31:5 Into your hand I entrust my life; 1
you will rescue 2 me, O Lord, the faithful God.
37:24 Even if 3 he trips, he will not fall headlong, 4
for the Lord holds 5 his hand.
38:2 For your arrows pierce 6 me,
and your hand presses me down. 7
73:23 But I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
77:20 You led your people like a flock of sheep,
by the hand of Moses and Aaron.
80:15 the root 8 your right hand planted,
the shoot you made to grow! 9
89:21 My hand will support him, 10
and my arm will strengthen him.
95:4 The depths of the earth are in his hand, 11
and the mountain peaks belong to him.
118:15 They celebrate deliverance in the tents of the godly. 12
The Lord’s right hand conquers, 13
118:18 The Lord severely 14 punished me,
but he did not hand me over to death.
119:173 May your hand help me,
for I choose to obey 15 your precepts.
121:5 The Lord is your protector;
the Lord is the shade at your right hand.
124:6 The Lord deserves praise, 16
for 17 he did not hand us over as prey to their teeth.
127:4 Sons born during one’s youth
are like arrows in a warrior’s hand. 18
136:12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
for his loyal love endures,
137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
may my right hand be crippled! 19
139:5 You squeeze me in from behind and in front;
you place your hand on me.
145:16 You open your hand,
and fill every living thing with the food they desire. 20
149:6 May they praise God
while they hold a two-edged sword in their hand, 21
1 tn Heb “my spirit.” The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) here refers to the animating spirit that gives the psalmist life.
2 tn Or “redeem.” The perfect verbal form is understood here as anticipatory, indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer that he can describe his deliverance as if it had already happened. Another option is to take the perfect as precative, expressing a wish or request (“rescue me”; cf. NIV). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
3 tn Other translation options for כִּי in this context are “when” (so NASB) or “though” (so NEB, NIV, NRSV).
4 tn Heb “be hurled down.”
5 tn The active participle indicates this is characteristically true. See v. 17.
6 tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the
7 tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).
8 tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).
9 tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.
10 tn Heb “with whom my hand will be firm.”
11 tn The phrase “in his hand” means within the sphere of his authority.
12 tn Heb “the sound of a ringing shout and deliverance [is] in the tents of the godly.”
13 tn Heb “does valiantly.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 60:12; 108:13).
14 tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea.
15 tn The words “to obey” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarity.
16 tn Heb “blessed [be] the
17 tn Heb “[the one] who.”
18 tn Heb “like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so [are] sons of youth.” Arrows are used in combat to defend oneself against enemies; sons are viewed here as providing social security and protection (see v. 5). The phrase “sons of youth” is elliptical, meaning “sons [born during the father’s] youth.” Such sons will have grown up to be mature adults and will have children of their own by the time the father reaches old age and becomes vulnerable to enemies. Contrast the phrase “son of old age” in Gen 37:3 (see also 44:20), which refers to Jacob’s age when Joseph was born.
19 tn Heb “may my right hand forget.” In this case one must supply an object, such as “how to move.” The elliptical nature of the text has prompted emendations (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 236). The translation assumes an emendation to תִּכְשַׁח (tikhshakh), from an otherwise unattested root כשׁח, meaning “to be crippled; to be lame.” See HALOT 502 s.v. כשׁח, which cites Arabic cognate evidence in support of the proposal. The corruption of the MT can be explained as an error of transposition facilitated by the use of שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”) just before this.
20 tn Heb “[with what they] desire.”
21 tn Heb “[May] praises of God [be] in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand.”