16:9 So my heart rejoices
and I am happy; 1
My life is safe. 2
34:5 Those who look to him for help are happy;
their faces are not ashamed. 3
34:12 Do you want to really live? 4
Would you love to live a long, happy life? 5
35:9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord
and be happy because of his deliverance. 6
39:13 Turn your angry gaze away from me, so I can be happy
before I pass away. 7
48:11 Mount Zion rejoices;
the towns 8 of Judah are happy, 9
because of your acts of judgment. 10
68:3 But the godly 11 are happy;
they rejoice before God
and are overcome with joy. 12
94:19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me, 13
your soothing touch makes me happy. 14
97:1 The Lord reigns!
Let the earth be happy!
Let the many coastlands rejoice!
97:8 Zion hears and rejoices,
the towns 16 of Judah are happy,
because of your judgments, O Lord.
105:38 Egypt was happy when they left,
for they were afraid of them. 17
113:9 He makes the barren woman of the family 18
a happy mother of children. 19
Praise the Lord!
126:3 The Lord did indeed accomplish great things for us.
We were happy.
1 tn Heb “my glory is happy.” Some view the Hebrew term כְּבוֹדִי (kÿvodiy, “my glory”) as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 30:12; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”
2 tn Heb “yes, my flesh dwells securely.” The psalmist’s “flesh” stands by metonymy for his body and, by extension, his physical life.
3 tc Heb “they look to him and are radiant and their faces are not ashamed.” The third person plural subject (“they”) is unidentified; there is no antecedent in the Hebrew text. For this reason some prefer to take the perfect verbal forms in the first line as imperatives, “look to him and be radiant” (cf. NEB, NRSV). Some medieval Hebrew
4 tn Heb “Who is the man who desires life?” The rhetorical question is used to grab the audience’s attention. “Life” probably refers here to quality of life, not just physical existence or even duration of life. See the following line.
5 tn Heb “[Who] loves days to see good?”
6 tn Heb “then my soul will rejoice in the
7 tn Heb “Gaze away from me and I will smile before I go and am not.” The precise identification of the initial verb form (הָשַׁע, hasha’) is uncertain. It could be from the root שָׁעָע (sha’a’, “smear”), but “your eyes” would be the expected object in this case (see Isa 6:10). The verb may be an otherwise unattested Hiphil form of שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “to gaze”) meaning “cause your gaze to be.” Some prefer to emend the form to the Qal שְׁעֵה (shÿ’eh, “gaze”; see Job 14:6). If one does read a form of the verb “to gaze,” the angry divine “gaze” of discipline would seem to be in view (see vv. 10-11). For a similar expression of this sentiment see Job 10:20-21.
8 tn Heb “daughters.” The reference is to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 97:8 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).
9 tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as generalizing imperfects. (For other examples of an imperfect followed by causal לְמַעַן [lÿma’an], see Ps 23:3; Isa 49:7; 55:5.) Another option is to interpret the forms as jussives, “Let Mount Zion rejoice! Let the towns of Judah be happy!” (cf. NASB, NRSV; note the imperatives in vv. 12-13.)
10 sn These acts of judgment are described in vv. 4-7.
11 tn By placing the subject first the psalmist highlights the contrast between God’s ecstatic people and his defeated enemies (vv. 1-2).
12 tn Heb “and they are happy with joy” (cf. NEB). Some translate the prefixed verbal forms of v. 3 as jussives, “Let the godly be happy, let them rejoice before God, and let them be happy with joy!” (Cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV; note the call to praise in v. 4.)
13 tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”
14 tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”
15 sn Psalm 97. The psalmist depicts the Lord as the sovereign, just king of the world who comes in power to vindicate his people.
16 tn Heb “daughters.” The term “daughters” refers to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 48:11 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).
17 tn Heb “for fear of them had fallen upon them.”
18 tn Heb “of the house.”
19 tn Heb “sons.”