Psalm 33 elucidates the two modes by which the Holy One, blessed be He, governs His world: the governance of truth and faithfulness, which is the fixed and unchanging law of nature; and the governance of loving-kindness (chesed), which is the providential governance wherein Hashem alters the natural order according to human deeds. Further in the psalm, King David demonstrates how these two modes are reflected in creation itself: the heavens represent the fixed order, and the earth reflects the dynamic, changing order. From there, we proceed to the nullification of the counsel of the nations versus the endurance of Hashem's counsel, and to "Fortunate is the nation whose God is Hashem."
אֹהֵב צְדָקָה וּמִשְׁפָּט חֶסֶד יְהֹוָה מָלְאָה הָאָרֶץ׃ - He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the loving-kindness of Hashem.
Here the Malbim explains the providential governance, through which the Holy One, blessed be He, watches over the world and alters nature in accordance with our deeds. This stems from Hashem's love for righteousness and justice: if the world operated solely by the laws of nature, righteousness and justice could never be realized, for natural laws are static and do not distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. Yet Hashem desires to grant righteousness to those who do good and justice to those who do evil. For this purpose, the governance of truth and faithfulness - the laws of nature - is insufficient; the governance of chesed is required. This is the meaning of "the earth is full of the loving-kindness of Hashem" - since Hashem loves righteousness and justice, each person must be rewarded according to their deeds, and therefore the earth is filled with this governance of chesed.
This mode of governance possesses the power to direct and alter nature in accordance with the deeds of the righteous or the wicked. "If you will diligently heed My commandments... I will give the rain of your land," whereas "if your heart is seduced... He will close the heavens, and there will be no rain." This is not the stable, fixed order of nature, but the governance of chesed. Through it, Hashem channels influence at all times according to human actions: if they do good, He bestows goodness; if, Heaven forbid, they do evil, He responds accordingly.
בִּדְבַר יְהֹוָה שָׁמַיִם נַעֲשׂוּ וּבְרוּחַ פִּיו כׇּל־צְבָאָם׃ - By the word of Hashem the heavens were made, and by the breath of His mouth all their host.
Now the verse addresses what was previously stated, that "the word of Hashem is upright." The heavens were created according to fixed laws that never change. The heavens in their entirety were brought into being by speech, while all their host - the stars and luminaries hung in the firmament - were made by "the breath of His mouth," which is even less than articulate speech, merely the breath emerging from the mouth. That is to say, this minimal output was entirely sufficient to create the entire host of the heavens.
The Malbim adds a profound insight: there was a fundamental difference between the creation of the heavens and the creation of the earth. When Hashem created the heavens on the first day, He made no further changes to them. The heavens remained exactly as they were, without any alteration. Even the luminaries were created on the first day alongside the heavens, and only their suspension took place on the fourth day; as far as their actual creation was concerned, everything had already been brought into being on the first day. On earth, however, this was not the case. The world was created with ten utterances. The first utterance brought everything from the divine will into actuality - what the Ramban calls the primeval matter (the chomer hayuli), the creation of matter in its totality - and with it, the heavens and their celestial bodies were already completed. By contrast, the remaining nine utterances - "let there be," "let there be" - were all modifications performed solely upon the earth: "Let there be light," "Let the earth sprout vegetation," the gathering of the waters, and so forth. Through them, the waters were gathered and dry land appeared, vapors rose toward the firmament, and the earthly creatures were formed.
This distinction is also alluded to in Yeshayahu (45:18): "For thus said Hashem, Creator of the heavens, He is God, the Former of the earth and its Maker; He established it." Regarding the heavens, the verse uses the term "Creator" (borei) - a single act of creation ex nihilo, after which no further changes were made. Regarding the earth, however, the verse uses the term "Former" (yotzer) - formation (yetzirah) meaning to shape and fashion from that which was already created ex nihilo. On earth, there was subsequent formation after the initial creation, wherein Hashem added refinements and transformed one form into another; in the heavens, no further formation occurred. Therefore, regarding the heavens, it is said that "the word of Hashem is upright" - they are fixed, unchanging, and Hashem added nothing further to them.
