21:9 It is better to live on a corner of the housetop 1
than in a house in company 2 with a quarrelsome wife. 3
55:6 I say, 4 “I wish I had wings like a dove!
I would fly away and settle in a safe place!
55:7 Look, I will escape to a distant place;
I will stay in the wilderness. (Selah)
120:5 How miserable I am! 5
For I have lived temporarily 6 in Meshech;
I have resided among the tents of Kedar. 7
120:6 For too long I have had to reside
with those who hate 8 peace.
9:2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the desert
where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. 9
Then I would desert my people
and walk away from them
because they are all unfaithful to God,
a congregation 10 of people that has been disloyal to him. 11
1 tn English versions which translate the Hebrew term as “roof” here sometimes produce amusing images for modern readers: TEV “Better to live on the roof”; CEV “It’s better to stay outside on the roof of your house.”
2 tn The “house of company” has received numerous interpretations. The word “company” or “companionship” would qualify “house” as a place to be shared. The BHS editors propose “spacious house,” which would call for a transposition of letters (cf. NAB “a roomy house”; NLT “a lovely home”). Such an emendation makes good sense, but has no external support.
3 tn Heb “a wife of contentions”; KJV “a brawling woman”; TEV, CEV “a nagging wife.” The Greek version has no reference to a quarrelsome wife, but instead mentions justice in a common house.
4 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the verbs in v. 5.
5 tn Or “woe to me.” The Hebrew term אוֹיָה (’oyah, “woe”) which occurs only here, is an alternate form of אוֹי (’oy).
6 tn Heb “I live as a resident alien.”
7 sn Meshech was located in central Anatolia (modern Turkey). Kedar was located in the desert to east-southeast of Israel. Because of the reference to Kedar, it is possible that Ps 120:5 refers to a different Meshech, perhaps one associated with the individual mentioned as a descendant of Aram in 1 Chr 1:17. (However, the LXX in 1 Chr 1:17 follows the parallel text in Gen 10:23, which reads “Mash,” not Meshech.) It is, of course, impossible that the psalmist could have been living in both the far north and the east at the same time. For this reason one must assume that he is recalling his experience as a wanderer among the nations or that he is using the geographical terms metaphorically and sarcastically to suggest that the enemies who surround him are like the barbarians who live in these distant regions. For a discussion of the problem, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 146.
8 tn The singular participial form probably has a representative function here. The psalmist envisions the typical hater of peace who represents the entire category of such individuals.
9 tn Heb “I wish I had in the desert a lodging place [inn, or place to spend the night] for travelers.”
10 tn Or “bunch,” but this loses the irony; the word is used for the solemn assemblies at the religious feasts.
11 tn Heb “they are all adulterers, a congregation of unfaithful people.” However, spiritual adultery is, of course, meant, not literal adultery. So the literal translation would be misleading.