30:5 For his anger lasts only a brief moment,
and his good favor restores one’s life. 1
One may experience sorrow during the night,
but joy arrives in the morning. 2
44:3 For they did not conquer 3 the land by their swords,
and they did not prevail by their strength, 4
but rather by your power, 5 strength 6 and good favor, 7
for you were partial to 8 them.
65:4 How blessed 9 is the one whom you choose,
and allow to live in your palace courts. 10
May we be satisfied with the good things of your house –
your holy palace. 11
104:15 as well as wine that makes people feel so good, 12
and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, 13
as well as food that sustains people’s lives. 14
1 tn Heb “for [there is] a moment in his anger, [but] life in his favor.” Because of the parallelism with “moment,” some understand חַיִּים (khayyim) in a quantitative sense: “lifetime” (cf. NIV, NRSV). However, the immediate context, which emphasizes deliverance from death (see v. 3), suggests that חַיִּים has a qualitative sense: “physical life” or even “prosperous life” (cf. NEB “in his favour there is life”).
2 tn Heb “in the evening weeping comes to lodge, but at morning a shout of joy.” “Weeping” is personified here as a traveler who lodges with one temporarily.
3 tn Or “take possession of.”
4 tn Heb “and their arm did not save them.” The “arm” here symbolizes military strength.
5 tn Heb “your right hand.” The
6 tn Heb “your arm.”
7 tn Heb “light of your face.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).
8 tn Or “favorable toward.”
9 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
10 tn Heb “[whom] you bring near [so that] he might live [in] your courts.”
11 tn Or “temple.”
12 tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”
13 tn Heb “to make [the] face shine from oil.” The Hebrew verb צָהַל (tsahal, “to shine”) occurs only here in the OT. It appears to be an alternate form of צָהַר (tsahar), a derivative from צָהָרִים (tsaharim, “noon”).
14 tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”