66:13 I will enter 15 your temple with burnt sacrifices;
I will fulfill the vows I made to you,
116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people.
116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord
before all his people,
1:15 (2:1) 16 Look! A herald is running 17 on the mountains!
A messenger is proclaiming deliverance: 18
“Celebrate your sacred festivals, O Judah!
Fulfill your sacred vows to praise God! 19
For never again 20 will the wicked 21 Assyrians 22 invade 23 you,
they 24 have been completely destroyed.” 25
1 tn Heb “Man, man.” The reduplication is a way of saying “any man” (cf. Lev 15:2; 17:3, etc.; see the distributive repetition of the noun in GKC 395-96 §123.c).
2 tn Heb “and from the foreigner [singular] in Israel.” Some medieval Hebrew
3 tn Heb “for your acceptance.” See Lev 1:3-4 above and the notes there.
4 tn Heb “all which in it [is] a flaw.” Note that the same term is used for physical flaws of people in Lev 21:17-24. Cf. KJV, ASV, NRSV “blemish”; NASB, NIV, TEV “defect”; NLT “with physical defects.”
5 tn Heb “not for acceptance shall it be for you”; NIV “it will not be accepted on your behalf” (NRSV and NLT both similar).
6 tn The meaning of the expression לְפַלֵּא־נֶדֶר (lÿfalle’-neder) rendered here “for a special votive offering” is much debated. Some take it as an expression for fulfilling a vow, “to fulfill a vow” (e.g., HALOT 927-28 s.v. פלא piel and NASB; cf. NAB, NRSV “in fulfillment of a vow”) or, alternatively, “to make a vow” or “for making a vow” (HALOT 928 s.v. פלא piel [II פלא]). Perhaps it refers to the making a special vow, from the verb פָלַא (pala’, “to be wonderful, to be remarkable”); cf. J. Milgrom, Numbers (JPSTC), 44. B. A. Levine, Leviticus (JPSTC), 151 and 193, suggests that this is a special term for “setting aside a votive offering” (related to פָלָה [palah, “to set aside”]). In general, the point of the expression seems to be that this sacrifice arises as a special gift to God out of special circumstances in the life of the worshiper.
7 tn Heb “for acceptance”; NAB “if it is to find acceptance.”
8 tn Heb “all/any flaw shall not be in it.”
9 tn Heb “from to separation.” See BDB 94 s.v. בַּד 1.e for an explanation of this phrase. This phrase is repeated in front of each of the four items in this verse in the Hebrew text, but these have not been translated into English for stylistic reasons. Cf. KJV, NASB “besides”; NRSV “apart from.”
10 tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”
11 tn Heb “and it will be (to) the place where the Lord your God chooses to cause his name to dwell you will bring.”
12 tn Heb “heave offerings of your hand.”
13 tn Heb “the
14 tc Again, to complete a commonly attested wording the LXX adds after “choose” the phrase “to place his name there.” This shows insensitivity to deliberate departures from literary stereotypes. The MT reading is to be preferred.
15 sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.
16 sn Beginning with 1:15, the verse numbers through 2:13 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 1:15 ET = 2:1 HT, 2:1 ET = 2:2 HT, etc., through 2:13 ET = 2:14 HT. Beginning with 3:1, the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.
17 tn Heb “the feet of a herald.”
18 tn Heb “a messenger of peace.” The Hebrew noun translated “peace” is sometimes used in reference to deliverance or freedom from enemy attack or destruction (e.g., Jer 4:10; 6:14; 8:11; 12:5; 28:9; 29:7).
19 sn The sacred vows to praise God were often made by Israelites as a pledge to proclaim the mercy of the
20 tc The LXX reflects the plural יוֹסִיפוּ (yosifu, “they shall [never]”). The MT reads the singular יוֹסִיף (yosif, “he shall [never]”) which is also found in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpNah). The subject of the verb is the singular noun בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al, “the wicked one”) which is also misunderstood by the LXX (see below).
21 tc The MT reads בְּלִיַּעַל (bÿliyya’al, “the wicked one”; so ASV, NASB). The LXX reading εἰς παλαίωσιν (ei" palaiwsin, “to old age”) mistakenly derived בְּלִיַּעַל from בָּלָה (balah, “to become worn”). There are several places in the book of Nahum where the LXX produced poor translations.
22 tn The term “Assyrians” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied from context for clarity. If left unspecified, the prophetic statement could be understood to mean that the wicked [i.e., wicked conquerors in general] would never again invade Judah. Cf. NLT “your enemies from Nineveh.”
23 tn Or “pass through you” (NASB); or “march against you”; NCV “attack you.”
24 tn Heb “he.” This is in agreement with the singular “wicked one” in the previous line.
25 tn Heb “he is completely cut off.”