22:29 All of the thriving people 1 of the earth will join the celebration and worship; 2
all those who are descending into the grave 3 will bow before him,
including those who cannot preserve their lives. 4
31:11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; 5
my neighbors are appalled by my suffering 6 –
those who know me are horrified by my condition; 7
those who see me in the street run away from me.
39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, 8
and my life span is nothing from your perspective. 9
Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. 10
47:9 The nobles of the nations assemble,
along with the people of the God of Abraham, 11
for God has authority over the rulers 12 of the earth.
He is highly exalted! 13
55:23 But you, O God, will bring them 14 down to the deep Pit. 15
Violent and deceitful people 16 will not live even half a normal lifespan. 17
But as for me, I trust in you.
59:11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,
because then my people might forget the lesson. 18
Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,
O Lord who shields us! 19
68:35 You are awe-inspiring, O God, as you emerge from your holy temple! 20
It is the God of Israel 21 who gives the people power and strength.
God deserves praise! 22
For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; 24 a psalm of Asaph; a song.
75:1 We give thanks to you, O God! We give thanks!
You reveal your presence; 25
people tell about your amazing deeds.
85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says. 26
For he will make 27 peace with his people, his faithful followers. 28
Yet they must not 29 return to their foolish ways.
1 tn Heb “fat [ones].” This apparently refers to those who are healthy and robust, i.e., thriving. In light of the parallelism, some prefer to emend the form to יְשֵׁנֵי (yÿsheney, “those who sleep [in the earth]”; cf. NAB, NRSV), but דִּשְׁנֵי (dishney, “fat [ones]”) seems to form a merism with “all who descend into the grave” in the following line. The psalmist envisions all people, whether healthy or dying, joining in worship of the
2 tn Heb “eat and worship.” The verb forms (a perfect followed by a prefixed form with vav [ו] consecutive) are normally used in narrative to relate completed actions. Here the psalmist uses the forms rhetorically as he envisions a time when the
3 tn Heb “all of the ones going down [into] the dust.” This group stands in contrast to those mentioned in the previous line. Together the two form a merism encompassing all human beings – the healthy, the dying, and everyone in between.
4 tn Heb “and his life he does not revive.”
5 tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”
6 tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).
7 tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”
8 tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 309.
9 tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”
10 tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”
11 tc The words “along with” do not appear in the MT. However, the LXX has “with,” suggesting that the original text may have read עִם עַם (’im ’am, “along with the people”). In this case the MT is haplographic (the consonantal sequence ayin-mem [עם] being written once instead of twice). Another option is that the LXX is simply and correctly interpreting “people” as an adverbial accusative and supplying the appropriate preposition.
12 tn Heb “for to God [belong] the shields of the earth.” Perhaps the rulers are called “shields” because they are responsible for protecting their people. See Ps 84:9, where the Davidic king is called “our shield,” and perhaps also Hos 4:18.
13 tn The verb עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”) appears once more (see v. 5), though now in the Niphal stem.
14 tn The pronominal suffix refers to the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 19).
15 tn Heb “well of the pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 103:4).
16 tn Heb “men of bloodshed and deceit.”
17 tn Heb “will not divide in half their days.”
18 tn Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.”
sn My people might forget the lesson. Swift, sudden destruction might be quickly forgotten. The psalmist wants God’s judgment to be prolonged so that it might be a continual reminder of divine justice.
19 tn Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”
20 tn Heb “awesome [is] God from his holy places.” The plural of מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash, “holy places”) perhaps refers to the temple precincts (see Ps 73:17; Jer 51:51).
21 tn Heb “the God of Israel, he.”
22 tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”
23 sn Psalm 75. The psalmist celebrates God’s just rule, which guarantees that the godly will be vindicated and the wicked destroyed.
24 tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the superscription to Pss 57-59.
25 tn Heb “and near [is] your name.”
26 sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.
27 tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).
28 tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.
29 tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (’el), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.