42:6 I am depressed, 1
so I will pray to you while I am trapped here in the region of the upper Jordan, 2
from Hermon, 3 from Mount Mizar. 4
Book 4
(Psalms 90-106)
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90:1 O Lord, you have been our protector 6 through all generations!
141:8 Surely I am looking to you, 7 O sovereign Lord.
In you I take shelter.
Do not expose me to danger! 8
1 tn Heb “my God, upon me my soul bows down.” As noted earlier, “my God” belongs with the end of v. 6.
2 tn Heb “therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan.” “Remember” is here used metonymically for prayer (see vv. 8-9). As the next line indicates, the region of the upper Jordan, where the river originates, is in view.
3 tc Heb “Hermons.” The plural form of the name occurs only here in the OT. Some suggest the plural refers to multiple mountain peaks (cf. NASB) or simply retain the plural in the translation (cf. NEB), but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note that the next form in the text begins with the letter mem) or enclitic. At a later time it was misinterpreted as a plural marker and vocalized accordingly.
4 tn The Hebrew term מִצְעָר (mits’ar) is probably a proper name (“Mizar”), designating a particular mountain in the Hermon region. The name appears only here in the OT.
5 sn Psalm 90. In this communal lament the worship leader affirms that the eternal God and creator of the world has always been Israel’s protector. But God also causes men, who are as transient as grass, to die, and in his fierce anger he decimates his covenant community, whose brief lives are filled with suffering and end in weakness. The community asks for wisdom, the restoration of God’s favor, a fresh revelation of his power, and his blessing upon their labors.
6 tn Or “place of safety.” See Ps 71:3.
7 tn Heb “my eyes [are] toward you.”
8 tn Heb “do not lay bare my life.” Only here is the Piel form of the verb collocated with the term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”). In Isa 53:12 the Lord’s servant “lays bare (the Hiphil form of the verb is used) his life to death.”