Discovery Box| (0.20) | (Pro 3:10) | 2 sn This pictures the process of pressing grapes in which the upper receptacle is filled with grapes and the lower one catches the juice. The harvest of grapes will be so plentiful that the lower vat will overflow with grape juice. The pictures in v. 10 are metonymies of effect for cause (= the great harvest that God will provide when they honor him). |
| (0.20) | (Pro 2:7) | 3 sn The Hebrew word translated “upright” (יָשָׁר, yashar) is one of the terms used for the righteous. It points to the right conduct of the believer—that which is right or pleasing in the eyes of God. It stresses that the life of the individual is upright, straightforward, and just. It is paralleled with “those who walk in integrity.” |
| (0.20) | (Pro 2:2) | 2 sn The word “ear” is a metonymy of cause; the word is used as the instrument of hearing. But in parallelism with “heart” it indicates one aspect of the mental process of hearing and understanding. A “hearing ear” describes an obedient or responsive person (BDB 24 s.v. אֹזֶן 2). |
| (0.20) | (Pro 2:1) | 3 sn Verses 1-11 form one long conditional sentence in the Hebrew text: (1) the protasis (“if…”) encompasses vv. 1-4 and (2) the apodosis (“then…”) consists of two parallel panels in vv. 5-8 and vv. 9-11 both of which are introduced by the particle אָז (ʾaz, “then”). |
| (0.20) | (Psa 145:4) | 1 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.” |
| (0.20) | (Psa 144:12) | 2 tn Heb “grown up in their youth.” The translation assumes that “grown up” modifies “plants” (just as “carved” modifies “corner pillars” in the second half of the verse). Another option is to take “grown up” as a predicate in relation to “our sons,” in which case one might translate, “they will be strapping youths.” |
| (0.20) | (Psa 144:1) | 4 sn The one who trains my hands for battle. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement (see Ps 18:34). Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265. |
| (0.20) | (Psa 142:1) | 3 sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm while in “the cave.” This probably refers to either the incident recorded in 1 Sam 22:1 or to the one recorded in 1 Sam 24:3. See the superscription of Ps 57. |
| (0.20) | (Psa 139:16) | 2 tn Heb “and on your scroll all of them were written, [the] days [which] were formed, and [there was] not one among them.” This “scroll” may be the “scroll of life” mentioned in Ps 69:28 (see the note on the word “living” there). |
| (0.20) | (Psa 139:14) | 2 tc Heb “and my being knows very much.” Better parallelism is achieved (see v. 15a) if one emends יֹדַעַת (yodaʿat), a Qal active participle, feminine singular form, to יָדַעְתָּ (yadaʿta), a Qal perfect second masculine singular perfect. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252. |
| (0.20) | (Psa 138:6) | 1 tc The form of the verb is יְיֵדָע (yeyedaʿ) commonly understood to be Qal of יָדַע I (yadaʿ), although the Qal should not have two yod’s. Most likely one י (yod) should be deleted as dittography, or the second should be read as a ו (vav) and the form be understood as a Hifil. |
| (0.20) | (Psa 137:3) | 3 tn Heb “from a song of Zion.” Most modern translations read, “one of the songs of Zion,” taking the preposition מִן (min, “from”) as partitive and “song” as collective. The present translation assumes the mem (ם) is enclitic, being misunderstood later as the prefixed preposition. |
| (0.20) | (Psa 133:1) | 3 sn This statement refers to the extended family structure of ancient Israel, where brothers would often live in proximity to one another (Deut 25:5), giving the family greater social prominence and security. However, in its later application in the nation of Israel it probably envisions unity within the covenant community. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 212-15. |
| (0.20) | (Psa 135:17) | 1 tn Heb “indeed, there is not breath in their mouth.” For the collocation אַף אֵין (ʾaf ʾen, “indeed, there is not”) see Isa 41:26. Another option is to take אַף as “nose” (see Ps 115:6), in which case one might translate, “a nose, [but] they have no breath in their mouths.” |
| (0.20) | (Psa 127:5) | 1 tn Being “put to shame” is here metonymic for being defeated, probably in a legal context, as the reference to the city gate suggests. One could be humiliated (Ps 69:12) or deprived of justice (Amos 5:12) at the gate, but with strong sons to defend the family interests this was less likely to happen. |
| (0.20) | (Psa 119:52) | 1 tn Heb “I remember your regulations from of old.” The prepositional phrase “from of old” apparently modifies “your regulations,” alluding to the fact that God revealed them to Israel in the distant past. Another option is to understand the prepositional phrase as modifying the verb, in which case one might translate, “I have long remembered your regulations.” |
| (0.20) | (Psa 119:45) | 1 tn Heb “and I will walk about in a wide place.” The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive gives a further consequence of the anticipated positive divine response (see vv. 43-44). Another option is to take the cohortative as expressing the psalmist’s request. In this case one could translate, “and please give me security.” |
| (0.20) | (Psa 110:6) | 3 tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת (geʾayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton. |
| (0.20) | (Psa 107:38) | 2 tn The verbal form in this line appears to be an imperfect, which may be taken as customary (drawing attention to typical action in a past time frame) or as generalizing (in which case one should use the English present tense, understanding a move from narrative to present reality). |
| (0.20) | (Psa 107:40) | 1 tn The active participle is understood as past durative here, drawing attention to typical action in a past time frame. However, it could be taken as generalizing (in which case one should translate using the English present tense), in which case the psalmist moves from narrative to present reality. Perhaps the participial form appears because the statement is lifted from Job 12:21. |
