29:9 The Lord’s shout bends 1 the large trees 2
and strips 3 the leaves from the forests. 4
Everyone in his temple says, “Majestic!” 5
41:6 When someone comes to visit, 6 he pretends to be friendly; 7
he thinks of ways to defame me, 8
and when he leaves he slanders me. 9
142:3 Even when my strength leaves me, 10
you watch my footsteps. 11
In the path where I walk
they have hidden a trap for me.
1 tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form is descriptive in function; the psalmist depicts the action as underway.
2 tc Heb “the deer.” Preserving this reading, some translate the preceding verb, “causes [the deer] to give premature birth” (cf. NEB, NASB). But the Polel of חוּל/חִיל (khul/khil) means “give birth,” not “cause to give birth,” and the statement “the
3 tn The verb is used in Joel 1:7 of locusts stripping the leaves from a tree. The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the descriptive function of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.
4 tn The usual form of the plural of יַעַר (ya’ar, “forest”) is יְעָרִים (yÿ’arim). For this reason some propose an emendation to יְעָלוֹת (yÿ’alot, “female mountain goats”) which would fit nicely in the parallelism with “deer” (cf. NEB “brings kids early to birth”). In this case one would have to understand the verb חָשַׂף (khasaf) to mean “cause premature birth,” an otherwise unattested homonym of the more common חָשַׂף (“strip bare”).
sn The Lord’s thunderous shout is accompanied by high winds which damage the trees of the forest.
5 tn Heb “In his temple, all of it says, ‘Glory.’”
6 tn Heb “to see.”
7 tn Heb “he speaks deceitfully.”
8 tn Heb “his heart gathers sin to itself.”
9 tn Heb “he goes outside and speaks.”
10 tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”
11 tn Heb “you know my path.”