44:4 You are my 1 king, O God!
Decree 2 Jacob’s 3 deliverance!
77:15 You delivered 4 your people by your strength 5 –
the children of Jacob and Joseph. (Selah)
84:8 O Lord, sovereign God, 6
hear my prayer!
Listen, O God of Jacob! (Selah)
87:2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.
105:10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,
to Israel as a lasting promise, 7
105:23 Israel moved to 8 Egypt;
Jacob lived for a time 9 in the land of Ham.
114:1 When Israel left Egypt,
when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind, 11
114:7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord –
before the God of Jacob,
135:4 Indeed, 12 the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel to be his special possession. 13
147:19 He proclaims his word to Jacob,
his statutes and regulations to Israel.
1 sn The speaker changes here to an individual, perhaps the worship leader or the king. The oscillation between singular (vv. 4, 6) and plural (vv. 1-3, 5, 7-8) in vv. 1-8 may reflect an antiphonal ceremony.
2 tc The LXX assumes a participle here (מְצַוֶּה [mÿtsavveh], “the one who commands/decrees”) which would stand in apposition to “my God.” It is possible that the MT, which has the imperative (צַוֵּה, tsavveh) form, has suffered haplography of the letter mem (ם). Note that the preceding word (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim) ends in mem. Another option is that the MT is divided in the wrong place; perhaps one could move the final mem from אֱלֹהִים to the beginning of the next word and read מְצַוֶּה אֱלֹהָי (’elohay mÿtsavveh, “[You are my king,] my God, the one who decrees”).
tn Or “command.” This may be the Israelites’ petition prior to the battle. See the introductory note to the psalm.
3 tn That is, Israel. See Pss 14:7; 22:23.
4 tn Or “redeemed.”
5 tn Heb “with [your] arm.”
6 tn Heb “
7 tn Or “eternal covenant.”
8 tn Heb “entered.”
9 tn Heb “lived as a resident alien.”
10 sn Psalm 114. The psalmist recalls the events of the exodus and conquest and celebrates God’s kingship over his covenant people.
11 tn Heb “the house of Jacob from a nation speaking a foreign language.” The Hebrew verb לָעַז (la’at, “to speak a foreign language”) occurs only here in the OT.
12 tn Or “for.”
13 sn His special possession. The language echoes Exod 19:5; Deut 7:6; 14:2; 26:18. See also Mal 3:17.