Text -- Psalms 80:1-12 (NET)

Psalm 80

80:1 For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; a psalm of Asaph. O shepherd of Israel, pay attention, you who lead Joseph like a flock of sheep! You who sit enthroned above the winged angels, reveal your splendor! 80:2 In the sight of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh reveal your power! Come and deliver us! 80:3 O God, restore us! Smile on us! Then we will be delivered! 80:4 O Lord God, invincible warrior! How long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you? 80:5 You have given them tears as food; you have made them drink tears by the measure. 80:6 You have made our neighbors dislike us, and our enemies insult us. 80:7 O God, invincible warrior, restore us! Smile on us! Then we will be delivered! 80:8 You uprooted a vine from Egypt; you drove out nations and transplanted it. 80:9 You cleared the ground for it; it took root, and filled the land. 80:10 The mountains were covered by its shadow, the highest cedars by its branches. 80:11 Its branches reached the Mediterranean Sea, and its shoots the Euphrates River. 80:12 Why did you break down its walls, so that all who pass by pluck its fruit?

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Psa 80:1

¹ sn Psalm 80. The psalmist laments Israel’s demise and asks the Lord to show favor toward his people, as he did in earlier times.

² tn The Hebrew expression shushan-eduth means “lily of the testimony.” It may refer to a particular music style or to a tune title. See the superscription to Ps 60.

³ sn Winged angels (Heb “cherubs”). Cherubs, as depicted in the OT, possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubs suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubs in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.

⁴ tn Heb “shine forth.”

sn Reveal your splendor. The psalmist may allude to Deut 33:2, where God “shines forth” from Sinai and comes to superintend Moses’ blessing of the tribes.

NET Notes: Psa 80:2

¹ tn Heb “stir up”; “arouse.”

² tn Heb “come for our deliverance.”

NET Notes: Psa 80:3

¹ tn The idiom “cause your face to shine” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

² tn Heb “cause your face to shine in order that we may be delivered.” After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.

NET Notes: Psa 80:4

¹ tn Heb “Lord, God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’elohey) before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot; “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. In this context the term “hosts” (meaning “armies”) has been rendered “invincible warrior.”

² tn Heb “How long will you remain angry during the prayer of your people.” Some take the preposition -בְּ (bet) in an adversative sense here (“at/against the prayer of your people”), but the temporal sense is preferable. The psalmist expects persistent prayer to pacify God.

NET Notes: Psa 80:5

¹ tn Heb “you have fed them the food of tears.”

² tn Heb “[by] the third part [of a measure].” The Hebrew term שָׁלִישׁ (shalish, “third part [of a measure]”) occurs only here and in Isa 40:12.

NET Notes: Psa 80:6

¹ tn Heb “you have made us an object of contention to our neighbors.”

NET Notes: Psa 80:7

¹ tn Heb “O God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. See also v. 4 for a similar construction.

² tn The idiom “cause your face to shine” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

³ tn Heb “cause your face to shine in order that we may be delivered.” After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.

NET Notes: Psa 80:8

¹ sn The vine is here a metaphor for Israel (see Ezek 17:6-10; Hos 10:1).

NET Notes: Psa 80:9

¹ tn Heb “you cleared away before it.”

² tn Heb “and it took root [with] its roots.”

NET Notes: Psa 80:10

¹ tn Heb “cedars of God.” The divine name אֵל (’al, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

NET Notes: Psa 80:11

¹ tn Heb “to [the] sea.” The “sea” refers here to the Mediterranean Sea.

² tn Heb “to [the] river.” The “river” is the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia. Israel expanded both to the west and to the east.

NET Notes: Psa 80:12

¹ sn The protective walls of the metaphorical vineyard are in view here (see Isa 5:5).

² tn Heb “pluck it.”