16:3 As for God’s chosen people who are in the land,
and the leading officials I admired so much 1 –
16:6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields
or received a beautiful tract of land. 2
37:3 Trust in the Lord and do what is right!
Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! 3
37:22 Surely 4 those favored by the Lord 5 will possess the land,
but those rejected 6 by him will be wiped out. 7
45:16 Your 8 sons will carry 9 on the dynasty of your ancestors; 10
you will make them princes throughout the land.
47:4 He picked out for us a special land 11
to be a source of pride for 12 Jacob, 13 whom he loves. 14 (Selah)
66:6 He turned the sea into dry land; 15
they passed through the river on foot. 16
Let us rejoice in him there! 17
78:12 He did amazing things in the sight of their ancestors,
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. 18
85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; 19
then his splendor will again appear in our land. 20
88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced 21 in the dark region, 22
or your deliverance in the land of oblivion? 23
94:6 They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land,
and they murder the fatherless. 24
111:6 He announced that he would do mighty deeds for his people,
giving them a land that belonged to other nations. 25
143:6 I spread my hands out to you in prayer; 26
my soul thirsts for you in a parched 27 land. 28
1 tn Heb “regarding the holy ones who [are] in the land, they; and the mighty [ones] in [whom is/was] all my desire.” The difficult syntax makes the meaning of the verse uncertain. The phrase “holy ones” sometimes refers to God’s angelic assembly (see Ps 89:5, 7), but the qualifying clause “who are in the land” suggests that here it refers to God’s people (Ps 34:9) or to their priestly leaders (2 Chr 35:3).
2 tn Heb “measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant [places]; yes, property [or “an inheritance”] is beautiful for me.” On the dative use of עַל, see BDB 758 s.v. II.8. Extending the metaphor used in v. 5, the psalmist compares the divine blessings he has received to a rich, beautiful tract of land that one might receive by allotment or inheritance.
3 tn Heb “tend integrity.” The verb רָעָה (ra’ah, “tend, shepherd”) is probably used here in the sense of “watch over, guard.” The noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness, honesty, integrity”) is understood as the direct object of the verb, though it could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “[feed] securely,” if the audience is likened to a flock of sheep.
4 tn The particle כִּי is best understood as asseverative or emphatic here.
5 tn Heb “those blessed by him.” The pronoun “him” must refer to the Lord (see vv. 20, 23), so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
6 tn Heb “cursed.”
7 tn Or “cut off”; or “removed” (see v. 9).
8 tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.
9 tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive and the statement interpreted as a prayer, “May your sons carry on the dynasty of your ancestors!” The next line could then be taken as a relative clause, “[your sons] whom you will make princes throughout the land.”
10 tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”
11 tn Heb “he chose for us our inheritance.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a preterite (see “subdued” in v. 3).
12 tn Heb “the pride of.” The phrase is appositional to “our inheritance,” indicating that the land is here described as a source of pride to God’s people.
13 tn That is, Israel.
14 sn Jacob whom he loves. The Lord’s covenantal devotion to his people is in view.
15 sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).
16 tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. NEB).
17 tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).
18 sn The region of Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta, where the enslaved Israelites lived (see Num 13:22; Isa 19:11, 13; 30:4; Ezek 30:14).
19 tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”
20 tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.
21 tn Heb “known.”
22 tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.
23 tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”
sn The rhetorical questions in vv. 10-12 expect the answer, “Of course not!”
24 tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).
25 tn Heb “the strength of his deeds he proclaimed to his people, to give to them an inheritance of nations.”
26 tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.
27 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.
28 tc Heb “my soul like a faint land for you.” A verb (perhaps “thirsts”) is implied (see Ps 63:1). The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition -כְּ (kÿ, “like”) to -בְּ (bÿ, “in,” see Ps 63:1; cf. NEB “athirst for thee in a thirsty land”). If the MT is retained, one might translate, “my soul thirsts for you, as a parched land does for water/rain” (cf. NIV, NRSV).