Psalms 29:3

29:3 The Lord’s shout is heard over the water; 1 

the majestic God thunders, 2 

the Lord appears over the surging water. 3 

Psalms 31:22

31:22 I jumped to conclusions and said, 4 

“I am cut off from your presence!” 5 

But you heard my plea for mercy when I cried out to you for help.

Psalms 40:1

Psalm 40 6 

For the music director; By David, a psalm.

40:1 I relied completely 7  on the Lord,

and he turned toward me

and heard my cry for help.

Psalms 78:21

78:21 When 8  the Lord heard this, he was furious.

A fire broke out against Jacob,

and his anger flared up 9  against Israel,

Psalms 81:5

81:5 He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,

when he attacked the land of Egypt. 10 

I heard a voice I did not recognize. 11 

1 tn Heb “the voice of the Lord [is] over the water.” As the next line makes clear, the “voice of the Lord” is here the thunder that accompanies a violent storm. The psalm depicts the Lord in the role of a warrior-king, so the thunder is his battle cry, as it were.

2 tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form is probably descriptive. In dramatic fashion the psalmist portrays the Lord coming in the storm to do battle with his enemies and to vindicate his people.

3 tn Traditionally “many waters.” The geographical references in the psalm (Lebanon, Sirion, Kadesh) suggest this is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (see Ezek 26:19; 27:26). The psalmist describes a powerful storm moving in from the sea and sweeping over the mountainous areas north of Israel. The “surging waters” may symbolize the hostile enemies of God who seek to destroy his people (see Pss 18:17; 32:6; 77:20; 93:4; 144:7; Isa 17:13; Jer 51:55; Ezek 26:19; Hab 3:15). In this case the Lord is depicted as elevated above and sovereign over the raging waters.

4 tn Heb “and I, I said in my haste.”

5 tn Heb “from before your eyes.”

6 sn Psalm 40. The psalmist combines a song of thanksgiving for a recent act of divine deliverance (vv. 1-11) with a confident petition for renewed divine intervention (vv. 12-17).

7 tn Heb “relying, I relied.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the verbal idea. The emphasis is reflected in the translation through the adverb “completely.” Another option is to translate, “I waited patiently” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV).

8 tn Heb “therefore.”

9 tn Heb “and also anger went up.”

10 tn Heb “in his going out against the land of Egypt.” This apparently refers to the general time period of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The LXX reads, “from Egypt,” in which case “Joseph” (see the preceding line) would be the subject of the verb, “when he [Joseph = Israel] left Egypt.”

11 tn Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip” probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalmist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is recorded in the following verses.