18:29 Indeed, 1 with your help 2 I can charge against 3 an army; 4
by my God’s power 5 I can jump over a wall. 6
68:16 Why do you look with envy, 7 O mountains 8 with many peaks,
at the mountain where God has decided to live? 9
Indeed 10 the Lord will live there 11 permanently!
68:18 You ascend on high, 12
you have taken many captives. 13
You receive tribute 14 from 15 men,
including even sinful rebels.
Indeed the Lord God lives there! 16
93:1 The Lord reigns!
He is robed in majesty,
the Lord is robed,
he wears strength around his waist. 18
Indeed, the world is established, it cannot be moved.
118:12 They surrounded me like bees.
But they disappeared as quickly 19 as a fire among thorns. 20
Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.
125:3 Indeed, 21 the scepter of a wicked king 22 will not settle 23
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly might
do what is wrong. 24
131:2 Indeed 25 I am composed and quiet, 26
like a young child carried by its mother; 27
I am content like the young child I carry. 28
141:5 May the godly strike me in love and correct me!
May my head not refuse 29 choice oil! 30
Indeed, my prayer is a witness against their evil deeds. 31
1 tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.
2 tn Heb “by you.”
3 tn Heb “I will run.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 29 indicate the subject’s potential or capacity to perform an action. Though one might expect a preposition to follow the verb here, this need not be the case with the verb רוּץ (ruts; see 1 Sam 17:22). Some emend the Qal to a Hiphil form of the verb and translate, “I put to flight [Heb “cause to run”] an army.”
4 tn More specifically, the noun גְּדוּד (gÿdud) refers to a raiding party or to a contingent of troops.
sn I can charge against an army. The picture of a divinely empowered warrior charging against an army in almost superhuman fashion appears elsewhere in ancient Near Eastern literature. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 228.
5 tn Heb “and by my God.”
6 sn I can jump over a wall. The psalmist uses hyperbole to emphasize his God-given military superiority.
7 tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb רָצַד (ratsad), translated here “look with envy,” is uncertain; it occurs only here in the OT. See BDB 952-53. A cognate verb occurs in later Aramaic with the meaning “to lie in wait; to watch” (Jastrow 1492 s.v. רְצַד).
8 tn Perhaps the apparent plural form should be read as a singular with enclitic mem (ם; later misinterpreted as a plural ending). The preceding verse has the singular form.
9 tn Heb “[at] the mountain God desires for his dwelling place.” The reference is to Mount Zion/Jerusalem.
10 tn The Hebrew particle אַף (’af) has an emphasizing function here.
11 tn The word “there” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
12 tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.
13 tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”
14 tn Or “gifts.”
15 tn Or “among.”
16 tn Heb “so that the
17 sn Psalm 93. The psalmist affirms that the
18 sn Strength is compared here to a belt that one wears for support. The Lord’s power undergirds his rule.
19 tn Heb “were extinguished.”
20 tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (do’akhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (ba’aru, “they burned”). In this case the statement emphasizes their hostility.
21 tn Or “for.”
22 tn Heb “a scepter of wickedness.” The “scepter” symbolizes royal authority; when collocated with “wickedness” the phrase refers to an oppressive foreign conqueror.
23 tn Or “rest.”
24 tn Heb “so that the godly might not stretch out their hands in wrongdoing.” A wicked king who sets a sinful example can have an adverse moral and ethical effect on the people he rules.
25 tn Or “but.”
26 tn Heb “I make level and make quiet my soul.”
27 tn Heb “like a weaned [one] upon his mother.”
28 tn Heb “like the weaned [one] upon me, my soul.”
29 tn The form יָנִי (yaniy) appears to be derived from the verbal root נוּא (nu’). Another option is to emend the form to יְנָא (yÿna’), a Piel from נָאָה (na’ah), and translate “may choice oil not adorn my head” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 271). In this case, choice oil, like delicacies in v. 4, symbolize the pleasures of sin.
30 sn May my head not refuse choice oil. The psalmist compares the constructive criticism of the godly (see the previous line) to having refreshing olive oil poured over one’s head.
31 tc Heb “for still, and my prayer [is] against their evil deeds.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult; the sequence -כִּי־עוֹד וּ (kiy-’od u-, “for still and”) occurs only here. The translation assumes an emendation to כִּי עֵד תְפלָּתִי (“indeed a witness [is] my prayer”). The psalmist’s lament about the evil actions of sinful men (see v. 4) testifies against the wicked in the divine court.