6:9 All of them were wanting 1 to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.”
So now, strengthen my hands! 2
18:32 The one true God 3 gives 4 me strength; 5
he removes 6 the obstacles in my way. 7
18:39 You give me strength 8 for battle;
you make my foes kneel before me. 9
By David.
144:1 The Lord, my protector, 11 deserves praise 12 –
the one who trains my hands for battle, 13
and my fingers for war,
45:1 This is what the Lord says to his chosen 14 one,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold 15
in order to subdue nations before him,
and disarm kings, 16
to open doors before him,
so gates remain unclosed:
45:5 I am the Lord, I have no peer, 17
there is no God but me.
I arm you for battle, 18 even though you do not recognize 19 me.
1 tn The participle has a desiderative nuance here, describing the desire of the subject and not necessarily the actual outcome. See also v. 14.
2 tn The statement “So now, strengthen my hands” is frequently understood as an implied prayer, but is taken differently by NAB (“But instead, I now redoubled my efforts”).
3 tn Heb “the God.” The prefixed article emphasizes the
4 tn Heb “is the one who clothes.” For similar language see 1 Sam 2:4; Pss 65:6; 93:1. The psalmist employs a generalizing hymnic style in vv. 32-34; he uses participles in vv. 32a, 33a, and 34a to describe what God characteristically does on his behalf.
5 tn 2 Sam 22:33 reads, “the God is my strong refuge.”
6 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries along the generalizing force of the preceding participle.
7 tn Heb “he made my path smooth.” The Hebrew term תָּמִים (tamim, “smooth”) usually carries a moral or ethical connotation, “blameless, innocent.” However, in Ps 18:33 it refers to a pathway free of obstacles. The reality underlying the metaphor is the psalmist’s ability to charge into battle without tripping (see vv. 33, 36).
8 tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.
9 tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”
10 sn Psalm 144. The psalmist expresses his confidence in God, asks for a mighty display of divine intervention in an upcoming battle, and anticipates God’s rich blessings on the nation in the aftermath of military victory.
11 tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The
12 tn Heb “blessed [be] the
13 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.
14 tn Heb “anointed” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); NCV “his appointed king.”
15 sn The “right hand” is a symbol of activity and strength; the Lord directs Cyrus’ activities and assures his success.
16 tn Heb “and the belts of kings I will loosen”; NRSV “strip kings of their robes”; NIV “strip kings of their armor.”
17 tn Heb “and there is none besides.” On the use of עוֹד (’od) here, see BDB 729 s.v. 1.c.
18 tn Heb “gird you” (so NASB) or “strengthen you” (so NIV).
19 tn Or “know” (NAB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT); NIV “have not acknowledged.”
20 tn Heb “have given…into the hand of.”
21 sn See the study note on 25:9 for the significance of the application of this term to Nebuchadnezzar.
22 tn Heb “I have given…to him to serve him.” The verb “give” in this syntactical situation is functioning like the Hiphil stem, i.e., as a causative. See Dan 1:9 for parallel usage. For the usage of “serve” meaning “be subject to” compare 2 Sam 22:44 and BDB 713 s.v. עָבַד 3.
23 sn This is a figure that emphasizes that they will serve for a long time but not for an unlimited duration. The kingdom of Babylon lasted a relatively short time by ancient standards. It lasted from 605
24 tn Heb “until the time of his land, even his, comes.” The independent pronoun is placed here for emphasis on the possessive pronoun. The word “time” is used by substitution for the things that are done in it (compare in the NT John 2:4; 7:30; 8:20 “his hour had not yet come”).
25 tn Heb “him.” This is a good example of the figure of substitution where the person is put for his descendants or the nation or subject he rules. (See Gen 28:13-14 for another good example and Acts 22:7 in the NT.)
26 tn Heb “put their necks in the yoke of.” See the study note on v. 2 for the figure.
27 tn Heb “oracle of the
28 tn Heb “The nation and/or the kingdom which will not serve him, Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and which will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babylon, by sword, starvation, and disease I will punish [or more literally, “visit upon”] that nation, oracle of the
29 tn Heb “with/by the sword.”
30 tc The verb translated “destroy” (תָּמַם, tamam) is usually intransitive in the stem of the verb used here. It is found in a transitive sense elsewhere only in Ps 64:7. BDB 1070 s.v. תָּמַם 7 emends both texts. In this case they recommend תִּתִּי (titi): “until I give them into his hand.” That reading is suggested by the texts of the Syriac and Targumic translations (see BHS fn c). The Greek translation supports reading the verb “destroy” but treats it as though it were intransitive “until they are destroyed by his hand” (reading תֻּמָּם [tummam]). The MT here is accepted as the more difficult reading and support is seen in the transitive use of the verb in Ps 64:7.
31 tn Heb “he,” in which case the referent is the
32 tn Heb “scepter,” referring by metonymy to the dominating rule of Egypt (cf. NLT).
33 tc Heb “I will strengthen them in the
34 tc The LXX and Syriac presuppose יִתְהַלָּלוּ (yithallalu, “they will glory”) for יִתְהַלְּכוּ (yithallÿkhu, “they will walk about”). Since walking about is a common idiom in Zechariah (cf. 1:10, 11; 6:7 [3x]) to speak of dominion, and dominion is a major theme of the present passage, there is no reason to reject the MT reading, which is followed by most modern English versions.