37:16 The little bit that a godly man owns is better than
the wealth of many evil men, 1
51:7 Sprinkle me 2 with water 3 and I will be pure; 4
wash me 5 and I will be whiter than snow. 6
73:10 Therefore they have more than enough food to eat,
and even suck up the water of the sea. 7
89:7 a God who is honored 8 in the great angelic assembly, 9
and more awesome than 10 all who surround him?
96:4 For the Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise;
he is more awesome than all gods. 11
119:72 The law you have revealed is more important to me
than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. 12
130:7 O Israel, hope in the Lord,
for the Lord exhibits loyal love, 13
and is more than willing to deliver. 14
1 tn Heb “Better [is] a little to the godly one than the wealth of many evil ones.” The following verses explain why this is true. Though a godly individual may seem to have only meager possessions, he always has what he needs and will eventually possess the land. The wicked may prosper for a brief time, but will eventually be destroyed by divine judgment and lose everything.
2 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
3 tn Heb “cleanse me with hyssop.” “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water (or blood) in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18. The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.
4 tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.
5 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
6 sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).
7 tc Heb “therefore his people return [so Qere (marginal reading); Kethib (consonantal text) has “he brings back”] to here, and waters of abundance are sucked up by them.” The traditional Hebrew text (MT) defies explanation. The present translation reflects M. Dahood’s proposed emendations (Psalms [AB], 2:190) and reads the Hebrew text as follows: לָכֵן יִשְׂבְעוּם לֶחֶם וּמֵי מָלֵא יָמֹצּוּ לָמוֹ (“therefore they are filled with food, and waters of abundance they suck up for themselves”). The reading יִשְׂבְעוּם לֶחֶם (yisvÿ’um lekhem, “they are filled with food”) assumes (1) an emendation of יָשׁיּב עַמּוֹ (yashyyv, “he will bring back his people”) to יִשְׂבְעוּם (yisvÿ’um, “they will be filled”; a Qal imperfect third masculine plural form from שָׂבַע [sava’] with enclitic mem [ם]), and (2) an emendation of הֲלֹם (halom, “to here”) to לֶחֶם (“food”). The expression “be filled/fill with food” appears elsewhere at least ten times (see Ps 132:15, for example). In the second line the Niphal form יִמָּצוּ (yimmatsu, derived from מָצָה, matsah, “drain”) is emended to a Qal form יָמֹצּוּ (yamotsu), derived from מָצַץ (matsats, “to suck”). In Isa 66:11 the verbs שָׂבַע (sava’; proposed in Ps 73:10a) and מָצַץ (proposed in Ps 73:10b) are parallel. The point of the emended text is this: Because they are seemingly sovereign (v. 9), they become greedy and grab up everything they need and more.
8 tn Heb “feared.”
9 tn Heb “in the great assembly of the holy ones.”
10 tn Or perhaps “feared by.”
11 tn Or perhaps “and feared by all gods.” See Ps 89:7.
12 tn Heb “better to me [is] the law of your mouth than thousands of gold and silver.”
13 tn Heb “for with the
14 tn Heb “and abundantly with him [is] redemption.”