Discovery BoxPsalms 30:1 
ContextA psalm – a song used at the dedication of the temple; 2 by David.
30:1 I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up, 3
and did not allow my enemies to gloat 4 over me.
Psalms 32:5
Context32:5 Then I confessed my sin;
I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.
I said, “I will confess 5 my rebellious acts to the Lord.”
And then you forgave my sins. 6 (Selah)
Psalms 52:5
Context52:5 Yet 7 God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. 8
He will scoop you up 9 and remove you from your home; 10
he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)
Psalms 75:8
Context75:8 For the Lord holds in his hand a cup full
of foaming wine mixed with spices, 11
and pours it out. 12
Surely all the wicked of the earth
will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.” 13
Psalms 90:10
Context90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, 14
or eighty, if one is especially strong. 15
But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. 16
1 sn Psalm 30. The author thanks the Lord for delivering him from death and urges others to join him in praise. The psalmist experienced divine discipline for a brief time, but when he cried out for help the Lord intervened and restored his favor.
2 tn Heb “a song of the dedication of the house.” The referent of “house” is unclear. It is possible that David wrote this psalm for the dedication ceremony of Solomon’s temple. Another possibility is that the psalm was used on the occasion of the dedication of the second temple following the return from exile, or on the occasion of the rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.
3 tn Elsewhere the verb דָּלָה (dalah) is used of drawing water from a well (Exod 2:16, 19; Prov 20:5). The psalmist was trapped in the pit leading to Sheol (see v. 3), but the
4 tn Or “rejoice.”
5 tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”
6 tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.
7 tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.
8 tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”
9 tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.
10 tn Heb “from [your] tent.”
11 tn Heb “for a cup [is] in the hand of the
12 tn Heb “and he pours out from this.”
13 tn Heb “surely its dregs they slurp up and drink, all the wicked of the earth.”
sn The psalmist pictures God as forcing the wicked to gulp down an intoxicating drink that will leave them stunned and vulnerable. Divine judgment is also depicted this way in Ps 60:3; Isa 51:17-23; and Hab 2:16.
14 tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”
15 tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”
16 tn Heb “and their pride [is] destruction and wickedness.” The Hebrew noun רֹהַב (rohav) occurs only here. BDB 923 s.v. assigns the meaning “pride,” deriving the noun from the verbal root רהב (“to act stormily [boisterously, arrogantly]”). Here the “pride” of one’s days (see v. 9) probably refers to one’s most productive years in the prime of life. The words translated “destruction and wickedness” are also paired in Ps 10:7. They also appear in proximity in Pss 7:14 and 55:10. The oppressive and abusive actions of evil men are probably in view (see Job 4:8; 5:6; 15:35; Isa 10:1; 59:4).
17 tn or “for.”
18 tn Heb “it passes quickly.” The subject of the verb is probably “their pride” (see the preceding line). The verb גּוּז (guz) means “to pass” here; it occurs only here and in Num 11:31.
19 sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).
