Psalms 18:49

18:49 So I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord!

I will sing praises to you!

Psalms 35:18

35:18 Then I will give you thanks in the great assembly;

I will praise you before a large crowd of people!

Psalms 50:5

50:5 He says:

“Assemble my covenant people before me,

those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice!”

Psalms 62:8

62:8 Trust in him at all times, you people!

Pour out your hearts before him!

God is our shelter! (Selah)

Psalms 66:3

66:3 Say to God:

“How awesome are your deeds!

Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear before you.

Psalms 69:22

69:22 May their dining table become a trap before them!

May it be a snare for that group of friends! 10 

Psalms 90:2

90:2 Even before the mountains came into existence, 11 

or you brought the world into being, 12 

you were the eternal God. 13 

Psalms 95:6

95:6 Come! Let’s bow down and worship! 14 

Let’s kneel before the Lord, our creator!

Psalms 97:7

97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,

those who boast about worthless idols.

All the gods bow down before him. 15 

Psalms 98:6

98:6 With trumpets and the blaring of the ram’s horn,

shout out praises before the king, the Lord!

Psalms 112:8

112:8 His resolve 16  is firm; he will not succumb to fear

before he looks in triumph on his enemies.

Psalms 129:6

129:6 May they be like the grass on the rooftops

which withers before one can even pull it up, 17 

Psalms 130:3

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of 18  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? 19 


sn I will give you thanks before the nations. This probably alludes to the fact that the psalmist will praise the Lord in the presence of the defeated nations when they, as his subjects, bring their tribute payments. Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness. See J. H. Eaton, Kingship and the Psalms (SBT), 182-85.

tn Heb “to your name.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case “Lord,” the primary name of Israel’s covenant God which suggests his active presence with his people (see Exod 3:12-15).

sn The great assembly is also mentioned in Ps 22:25.

tn Heb “among numerous people.”

tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.

tn Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד (khasid, “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.

tn Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8).

tn To “pour out one’s heart” means to offer up to God intense, emotional lamentation and petitionary prayers (see Lam 2:19).

tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).

10 tc Heb “and to the friends for a snare.” The plural of שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) is used in Ps 55:20 of one’s “friends.” If the reading of the MT is retained here, the term depicts the psalmist’s enemies as a close-knit group of friends who are bound together by their hatred for the psalmist. Some prefer to revocalize the text as וּלְשִׁלּוּמִים (ulÿshillumim, “and for retribution”). In this case the noun stands parallel to פַּח (pakh, “trap”) and מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), and one might translate, “may their dining table become a trap before them, [a means of] retribution and a snare” (cf. NIV).

11 tn Heb “were born.”

12 tn Heb “and you gave birth to the earth and world.” The Polel verbal form in the Hebrew text pictures God giving birth to the world. The LXX and some other ancient textual witnesses assume a polal (passive) verbal form here. In this case the earth becomes the subject of the verb and the verb is understood as third feminine singular rather than second masculine singular.

13 tn Heb “and from everlasting to everlasting you [are] God.” Instead of אֵל (’el, “God”) the LXX reads אַל (’al, “not”) and joins the negative particle to the following verse, making the verb תָּשֵׁב (tashev) a jussive. In this case v. 3a reads as a prayer, “do not turn man back to a low place.” However, taking תָּשֵׁב as a jussive is problematic in light of the following following wayyiqtol form וַתֹּאמֶר (vatomer, “and you said/say”).

14 tn Heb “kneel down.”

15 tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the Lord’s mighty theophany on those who witness it (see vv. 5, 8). Another option is to take the prefixed form in the first line as a jussive (“let all who worship idols be ashamed”) and the ambiguous form in the third line as an imperative (“All you gods, bow down before him!”; cf. NIV).

16 tn Heb “his heart,” viewed here as the seat of the volition.

17 tn The Hebrew verb שָׁלַף (shalaf) normally means “to draw [a sword]” or “to pull.” BDB 1025 s.v. suggests the meaning “to shoot up” here, but it is more likely that the verb here means “to pluck; to pull up,” a nuance attested for this word in later Hebrew and Aramaic (see Jastrow 1587 s.v. שָׁלַף).

18 tn Heb “observe.”

19 tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”