62:5 Patiently wait for God alone, my soul! 1
For he is the one who gives me confidence. 2
62:6 He alone is my protector 3 and deliverer.
He is my refuge; 4 I will not be upended. 5
62:11 God has declared one principle;
two principles I have heard: 6
God is strong, 7
1 tn Heb “only for God be silent, my soul.” The wording is similar to that of v. 1a. Here an imperatival form, דּוֹמִּי (dommiy, “be silent”), appears instead of the noun דּוּמִיָּה (dumiyyah, “silence”). The psalmist is encouraging himself to maintain his trust in God.
2 tn Heb “for from him [is] my hope.”
3 tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”
4 tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).
5 sn The wording is identical to that of v. 2, except that רַבָּה (rabbah, “greatly”) does not appear in v. 6.
6 tn Heb “one God spoke, two which I heard.” This is a numerical saying utilizing the “x” followed by “x + 1” pattern to facilitate poetic parallelism. (See W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament [VTSup], 55-56.) As is typical in such sayings, a list corresponding to the second number (in this case “two”) follows. Another option is to translate, “God has spoken once, twice [he has spoken] that which I have heard.” The terms אַחַת (’akhat, “one; once”) and שְׁתַּיִם (shÿtayim, “two; twice”) are also juxtaposed in 2 Kgs 6:10 (where they refer to an action that was done more than “once or twice”) and in Job 33:14 (where they refer to God speaking “one way” and then in “another manner”).
7 tn Heb “that strength [belongs] to God.”