Psalms 21:1

Psalm 21 1 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

21:1 O Lord, the king rejoices in the strength you give; 2 

he takes great delight in the deliverance you provide. 3 

Psalms 21:8

21:8 You 4  prevail over 5  all your enemies;

your power is too great for those who hate you. 6 

1 sn Psalm 21. The psalmist praises the Lord for the way he protects and blesses the Davidic king.

2 tn Heb “in your strength.” The translation interprets the pronominal suffix as subjective, rather than merely descriptive (or attributive).

3 tn Heb “and in your deliverance, how greatly he rejoices.”

4 tn The king is now addressed. One could argue that the Lord is still being addressed, but v. 9 militates against this proposal, for there the Lord is mentioned in the third person and appears to be distinct from the addressee (unless, of course, one takes “Lord” in v. 9 as vocative; see the note on “them” in v. 9b). Verse 7 begins this transition to a new addressee by referring to both the king and the Lord in the third person (in vv. 1-6 the Lord is addressed and only the king referred to in the third person).

5 tn Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8-12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.

6 tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”