כֹּנֵס כַּנֵּד מֵי הַיָּם נֹתֵן בְּאוֹצָרוֹת תְּהוֹמוֹת׃ - He gathers the waters of the sea like a mound; He puts the deeps into storehouses.
The earth, unlike the heavens, did not remain under the fixed governance of truth and faithfulness, but rather "the kindness of Hashem fills the earth" - a providential governance in which the Holy One, blessed be He, alters nature. Already at the time of its creation, Hashem changed its laws. For example: the natural law was that the element of water would surround the element of earth, and therefore at first everything was water - "and the spirit of God hovered over the face of the waters." The initial Divine will was for water to surround the entire globe, and then the Holy One, blessed be He, changed this law: "He gathers the waters of the sea like a mound" - He gathered the waters and concentrated them like a heap, like an upright wall, just like the waters that stood upright at the Exodus from Egypt.
Why is the sea called a ned (a mound or wall)? The commentators explain that the sea stands bounded by a shoreline, like an upright pillar; if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to remove its boundary, the sea would break through and flood everything. Indeed, today we see countries on the verge of disappearing - islands partially submerged by water, entire ice shelves in Antarctica beginning to melt, and global warming meaning that certain places are known to be destined to vanish and be washed away within years. The Holy One, blessed be He, set a boundary for the sea, and if the water levels rise, it sweeps away and consumes everything. Thus you see that Hashem altered the law of nature: He gathered the waters of the sea so they would stand like a wall and not return to cover the earth. And "He puts the deeps into storehouses" - meaning the waters are held back deep beneath the earth's surface, allowing the dry land to appear.
The Malbim offers another explanation: that the Psalmist is also referring to how the dry land was revealed through the utterance, "Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters." The Holy One, blessed be He, established a law that water would rise as vapor into the atmosphere, since air is lighter than water, and through this the upper waters were formed. It is well known that Hashem separated between the upper waters and the lower waters. Even today, it is known that there are celestial spheres and heavenly bodies composed entirely of ice, in the category of upper waters - beyond the kabbalistic understanding of upper waters, this exists in a physical sense as well.
Sometimes rain actually comes from the upper waters. Rav Zamir Cohen cites in his book that meteors, which are fragments of celestial bodies and space rock, occasionally reach Earth. Usually, when a meteor enters the atmosphere, it burns up and disintegrates, never landing intact, which is when we see a shooting star - due to the immense heat, it appears as a falling fireball. There are craters in Arizona and elsewhere known to have formed from massive meteorites that struck in the past. There are also ice meteors, and when they enter Earth's atmosphere they melt into water - an actual form of rain descending from the upper waters.
It emerges that Hashem separated the waters from the dry land, and most of the water is suspended in the atmosphere by the King's decree. This is the meaning of "He puts the deeps into storehouses" - from the depths He placed them into storehouses, which is the firmament. Here, the Holy One, blessed be He, introduced a different mode of governance, one of loving-kindness (chesed): by Hashem's decree the rain is withheld, and by His decree it falls, everything guided by divine providence. All of this is part of how "the firmament declares the work of His hands," an ongoing reality - "He gathers," "He puts," all phrased in the present tense, because this process never ceases. And what does it depend on? On human conduct: if you do good, He bestows goodness; if you do evil, hardship ensues. The governance of the heavens, by contrast, is fixed, never changing, and seemingly unaffected by human conduct.
יִירְאוּ מֵיְהֹוָה כׇּל־הָאָרֶץ מִמֶּנּוּ יָגוּרוּ כׇּל־יֹשְׁבֵי תֵבֵל׃ - Let all the earth revere Hashem; of Him let all inhabitants of the world stand in dread.
