28:9 Deliver your people!
Empower 1 the nation that belongs to you! 2
Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms 3 at all times! 4
For the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; 6 a song.
46:1 God is our strong refuge; 7
he is truly our helper in times of trouble. 8
74:2 Remember your people 9 whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued 10 so they could be your very own nation, 11
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!
1 tn Or “bless.”
2 tn Heb “your inheritance.” The parallelism (note “your people”) indicates that Israel is in view.
3 tn Heb “shepherd them and lift them up.”
sn The shepherd metaphor is sometimes associated with royal responsibility. See 2 Sam 5:2; 7:7; Mic 5:2-4).
4 tn Or “forever.”
5 sn Psalm 46. In this so-called “Song Of Zion” God’s people confidently affirm that they are secure because the great warrior-king dwells within Jerusalem and protects it from the nations that cause such chaos in the earth. A refrain (vv. 7, 11) concludes the song’s two major sections.
6 sn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲלָמוֹת (alamoth, which means “young women”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. Cf. 1 Chr 15:20.
7 tn Heb “our refuge and strength,” which is probably a hendiadys meaning “our strong refuge” (see Ps 71:7). Another option is to translate, “our refuge and source of strength.”
8 tn Heb “a helper in times of trouble he is found [to be] greatly.” The perfect verbal form has a generalizing function here. The adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “greatly”) has an emphasizing function.
9 tn Heb “your assembly,” which pictures God’s people as an assembled community.
10 tn Heb “redeemed.” The verb “redeem” casts God in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).
11 tn Heb “the tribe of your inheritance” (see Jer 10:16; 51:19).