¹ tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the Lord’s authority (see Jer 23:27) and abandoning him as an object of prayer and worship (see the next line).

² tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).

³ tn Or “judges.”

⁴ tn The imperfects here emphasize the generalizing nature of the statement.

⁵ tn Heb “and from a kingdom to another nation.”

⁶ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may one generation praise…and tell about.”