song of David.

ASV For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Drby To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

RV For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

KJB-1769 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

KJB-1611 ¶ To the chiefe Musician, A Psalme of Dauid.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation)

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Psalm 19 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

Psalm 19 is a psalm about how God has revealed himself and glorifies himself through his physical creation, and how he reveals himself through his written revelation which he gave to the Israelites through Moses. 1. The heavens declare God’s glory (1–4b) 2. The sun in the heavens (4c–6) 3. The greatness and worth of God’s word and its effect (7–9) 4. The desirableness of God’s word (10) 5. The benefit of God’s word (11–12a) 6. Closing prayer (12b–14)

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Psalm

Terms for God’s commands and instructions

The psalmist uses many different words to refer to God’s message to us. You could decide to use a different word for each term, but most languages will not have that many, so just use the words that your language has. In verses 7–9 there are six different terms used for things that God commanded and taught his people. 1. “The law of Yahweh” in 19:7a. (See: lawofmoses) 2. “The testimony of Yahweh” in 19:7b. Here the word “testimony” has a similar meaning to the word “law” in 19:7a, making the phrases “The law of Yahweh” and “the testimony of Yahweh” complementary. The phrase “the testimony of Yahweh” refers either to God’s entire law as a whole that he gave to the Israelites or more specifically to his law that he gave them through Moses on Mount Sinai. 3. “The precepts of Yahweh” in verse 19:8a. The word that is translated as “precepts” refers to something that is appointed or mandated so the phrase “the precepts of Yahweh” refers to the things that Yahweh mandated. 4. “The commandment of Yahweh” in 19:8b. See the note on this phrase in 19:8. 5. “The fear of Yahweh” in 19:9a. See the note on this phrase in 19:9. 6. “The judgments of Yahweh” in 19:9b. The word translated as “judgments” could also be translated as “ordinances” or “decisions” here and refers to decisions or judgments that are made. Here the phrase “the judgments of Yahweh” refers to the judicial instructions that Yahweh gave the Israelites for handling different types of situations involving people.

Note 1 topic: translate-unknown

לַ⁠מְנַצֵּ֗חַ

(la⁠mənaʦʦēaḩ)

The word translated as chief musician likely refers to the person in charge of music for worship. Some languages may have a term for a music leader. Alternate translation: [For the music director] or [For the leader of worship music]

Parallel PSA 19:0

Psalm 19 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Psalm

Terms for God’s commands and instructions