18:44 When they hear of my exploits, they submit to me. 1
Foreigners are powerless 2 before me;
18:45 foreigners lose their courage; 3
they shake with fear 4 as they leave 5 their strongholds. 6
44:14 You made us 7 an object of ridicule 8 among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt. 9
54:3 For foreigners 10 attack me; 11
ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. 12 (Selah)
117:1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Applaud him, all you foreigners! 14
149:7 in order to take 15 revenge on the nations,
and punish foreigners.
1 tn Heb “at a report of an ear they submit to me.” The report of the psalmist’s exploits is so impressive that those who hear it submit to his rulership without putting up a fight.
2 tn For the meaning “be weak, powerless” for כָּחַשׁ (kakhash), see Ps 109:24. The next line (see v. 45a), in which “foreigners” are also mentioned, favors this interpretation. Another option is to translate “cower in fear” (see Deut 33:29; Pss 66:3; 81:15; cf. NIV “cringe”; NRSV “came cringing”).
3 tn Heb “wither, wear out.”
4 tn The meaning of חָרַג (kharag, “shake”) is established on the basis of cognates in Arabic and Aramaic. 2 Sam 22:46 reads חָגַר (khagar), which might mean here, “[they] come limping” (on the basis of a cognate in postbiblical Hebrew). The normal meaning for חָגַר (“gird”) makes little sense here.
5 tn Heb “from.”
6 tn Heb “their prisons.” The besieged cities of the foreigners are compared to prisons.
7 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
8 tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”
9 tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).
10 tc Many medieval Hebrew
11 tn Heb “rise against me.”
12 tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”
13 sn Psalm 117. The psalmist tells the nations to praise the Lord for his loyal love and faithfulness.
14 tn Or “peoples” (see Ps 108:3).
15 tn Heb “to do.”