A song, a psalm by the Korahites.
48:1 The Lord is great and certainly worthy of praise
in the city of our God, 2 his holy hill.
126:6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag 3 of seed,
will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain. 4
139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, 5
and the light will turn to night all around me,” 6
143:3 Certainly 7 my enemies 8 chase me.
They smash me into the ground. 9
They force me to live 10 in dark regions, 11
like those who have been dead for ages.
1 sn Psalm 48. This so-called “Song of Zion” celebrates the greatness and glory of the Lord’s dwelling place, Jerusalem. His presence in the city elevates it above all others and assures its security.
2 sn The city of our God is Jerusalem, which is also referred to here as “his holy hill,” that is, Zion (see v. 2, as well as Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 43:3; 87:1; Dan 9:16).
3 tn The noun occurs only here and in Job 28:18 in the OT. See HALOT 646 s.v. I מֶשֶׁךְ which gives “leather pouch” as the meaning.
4 tn The Hebrew noun אֲלֻמָּה (’alummah, “sheaf”) occurs only here and in Gen 37:7 in the OT.
sn Verse 6 expands the image of v. 5. See the note on the word “harvest” there.
5 tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.
6 tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”
7 tn Or “for.”
8 tn Heb “an enemy.” The singular is used in a representative sense to describe a typical member of the larger group of enemies (note the plural “enemies” in vv. 9, 12).
9 tn Heb “he crushes on the ground my life.”
10 tn Or “sit.”
11 sn Dark regions refers to Sheol, which the psalmist views as a dark place located deep in the ground (see Ps 88:6).