41:13 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise 1
in the future and forevermore! 2
We agree! We agree! 3
63:9 Enemies seek to destroy my life, 4
but they will descend into the depths of the earth. 5
68:11 The Lord speaks; 6
many, many women spread the good news. 7
102:14 Indeed, 8 your servants take delight in her stones,
and feel compassion for 9 the dust of her ruins. 10
ב (Bet)
119:9 How can a young person 11 maintain a pure life? 12
By guarding it according to your instructions! 13
119:96 I realize that everything has its limits,
but your commands are beyond full comprehension. 14
119:136 Tears stream down from my eyes, 15
because people 16 do not keep your law.
147:1 Praise the Lord,
for it is good to sing praises to our God!
Yes, 18 praise is pleasant and appropriate!
1 tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.
2 tn Heb “from everlasting to everlasting.” See 1 Chr 16:36; Neh 9:5; Pss 90:2; 106:48.
3 tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God.
4 tn Heb “but they for destruction seek my life.” The pronoun “they” must refer here to the psalmist’s enemies, referred to at this point for the first time in the psalm.
5 sn The depths of the earth refers here to the underworld dwelling place of the dead (see Ezek 26:20; 31:14, 16, 18; 32:18, 24). See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 167.
6 tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.
7 tn Heb “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army.” The participle translated “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural form. Apparently the good news here is the announcement that enemy kings have been defeated (see v. 12).
8 tn Or “for.”
9 tn The Poel of חָנַן (khanan) occurs only here and in Prov 14:21, where it refers to having compassion on the poor.
10 tn Heb “her dust,” probably referring to the dust of the city’s rubble.
11 tn Heb “young man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender specific “young man” has been translated with the more neutral “young person.”
12 tn Heb “purify his path.”
13 tn Heb “by keeping according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew
14 tn Heb “to every perfection I have seen an end, your command is very wide.” God’s law is beyond full comprehension, which is why the psalmist continually studies it (vv. 95, 97).
15 tn Heb “[with] flowing streams my eyes go down.”
16 tn Heb “they”; even though somewhat generic, the referent (people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
17 sn Psalm 147. The psalmist praises the
18 tn Or “for.”