Psalm 147 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Psalm 147
Jerusalem rebuilt and nourished
Verse 147:1 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:1] Praise Yah!
For it is good to make music to our God;
for it is pleasant—praise is fitting.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:1] Hallelujah. Of Haggai and Zechariah.
Praise the Lord, for a psalm is good;
may praise be pleasing to our God.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds the prophetic attribution and an explicit praise-the-Lord command after Hallelujah. Hebrew making music to God and fitting praise become a good psalm and a wish that praise please God. This begins Greek Psalm one hundred forty-six.
Verse 147:2 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:2] YHWH builds Jerusalem;
He gathers the outcasts of Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:2] The Lord builds Jerusalem,
and He will gather the dispersed of Israel.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Rebuilding and gathering agree; outcasts and dispersions describe those gathered differently.
Verse 147:3 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:3] He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:3] He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their fractures.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew pains or wounds and Greek fractures sustain the bodily healing image of heartbroken people.
Verse 147:4 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:4] He counts the number of the stars;
He calls them all by names.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:4] He numbers multitudes of stars
and calls them all by names.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Counting and naming the stars agree; number and multitudes differ slightly.
Verse 147:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:5] Great is our Lord and abundant in power;
His understanding is beyond number.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:5] Great is our Lord, and great is His strength;
His understanding is beyond number.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both use Lord as a title here, not the Hebrew tetragrammaton. The image of unnumbered understanding remains rather than being replaced by an abstract omniscience formula.
Verse 147:6 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:6] YHWH upholds the humble;
He brings the wicked low to the ground.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:6] The Lord takes up the meek,
but brings sinners low to the ground.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Humble or afflicted and meek differ in emphasis; wicked and sinners remain separate designations.
Verse 147:7 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:7] Respond to YHWH with thanksgiving;
make music to our God with a lyre,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:7] Lead off to the Lord with thanksgiving;
make music to our God with a lyre,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew answering or responsive singing becomes Greek beginning or leading off; the musical act is not flattened into the same verb.
Verse 147:8 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:8] who covers heaven with clouds,
who prepares rain for the earth,
who makes grass sprout on the mountains,
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:8] who clothes heaven with clouds,
who prepares rain for the earth,
who makes grass sprout on the mountains
and green growth for the service of humans,
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek adds the complete phrase about green growth for human service. The additional clause remains within its displayed verse eight, without creating an invented verse label.
Verse 147:9 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:9] who gives the cattle their bread,
to young ravens when they cry.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:9] who gives the cattle their food
and to the young ravens who call upon Him.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek explicitly makes God the object of the ravens’ calling; Hebrew leaves the object unstated. Bread is rendered literally in Hebrew, food in Greek.
Verse 147:10 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:10] He does not delight in the horse’s strength;
He does not take pleasure in a man’s legs.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:10] He will not delight in the horse’s might,
nor does He take pleasure in a man’s shins.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both contrast physical prowess with the reverent hope of the next verse. Legs and shins preserve the anatomical terms without replacing them with warriors.
Verse 147:11 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:11] YHWH takes pleasure in those who fear Him,
in those who wait for His steadfast love.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[146:11] The Lord takes pleasure in those who fear Him
and in those who hope in His mercy.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Reverence and expectant dependence agree. This ends Greek Psalm one hundred forty-six; the Hebrew psalm continues.
Verse 147:12 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:12] Commend YHWH, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:1] Hallelujah. Of Haggai and Zechariah.
Commend the Lord, Jerusalem;
praise your God, Zion.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek Psalm one hundred forty-seven begins here with Hallelujah and an attribution to Haggai and Zechariah absent at this point in Hebrew. Greek numbering resets to one; the Hebrew psalm does not divide.
Verse 147:13 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:13] For He has strengthened the bars of your gates;
He has blessed your children within you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:2] For He strengthened the bars of your gates;
He blessed your children within you.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Gate security and blessing of the city’s children agree; completed action is retained in both.
Verse 147:14 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:14] He makes your border peaceful;
He satisfies you with the finest wheat.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:3] He makes your borders peaceful
and fills you with the finest wheat.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Hebrew border is singular, Greek borders plural. Both use wheat fatness figuratively for its richness, without adding a sacramental interpretation to the text.
Verse 147:15 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:15] He sends His utterance to the earth;
His word runs swiftly.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:4] He sends His oracle to the earth;
His word will run swiftly,
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Utterance and oracle retain the source terms, followed by the same image of the swiftly running word.
Verse 147:16 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:16] He gives snow like wool;
He scatters frost like ashes.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:5] of Him who gives snow like wool,
who sprinkles mist like ashes,
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew frost becomes Greek mist. Greek genitives connect the giver to the preceding His word rather than beginning an independent finite clause.
Verse 147:17 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:17] He throws His ice like morsels;
who can stand before His cold?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:6] who casts His ice like morsels;
who will withstand His cold?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Both compare ice to morsels and ask who can endure divine cold; Greek continues the genitive construction before the question.
Verse 147:18 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:18] He sends His word and melts them;
He makes His wind blow, and waters flow.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:7] He will send His word and melt them;
He will blow His wind, and waters will flow.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: The word and wind bring thaw in both. Wind remains lower case in this meteorological setting; no personal Spirit or Logos identification is inserted.
Verse 147:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:19] He declares His words to Jacob,
His statutes and judgments to Israel.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:8] He declares His word to Jacob,
His ordinances and judgments to Israel.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: The displayed Hebrew words is plural, Greek word singular. Statutes and ordinances follow each source; no unsupported apparatus choice is asserted.
Verse 147:20 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
[147:20] He has not done so for any nation;
as for judgments, they do not know them.
Praise Yah!
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
[147:9] He did not do so for any nation,
and He did not disclose His judgments to them.
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Hebrew says the nations do not know the judgments; Greek says God did not disclose His judgments to them. Hebrew adds the final Praise Yah, absent from the displayed Greek ending.