Through the fixed, natural governance, "Let all the earth revere Hashem": by observing that Hashem is the Creator of all, people realize that the universe did not form on its own, but that a Divine power created the world. This brings man to reverence - not to act impulsively as he pleases, but to understand that there is a God above. And through the providential governance - "of Him let all inhabitants of the world stand in dread."
The Malbim explains the distinction between yirah (reverence) and magor (dread): yaguru always denotes fear of impending harm, as in "dread for yourselves" (guro lachem), whereas yirah can be felt without the presence of evil or harm. Another difference is between eretz (earth) and tevel (inhabited world): eretz refers to the earth in its entirety, including uninhabited regions like Antarctica and the Sahara Desert, whereas tevel always refers to settled, populated areas. Therefore, under providential governance, where nature shifts in response to human deeds, "let all inhabitants of the world stand in dread" - the residents of settled lands should dread sudden catastrophes, disasters, hardships, or tsunamis. Once providential governance is in play, it causes a person to fear straying from the proper path and paying the price for it.
כִּי הוּא אָמַר וַיֶּהִי הוּא־צִוָּה וַיַּעֲמֹד׃ - For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.
Corresponding to "Let all the earth fear Hashem," it says, "For He spoke, and it came to be" - Hashem spoke and created, and that was all. And corresponding to "Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him," it says, "He commanded, and it stood firm." The persistence and standing of the earth are unlike the heavens, which endure on their own, for Hashem set within them an immutable law and they have continued ever since. The earth does not sustain itself on its own - naturally speaking, the waters should cover all of it, but Hashem commanded that it stand firm, placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, and grants rain in accordance with human deeds. And since a person realizes that everything depends on Hashem's command, and in a single moment Hashem can change His command and His guidance so that everything is transformed - through this, all inhabitants of the world will stand in awe, lest Hashem withdraw His providence.
The Malbim notes with precision: *amar* ("spoke") refers to a one-time, momentary utterance - "For He spoke, and it came to be," He spoke and the heavens were formed. Regarding the earth, however, it says *tzivah* ("commanded"), and a command is continuous and ongoing. As we say, "Forever, Hashem, Your word stands firm in the heavens" - the divine utterance endures constantly, sustaining all of reality at every moment, and in an instant Hashem can alter reality through His providence. Therefore, mishaps and circumstances can occur where one anticipated good and it did not materialize, and this very reality presents a constant vulnerability - through which all inhabitants of the world stand in awe.
יְהֹוָה הֵפִיר עֲצַת־גּוֹיִם הֵנִיא מַחְשְׁבוֹת עַמִּים׃ - Hashem foils the counsel of nations; He thwarts the designs of peoples.
Here the Malbim offers a most profound explanation. First, let us address the difficulty: the verse seemingly repeats itself, yet according to the Malbim, there is no superfluous repetition anywhere in Tanach. *Heifer* ("foiled") parallels *heini* ("thwarted"), *eitzah* ("counsel") parallels *machashavah* ("thought"), and *goyim* ("nations") parallels *amim* ("peoples") - the same thought expressed in three different sets of terms, which requires explanation.
The core principle is this: The Holy One, blessed be He, guides the world with meticulous providence. Therefore, in matters that Hashem, in His wisdom, wills to bring about, He overturns the counsel of the nations and their thoughts, directing everything according to His own plans. The plans and counsel of mortal men are utterly powerless to undo Hashem's counsel.
What is the distinction between *eitzah* and *machashavah*? *Eitzah* is the ultimate objective desired by the planner - the final goal, what one wishes to achieve in the end. *Machashavot* are the intermediate means that lead toward that objective. For example: the objective is to reside here; the means are purchasing the land, hiring the contractor, obtaining the materials, and beginning construction. The *eitzah* is what we wish to see in the end, while the *machashavah* is how to bring it into fruition.
