81:13 If only my people would obey me! 11
If only Israel would keep my commands! 12
81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and attack 13 their adversaries.”
81:15 (May those who hate the Lord 14 cower in fear 15 before him!
May they be permanently humiliated!) 16
81:16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat, 17
and would satisfy your appetite 18 with honey from the rocky cliffs.” 19
128:2 You 20 will eat what you worked so hard to grow. 21
You will be blessed and secure. 22
3:10 Tell the innocent 23 it will go well with them, 24
for they will be rewarded for what they have done. 25
1 tn Verses 22-23a read in Hebrew, “I did not speak with your ancestors and I did not command them when I brought them out of Egypt about words/matters concerning burnt offering and sacrifice, but I commanded them this word:” Some modern commentators have explained this passage as an evidence for the lateness of the Pentateuchal instruction regarding sacrifice or a denial that sacrifice was practiced during the period of the wilderness wandering. However, it is better explained as an example of what R. de Vaux calls a dialectical negative, i.e., “not so much this as that” or “not this without that” (Ancient Israel, 454-56). For other examples of this same argument see Isa 1:10-17; Hos 6:4-6; Amos 5:21-25.
2 tn Heb “Obey me and I will be.” The translation is equivalent syntactically but brings out the emphasis in the command.
3 tn Heb “Walk in all the way that I command you.”
4 tn Heb “keep” (so KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).
5 tn Heb “the
6 tn Heb “may prolong your days”; NAB “may have long life”; TEV “will continue to live.”
7 tn Here the terms are not the usual חֻקִּים (khuqqim) and מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim; as in v. 1) but חֻקֹּת (khuqqot, “statutes”) and מִצְוֹת (mitsot, “commandments”). It is clear that these terms are used interchangeably and that their technical precision ought not be overly stressed.
8 tn Heb “commanding.” For stylistic reasons, to avoid redundancy, “giving” has been used in the translation.
9 tn Heb “may multiply greatly” (so NASB, NRSV); the words “in number” have been supplied in the translation for clarity.
10 tn Heb “fathers” (also in vv. 10, 18, 23).
11 tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ (lu, “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).
12 tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”
13 tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).
14 tn “Those who hate the
15 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.
16 tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the
17 tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.
18 tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.
19 sn The language in this verse, particularly the references to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.
20 tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.
21 tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”
22 tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”
23 tn Or “the righteous” (KJV, NASB, NIV, TEV); NLT “those who are godly.”
24 tn Heb “that it is good.”
25 tn Heb “for the fruit of their deeds they will eat.”