As in the similar passage 74.12-17, it is difficult to decide here whether the psalmist is speaking of creation or of the exodus from Egypt. Certainly in verse 20 the meaning is not in doubt, and some see verses 16-19 as a recital of the events of the exodus. Yet it seems more likely that here, as elsewhere, the biblical writer draws the two themes together: the God who brought the nation Israel into being, defeating Israel’s enemies with mighty acts of salvation, is the same God who brought the world into being, defeating the primeval forces of chaos (see Weiser, Anderson, Toombs, McCullough). Some see verses 16-20 as a fragment of an old poem added here either by the psalmist himself or by some later editor (see Dentan, Dahood).

At the coming of God the waters … were afraid … the deep trembled; these primeval waters (or, the Sea of Reeds, the Red Sea) feared the all-powerful God. The deep translates the plural of the word “the deep” used in Genesis 1.2; so Good News Translation “the depths of the sea.” As Revised Standard Version shows, in verse 16 the Hebrew text repeats “when the waters saw you.” The poetic expressions waters saw thee and they were afraid create a translation problem for languages in which the personification of inanimate objects is not natural. In such cases it may be possible to shift to a simile; for example, “like a person sees, when the waters saw you….” In some languages it will be necessary to speak of “all the rivers” or “all the seas.” In the same manner it may be necessary in some languages to employ a simile in the deep trembled by saying, for example, “the depths of the sea trembled like a frightened person.”

God’s coming was accompanied by rain, thunder, and lightning (verse 17; see similar accounts in 18.7-15 and 29.3-9 of Yahweh as the God of the storm). In verse 17c God’s arrows are the lightnings of verse 18b (see similar parallel in 18.14a-b). In languages in which arrows are known, it does not automatically follow that the word lends itself for metaphorical use, or that the meaning of “lightning” would be implied. It may be possible to say, for example, “your lightning flashed like flying arrows.”

In verse 18a Good News Translation “rolled out” translates a word defined as “wheel of a war chariot.” Good News Translation takes the line to speak of the thunder as the noise made by the wheels of God’s “war chariot” (see 65.11; 68.33). New Jerusalem Bible has “Your thunder rumbled like wheels” (same as Weiser); similarly Traduction œcuménique de la Bible, Bible de Jérusalem, Bible en français courant “as it rolled” (also New English Bible footnote). Revised Standard Version, New English Bible, New American Bible, and Biblia Dios Habla Hoy translate in the whirlwind; An American Translation “in the cyclone.” Dahood takes the word to mean “the dome of heaven,” in conjunction with “the world” in line b and “nether world” in line c.

In verse 18c trembled translates the same verb as in verse 16c; for shook see comments on “quaked” in 68.8.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Reyburn, William D. A Handbook on the Book of Psalms. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1991. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .