5:11 But may all who take shelter 1 in you be happy! 2
May they continually 3 shout for joy! 4
Shelter them 5 so that those who are loyal to you 6 may rejoice! 7
8:2 From the mouths of children and nursing babies
you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, 8
so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy. 9
10:4 The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks,
“God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care.” 10
28:3 Do not drag me away with evil men,
with those who behave wickedly, 11
who talk so friendly to their neighbors, 12
while they plan to harm them! 13
30:12 So now 14 my heart 15 will sing to you and not be silent;
O Lord my God, I will always 16 give thanks to you.
Book 2
(Psalms 42-72)
For the music director; a well-written song 18 by the Korahites.
42:1 As a deer 19 longs 20 for streams of water,
so I long 21 for you, O God!
42:6 I am depressed, 22
so I will pray to you while I am trapped here in the region of the upper Jordan, 23
from Hermon, 24 from Mount Mizar. 25
50:21 When you did these things, I was silent, 26
so you thought I was exactly like you. 27
But now I will condemn 28 you
and state my case against you! 29
56:13 when you deliver 30 my life from death.
You keep my feet from stumbling, 31
so that I might serve 32 God as I enjoy life. 33
59:12 They speak sinful words. 34
So let them be trapped by their own pride
and by the curses and lies they speak!
59:13 Angrily wipe them out! Wipe them out so they vanish!
Let them know that God rules
in Jacob and to the ends of the earth! (Selah)
73:12 Take a good look! This is what the wicked are like, 35
those who always have it so easy and get richer and richer. 36
74:2 Remember your people 37 whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued 38 so they could be your very own nation, 39
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!
78:6 so that the next generation, children yet to be born,
might know about them.
They will grow up and tell their descendants about them. 40
83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! 41
Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”
89:50 Take note, O Lord, 42 of the way your servants are taunted, 43
and of how I must bear so many insults from people! 44
95:11 So I made a vow in my anger,
‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’” 45
103:12 As far as the eastern horizon 46 is from the west, 47
so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions 48 from us.
104:9 You set up a boundary for them that they could not cross,
so that they would not cover the earth again. 49
106:5 so I may see the prosperity 50 of your chosen ones,
rejoice along with your nation, 51
and boast along with the people who belong to you. 52
107:26 They 53 reached up to the sky,
then dropped into the depths.
The sailors’ strength 54 left them 55 because the danger was so great. 56
109:18 He made cursing a way of life, 57
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil. 58
1 sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
2 tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer. The psalmist calls on God to reward his faithful followers.
3 tn Or perhaps more hyperbolically, “forever.”
4 tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer.
5 tn Heb “put a cover over them.” The verb form is a Hiphil imperfect from סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “cover, shut off”). The imperfect expresses the psalmist’s wish or request.
6 tn Heb “the lovers of your name.” The phrase refers to those who are loyal to the Lord. See Pss 69:36; 119:132; Isa 56:6.
7 tn The vav (ו) with prefixed verbal form following the volitional “shelter them” indicates purpose or result (“so that those…may rejoice).
8 tn Heb “you establish strength because of your foes.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation follows the reading of the LXX which has “praise” (αἶνος, ainos) in place of “strength” (עֹז, ’oz); cf. NIV, NCV, NLT.
9 tn Heb “to cause to cease an enemy and an avenger.” The singular forms are collective. The Hitpael participle of נָקַם (naqam) also occurs in Ps 44:16.
10 tn Heb “the wicked [one], according to the height of his nose, he does not seek, there is no God, all his thoughts.” The phrase “height of his nose” probably refers to an arrogant or snooty attitude; it likely pictures one with his nose turned upward toward the sky in pride. One could take the “wicked” as the subject of the negated verb “seek,” in which case the point is that the wicked do not “seek” God. The translation assumes that this statement, along with “there is no God,” is what the wicked man thinks to himself. In this case God is the subject of the verb “seek,” and the point is that God will not hold the wicked man accountable for his actions. Verse 13 strongly favors this interpretation. The statement “there is no God” is not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that he is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see v. 11).
11 tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”
12 tn Heb “speakers of peace with their neighbors.”
13 tn Heb “and evil [is] in their heart[s].”
14 tn Heb “so that”; or “in order that.”
15 tn Heb “glory.” Some view כָבוֹד (khavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.” “Heart” is used in the translation above for the sake of English idiom; the expression “my liver sings” would seem odd indeed to the modern reader.
16 tn Or “forever.”
17 sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew
18 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
19 tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (’ayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (’ayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.
20 tn Or “pants [with thirst].”
21 tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
22 tn Heb “my God, upon me my soul bows down.” As noted earlier, “my God” belongs with the end of v. 6.
23 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.
24 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.
25 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.
26 tn Heb “these things you did and I was silent.” Some interpret the second clause (“and I was silent”) as a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, “[When you do these things], should I keep silent?” (cf. NEB). See GKC 335 §112.cc.
sn The Lord was silent in the sense that he delayed punishment. Of course, God’s patience toward sinners eventually runs out. The divine “silence” is only temporary (see v. 3, where the psalmist, having described God’s arrival, observes that “he is not silent”).
27 tn The Hebrew infinitive construct (הֱיוֹת, heyot) appears to function like the infinitive absolute here, adding emphasis to the following finite verbal form (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh). See GKC 339-40 §113.a. Some prefer to emend הֱיוֹת (heyot) to the infinitive absolute form הָיוֹ (hayo).
28 tn Or “rebuke” (see v. 8).
29 tn Heb “and I will set in order [my case against you] to your eyes.” The cohortative form expresses the
30 tn The perfect verbal form is probably future perfect; the psalmist promises to make good on his vows once God has delivered him (see Pss 13:5; 52:9). (2) Another option is to understand the final two verses as being added later, after the
31 tn Heb “are not my feet [kept] from stumbling?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course they are!” The question has been translated as an affirmation for the sake of clarification of meaning.
32 tn Heb “walk before.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254; cf. the same idiom in 2 Kgs 20:3; Isa 38:3.
33 tn Heb “in the light of life.” The phrase is used here and in Job 33:30.
34 tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”
35 tn Heb “Look, these [are] the wicked.”
36 tn Heb “the ones who are always at ease [who] increase wealth.”
37 tn Heb “your assembly,” which pictures God’s people as an assembled community.
38 tn Heb “redeemed.” The verb “redeem” casts God in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).
39 tn Heb “the tribe of your inheritance” (see Jer 10:16; 51:19).
40 tn Heb “in order that they might know, a following generation, sons [who] will be born, they will arise and will tell to their sons.”
41 tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”
42 tc Many medieval Hebrew
43 tn Heb “remember, O Lord, the taunt against your servants.” Many medieval Hebrew
44 tn Heb “my lifting up in my arms [or “against my chest”] all of the many, peoples.” The term רַבִּים (rabbim, “many”) makes no apparent sense here. For this reason some emend the text to רִבֵי (rivey, “attacks by”), a defectively written plural construct form of רִיב (riv, “dispute; quarrel”).
45 tn Heb “my resting place.” The promised land of Canaan is here viewed metaphorically as a place of rest for God’s people, who are compared to sheep (see v. 7).
46 tn Heb “sunrise.”
47 tn Or “sunset.”
48 tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.
49 tn Heb “a boundary you set up, they will not cross, they will not return to cover the earth.”
50 tn Heb “good.”
51 tn Heb “in order that [I may] rejoice with the rejoicing of your nation.”
52 tn Heb “with your inheritance.”
53 tn That is, the waves (see v. 25).
54 tn Heb “their being”; traditionally “their soul” (referring to that of the sailors). This is sometimes translated “courage” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
55 tn Or “melted.”
56 tn Heb “from danger.”
57 tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”
58 tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”