¹ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

² sn The wild beast of the reeds probably refers to a hippopotamus, which in turn symbolizes the nation of Egypt.

² tn Heb “let the nations know they [are] man[kind]”; i.e., mere human beings (as opposed to God).

³ sn Like a potter’s jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.

¹ tn Heb “peoples of the land” (so NASB); NIV “people of other nationalities”; NRSV “peoples of the country.”

² sn King Ahab of Samaria. Samaria, as the capital of the northern kingdom, here stands for the nation of Israel.

¹ tn The words “These were the nations,” though not present in the Hebrew text, are supplied in the translation for clarity.

² sn The expression robbers who plundered them is a derogatory reference to the enemy nations, as the next line indicates.

¹ tn Heb “I have assigned by lots to you these remaining nations as an inheritance for your tribes.”

² tn The second person pronoun is plural in Hebrew, indicating these words are addressed to the entire nation.

¹ tn Heb “and all Israel was crossing over on dry ground until all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan.”

¹ tn Heb “it” (so NRSV), a collective singular referring to the invading nation (several times in this verse and v. 52).

² tn Heb “ from the nations which surround you, from them you shall buy male slave and female slave.”

² sn See T. Ishida, “The Structure and Historical Implications of Lists of Pre-Israelite Nations,” Bib (1979): 461-90.

¹ sn See further N. Lemche, “‘Hebrew’ as a National Name for Israel,” ST 33 (1979): 1-23.

² tn Heb “God devised it for good in order to do, like this day, to preserve alive a great nation.”

¹ sn I will give you thanks before the nations. This probably alludes to the fact that the psalmist will praise the Lord in the presence of the defeated nations when they, as his subjects, bring their tribute payments. Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness. See J. H. Eaton, Kingship and the Psalms (SBT), 182-85.

³ tn Heb “from the Jordan and all the nations which I cut off and the Great Sea [at] the place where the sun sets.” The relationship of the second half of the verse, which mentions nations already conquered, to the first half, which speaks of “remaining nations,” is difficult to understand.

¹ sn This verse identifies the servant as Israel. This seems to refer to the exiled nation (cf. 41:8-9; 44:1-2, 21; 45:4; 48:20), but in vv. 5-6 this servant says he has been commissioned to reconcile Israel to God, so he must be distinct from the exiled nation. This servant is an ideal “Israel” who, like Moses of old, mediates a covenant for the nation (see v. 8), leads them out of bondage (v. 9a), and carries out God’s original plan for Israel by positively impacting the pagan nations (see v. 6b). By living according to God’s law, Israel was to be a model of God’s standards of justice to the surrounding nations (Deut 4:6-8). The sinful nation failed, but the servant, the ideal “Israel,” will succeed by establishing justice throughout the earth.

¹ sn Psalm 44. The speakers in this psalm (the worshiping community within the nation Israel) were disappointed with God. The psalm begins on a positive note, praising God for leading Israel to past military victories. Verses 1-8 appear to be a song of confidence and petition which the people recited prior to battle. But suddenly the mood changes as the nation laments a recent defeat. The stark contrast between the present and the past only heightens the nation’s confusion. Israel trusted in God for victory, but the Lord rejected them and allowed them to be humiliated in battle. If Israel had been unfaithful to God, their defeat would make sense, but the nation was loyal to the Lord. Comparing the Lord to a careless shepherd, the nation urges God to wake up and to extend his compassion to his suffering people.