A further distinction: *meini* means preventing the matter from taking effect at all from the very outset, as in, "If her father restrains [*heini*] her" (Bamidbar 30:6); whereas *meifir* means that the matter has already taken effect and now requires revocation and nullification. Moreover, an *am* (people) represents a higher stage of organization than a *goy* (nation). A *goy* is merely a gathering or cluster of individuals, whereas an *am* already possesses organized governance and structured leadership.
Now observe how exquisite this is, for the verse progresses from the lesser to the greater (*lo zu af zu*): Hashem foils the counsel of nations - the final objective that a *goy* plans to execute, and this applies even to *goyim*, who occupy a lower level of organization. Even more so: Hashem also thwarts (*heini*), meaning the plan does not even begin to take effect, and He does so even to the *machashavah*, which is merely the means of executing the plan, and even among *amim* - the organized, prominent nations. Even with them, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not permit the very means to develop. A truly magnificent insight.
The Radak notes an additional difficulty: the nations are many, so it should seemingly have said "the counsels of nations" (*atzot goyim*); why does it say "the counsel of nations" (*atzat goyim*) in the singular? This comes to teach that even if all the nations unite in a single counsel, Hashem will foil their counsel, as it says, "All the nations are as nothing before Him" (Yeshayahu 40:17). Even if all the nations join together and decide to solve "the Jewish problem," the Holy One, blessed be He, will shatter their counsel and the Jewish people will endure forever. Even a single unified counsel of all nations will not stand.
עֲצַת יְהֹוָה לְעוֹלָם תַּעֲמֹד מַחְשְׁבוֹת לִבּוֹ לְדֹר וָדֹר׃ - The counsel of Hashem stands forever; the thoughts of His heart from generation to generation.
Ibn Ezra notes that this verse corresponds directly to the preceding one: "the counsel of Hashem" stands against "the counsel of nations" which will be thwarted, and "the thoughts of His heart" stand against "the thoughts of peoples" which will be annulled. It is the counsel of Hashem and the thoughts of His heart that shall endure, forever and unto all generations. Here too, the Malbim explains the distinction between "the counsel of Hashem" and "the thoughts of His heart", as well as between "shall stand forever" and "unto all generations".
The counsel of Hashem is the ultimate purpose desired before Him, and no scheme devised to alter the original plan will succeed. Not only that, but one cannot even annul the thoughts of His heart - the means through which Hashem brings that counsel to fruition. One might have thought: ultimately Hashem's counsel will be fulfilled, but the path through which it is realized can be altered. To this Scripture says that this is not so; the very way Hashem decided to realize His will cannot be annulled either.
And what is the distinction between "forever" (le'olam) and "unto all generations" (ledor vador)? The Malbim has already explained in several places that "forever" refers to indivisible time - continuous time without division or any change; whereas "unto all generations" is also continuous time, but one that is divided and changes according to the generations. Both are everlasting, but one is without change while the other adapts to the state of each generation.
Accordingly, the counsel of Hashem - the ultimate goal, what Hashem wills to occur at the end, such as the ultimate destiny of humanity at the end of all generations - "shall stand forever", without change and without division into generations. In contrast, the thoughts of His heart, which are the means to bring that counsel to fruition, indeed vary according to the era: "unto all generations", depending on the spiritual state of that generation - whether a generation that is entirely meritorious or one that is entirely guilty.
We find this regarding the war of Gog and Magog, as discussed in Tanach lessons on the prophecies of Yechezkel and Zechariah, that there are two potential paths: a path in which the Jewish people suffer harm, Heaven forbid, and a path in which they will not be harmed at all. This is "unto all generations". The ultimate outcome - the coming of Mashiach, the complete redemption, and the World to Come - will not change, and that falls under "forever". But how it will occur: through suffering and poured-out wrath, or through lovingkindness and peace - this varies from generation to generation and depends on our deeds. Mashiach will ultimately arrive; through what means depends on human action. Therefore, "the thoughts of His heart are unto all generations": the counsel does not change, while the thoughts can adjust according to the state of the generation.
