Passage

Psalms 33.4

Book: Psalms · ASV

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV (ASV)

"2. Give thanks unto Jehovah with the harp: Sing praises unto him with the psaltery of ten strings. 3. Sing unto him a new song; Play skilfully with a loud noise."

"4. For the word of Jehovah is right; And all his work is done in faithfulness."

"5. He loveth righteousness and justice: The earth is full of the lovingkindness of Jehovah. 6. By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, And all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." (Psalms 33:2-6, ASV)

WEB (WEB)

"2. Give thanks to Yahweh with the lyre. Sing praises to him with the harp of ten strings. 3. Sing to him a new song. Play skillfully with a shout of joy!"

"4. For Yahweh’s word is right. All his work is done in faithfulness."

"5. He loves righteousness and justice. The earth is full of the loving kindness of Yahweh. 6. By Yahweh’s word, the heavens were made; all their army by the breath of his mouth." (Psalms 33:2-6, WEB)

KJV (KJV)

"2. Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings. 3. Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise."

"4. For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth."

"5. He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD. ^{goodness: or, mercy} 6. By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." (Psalms 33:2-6, KJV)

YLT (YLT)

"2. Give ye thanks to Jehovah with a harp, With psaltery of ten strings sing praise to Him, 3. Sing ye to Him a new song, Play skilfully with shouting."

"4. For upright [is] the word of Jehovah, And all His work [is] in faithfulness."

"5. Loving righteousness and judgment, Of the kindness of Jehovah is the earth full. 6. By the word of Jehovah The heavens have been made, And by the breath of His mouth all their host." (Psalms 33:2-6, YLT)

Setting

Speaker: anonymous Davidic-tradition psalmist
Audience: Israel in corporate worship
Location: Jerusalem temple liturgy
Time period: late monarchic / post-exilic compilation; individual psalm older

Theological reading

Psalm 33:4 grounds the trustworthiness of YHWH's word and work in His [[H0530 - emunah|emunah]]. The verse is one of the Psalter's clearest doxologies of God's covenantal reliability: His word is right (yashar), and the totality of His work is done in emunah. The pairing of word-and-work is structural, YHWH's verbal revelation and His historical action are equally marked by faithfulness. The verse opens the doxological body of Ps 33, which proceeds to celebrate YHWH's creative davar (v. 6, 9) and His sovereign-electing love (vv. 12-22). The Psalmist's confidence is not in his own steadiness but in the demonstrated reliability of God's character.

Key words

H0530 - emunah, emunah, "all his work is done in faithfulness"
H1697 - dabar, dabar, "the word of Jehovah is right"

Quoted in

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.