Psalm 33 Academics
YHWH's Plan Stands Forever
Psalm 33
Academic Resources
Explore our academic Psalms resources for Psalm 33, including our Layer-by-Layer analysis, select Exegetical Issues, and Overview Videos.
Overview 
- This page will introduce and provide orientation to Psalm 33 as a whole. It covers the message, structure, background and participants of the psalm.
Layer-by-Layer Analysis 
- The heart of our process is our layer-by-layer exegetical analysis, where we unfold the semantics, story behind, discourse, and poetics of each psalm.
Grammar & Semantics
Semantics is the study of how language is used to represent meaning. The goal of semantic analysis is to understand the meaning of words and how they relate to each other in context. Our Semantics analysis consists of the following sub-layers:
- Grammar & Textual Criticism
- Lexical Semantics
- Phrase-Level Semantics
- Verbal Semantics
Story Behind
The Story Behind the Psalm shows how each part of the psalm fits together into a single coherent whole. Here, we analyze the meaning of sentences and larger units of discourse, up to and including the entire psalm. This also include historical background and figurative imagery.
Discourse
Our Discourse Layer moves beyond semantic-level meaning, and analyzes features of the text dependent on the speaker, addressee, and macrosyntax.
Poetics
Exploring the Psalms as poetry is crucial for understanding and experiencing the psalms and thus for faithfully translating them into another language.
Verse-by-Verse Notes 
- Explore the psalm verse-by-verse and section-by-section.
Psalm 33 Exegetical Issues 
- These issues examine the top three tough questions for each psalm, explaining different scholarly interpretations, and offering our perspective.
- The interpretation כַּנֵּד in this verse is controversial. The meaning of the phrase, as it appears in the MT, is probably "like in a heap, wall, hill, or mound." However, the LXX translates it as "like in a wineskin" (ὡς ἀσκόν). Other scholars have proposed that the word should be revocalized as כֶּנֶד and translated "(in) a jar, bottle," based on similar words in Ugaritic and Akkadian.
- This verse contains two participles, and it is difficult to know how to interpret them. The choice impacts the grammar and interpretation of the whole verse. Modern translations choose to translate the participles as verbs, but are divided on the tense (e.g., "He gathers the waters... he puts the deeps..." [ESV]; "He gathered... he laid up the deeps..." [NEB]). The other option, suggested by some commentators, is to treat them as nouns (e.g., "The one who gathers the waters... who sets up the deeps..." [NICOT]).
- Many modern translations render both of the כִּי particles in v. 21 as causal ("for"; see ESV, NET, CSB, NJB, ELB, NVSR, LUT, NGÜ). This rendering appears to make the people's rejoicing and trust in v. 21 the reason why "YHWH is our helper and our shield" in v. 20b. In other words, the people's rejoicing and trust causes YHWH's protection. However, both ancient and modern translations use a variety of techniques to avoid such a statement, including interpreting כִּי with either an emphatic or resultative sense.