אַשְׁרֵי הַגּוֹי אֲשֶׁר־יְהֹוָה אֱלֹהָיו הָעָם בָּחַר לְנַחֲלָה לוֹ׃ - Praiseworthy is the nation whose God is Hashem, the people He chose for His own inheritance.
The Malbim explains that "the nation" (hagoy) here refers to any nation, not exclusively the Jewish people: praiseworthy is any nation that believes in the service of Hashem. It has been noted more than once that the Torah carries a universal message, and one should not mistakenly assume that the Holy One, Blessed is He, is concerned only with the Jewish people. Long before the Jewish people came to be, the Seven Noahide Commandments were given as directives for all nations. And when the people of the generation of the Flood corrupted their ways - before the Jewish people existed - the Holy One, Blessed is He, brought a flood upon them; and for the people of Sodom, He overturned their cities; and for the people of Nineveh - "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown", which occurred after the giving of the Torah. The Holy One, Blessed is He, is concerned with the nations as well, and they are obligated in the Seven Noahide Laws and in recognizing Hashem according to their level: not to curse Hashem, not to worship idols (though worshiping with an intermediary, shituf, is permitted to them), to establish courts of justice, not to steal, not to commit adultery or forbidden relations, and not to murder.
Incidentally, today in the diaspora there are entire communities of Noahides who observe the Seven Noahide Laws. At times, an entire congregation together with its pastor has abandoned the myths surrounding that man and all those vanities; they recognize the Creator of the world, understand that the Jewish people are the focal point and purpose, and realize that their own role is to observe the Seven Commandments. Some even wished to convert to Judaism, but the leading Torah authorities told them they do not need to convert, for there is no interest in mass conversions - "Converts are as difficult for Israel as a scab" - but rather that they should remain in their communities and establish congregations of Noahide observers. Rabbis visit them to lecture and teach the laws of the Seven Noahide Commandments. This is not simple, as these are laws rarely addressed in depth, given that they are not practical halachah for Jews and lack extensive discussion in the responsa literature. Nonetheless, rabbis travel there and deliver shiurim on how they should conduct themselves as a Noahide community.
"Whose God is Hashem" - as already explained, any relational form of the word Eloha, such as "my God" or "your God", indicates individual Divine providence (hashgachah peratit). Praiseworthy is the nation to which Hashem is related in a personal manner, one that observes the commandments incumbent upon it, such that Hashem is its God in a personal way - praiseworthy is it, for it is supervised under Hashem's providence.
In addition, David adds: "The people He chose for His own inheritance" - all the more so the Jewish people, for the term am ("people") is always on a higher spiritual plane than goy ("nation"). A nation has the ability to choose Hashem, but Hashem did not specifically choose it as His own; whereas the Jewish people, beyond declaring "our desire is to see our King" and accepting upon ourselves "we will do and we will hear", were also chosen by Hashem to be His treasured people. Therefore, they certainly merit individual Divine providence and wondrous miracles. Praiseworthy are those whom the Holy One, Blessed is He, chose as His inheritance.
This psalm presents us with two modes of divine governance: the fixed order of nature, through which the heavens were created by the word of Hashem and have never changed; and the governance of loving-kindness and providence, through which Hashem altered the earth - gathering the sea waters like a mound and laying up the deeps in storehouses - and continues to modify it constantly according to the deeds of mankind. From the first mode comes reverence, and from the second comes dread and fear of retribution, for "He commanded, and it stood" - an ongoing command that can shift in an instant. And just as Hashem foils the counsel of nations and thwarts even the thoughts of prominent peoples, so His own counsel - the ultimate purpose - stands forever unchanged, while the thoughts of His heart, which are the means, adapt from generation to generation according to our actions: the Redemption will surely come, but the path by which it arrives depends upon us. Above all: fortunate is any nation whose God is Hashem, and fortunate is the people whom the Holy One, Blessed be He, has chosen as His own inheritance.