65:10 You saturate 1 its furrows,
and soak 2 its plowed ground. 3
With rain showers you soften its soil, 4
and make its crops grow. 5
68:8 the earth shakes,
yes, the heavens pour down rain
before God, the God of Sinai, 6
before God, the God of Israel. 7
84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, 8
he provides a spring for them. 9
The rain 10 even covers it with pools of water. 11
135:7 He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth,
makes lightning bolts accompany the rain,
and brings the wind out of his storehouses.
140:10 May he rain down 12 fiery coals upon them!
May he throw them into the fire!
From bottomless pits they will not escape. 13
1 tn Heb “saturating” [the form is an infinitive absolute].
2 tn Heb “flatten, cause to sink.”
3 tn Heb “trenches,” or “furrows.”
4 tn Heb “soften it,” that is, the earth.
5 tn Heb “its vegetation you bless.” Divine “blessing” often involves endowing an object with special power or capacity.
6 tn Heb “this one of Sinai.” The phrase is a divine title, perhaps indicating that the
7 sn The language of vv. 7-8 is reminiscent of Judg 5:4-5, which tells how the God of Sinai came in the storm and annihilated the Canaanite forces led by Sisera. The presence of allusion does not mean, however, that this is a purely historical reference. The psalmist is describing God’s typical appearance as a warrior in terms of his prior self-revelation as ancient events are reactualized in the psalmist’s experience. (For a similar literary technique, see Hab 3.)
8 tn The translation assumes that the Hebrew phrase עֵמֶק הַבָּכָא (’emeq habbakha’) is the name of an otherwise unknown arid valley through which pilgrims to Jerusalem passed. The term בָּכָא (bakha’) may be the name of a particular type of plant or shrub that grew in this valley. O. Borowski (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 130) suggests it is the black mulberry. Some take the phrase as purely metaphorical and relate בָּכָא to the root בָּכָה (bakhah, “to weep”). In this case one might translate, “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.”
9 tc The MT reads “a spring they make it,” but this makes little sense. Many medieval Hebrew
10 tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).
11 tc The MT reads בְּרָכוֹת (bÿrakhot, “blessings”) but the preceding reference to a “spring” favors an emendation to בְּרֵכוֹת (bÿrekhot, “pools”).
sn Pools of water. Because water is so necessary for life, it makes an apt symbol for divine favor and blessing. As the pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem, God provided for their physical needs and gave them a token of his favor and of the blessings awaiting them at the temple.
12 tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.
13 tn Heb “into bottomless pits, they will not arise.” The translation assumes that the preposition -בְּ (bet) has the nuance “from” here. Another option is to connect the line with what precedes, take the final clause as an asyndetic relative clause, and translate, “into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot arise.” The Hebrew noun מַהֲמֹרָה (mahamorah, “bottomless pit”) occurs only here in the OT.