¹ tn Heb “lift up upon us the light of your face, Lord.” The verb נסה is apparently an alternate form of נשׂא, “lift up.” See GKC 217 §76.b. The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

sn Smile upon us. Though many are discouraged, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and transform the situation.

² tn Or “For.”

³ tn Or “bless.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line highlight how God characteristically rewards and protects the godly.

⁴ tn Or “innocent.” The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense.

⁵ tn Heb “surround.” In 1 Sam 23:26 the verb describes how Saul and his men hemmed David in as they chased him.

⁶ tn Heb “him.” The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense and is thus translated “them.”

⁷ tn Or “with favor” (cf. NRSV). There is no preposition before the noun in the Hebrew text, nor is there a pronoun attached. “Favor” here stands by metonymy for God’s defensive actions on behalf of the one whom he finds acceptable.

⁸ tn Heb “they repay me evil instead of good.”

⁹ tn Heb “[there is] bereavement to my soul.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “do what is good for Zion in your favor.”

¹¹ tn Or “Build.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

¹² map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

¹³ tn Or “deceit more than speaking what is right.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural blessings.

¹⁵ tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.”

¹⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear; it appears to read, “your animals, they live in it,” but this makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some suggest that חָיָּה (khayah) is a rare homonym here, meaning “community” (BDB 312 s.v.) or “dwelling place” (HALOT 310 s.v. III *הַיָּה). In this case one may take “your community/dwelling place” as appositional to the third feminine singular pronominal suffix at the end of v. 9, the antecedent of which is “your inheritance.” The phrase יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ (yashvu-vah, “they live in it”) may then be understood as an asyndetic relative clause modifying “your community/dwelling place.” A literal translation of vv. 9b-10a would be, “when it [your inheritance] is tired, you sustain it, your community/dwelling place in [which] they live.”

¹⁷ tn Heb “what is good.”

¹⁸ tn Both “bestow” and “yield” translate the same Hebrew verb (נָתַן, natan). The repetition of the word emphasizes that agricultural prosperity is the direct result of divine blessing.

¹⁹ tn Or “is forever.”

²⁰ tn Heb “and to a generation and a generation [is] his faithfulness.”

²¹ sn Psalm 107. The psalmist praises God for his kindness to his exiled people.

²² tn Heb “for forever [is] his loyal love.”

²³ sn Psalm 118. The psalmist thanks God for his deliverance and urges others to join him in praise.

²⁴ tn Or “is forever.”

²⁵ tn Or “is forever.”

²⁶ tn Heb “my reproach that I fear.”

²⁷ tn Or “for.”

²⁸ tn Heb “do good.”

²⁹ tn Heb “according to your word.”

³⁰ sn Psalm 136. In this hymn the psalmist affirms that God is praiseworthy because of his enduring loyal love, sovereign authority, and compassion. Each verse of the psalm concludes with the refrain “for his loyal love endures.”

³¹ tn Or “is forever.”

³² tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”