14:7 I wish the deliverance 1 of Israel would come from Zion!
When the Lord restores the well-being of his people, 2
may Jacob rejoice, 3
may Israel be happy! 4
For the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; 6 a song.
46:1 God is our strong refuge; 7
he is truly our helper in times of trouble. 8
46:5 God lives within it, 9 it cannot be moved. 10
God rescues it 11 at the break of dawn. 12
2:3 For the message is a witness to what is decreed; 13
it gives reliable testimony about how matters will turn out. 14
Even if the message 15 is not fulfilled right away, wait patiently; 16
for it will certainly come to pass – it will not arrive late.
1 sn The deliverance of Israel. This refers metonymically to God, the one who lives in Zion and provides deliverance for Israel.
2 tn Heb “turns with a turning [toward] his people.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv).
3 tn The verb form is jussive.
4 tn Because the parallel verb is jussive, this verb, which is ambiguous in form, should be taken as a jussive as well.
5 sn Psalm 46. In this so-called “Song Of Zion” God’s people confidently affirm that they are secure because the great warrior-king dwells within Jerusalem and protects it from the nations that cause such chaos in the earth. A refrain (vv. 7, 11) concludes the song’s two major sections.
6 sn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲלָמוֹת (alamoth, which means “young women”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. Cf. 1 Chr 15:20.
7 tn Heb “our refuge and strength,” which is probably a hendiadys meaning “our strong refuge” (see Ps 71:7). Another option is to translate, “our refuge and source of strength.”
8 tn Heb “a helper in times of trouble he is found [to be] greatly.” The perfect verbal form has a generalizing function here. The adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “greatly”) has an emphasizing function.
9 tn Heb “God [is] within her.” The feminine singular pronoun refers to the city mentioned in v. 4.
10 tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “it will not be upended.” Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense. The verb מוֹט (mot), translated “upended” here, is used in v. 2 of the mountains “tumbling” into the seas and in v. 6 of nations being “upended.” By way of contrast, Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, is secure and immune from such turmoil and destruction.
11 tn Or “helps her.” The imperfect draws attention to the generalizing character of the statement.
12 tn Heb “at the turning of morning.” (For other uses of the expression see Exod 14:27 and Judg 19:26).
13 tn Heb “For the vision is still for the appointed time.” The Hebrew word עוֹד (’od, “still”) is better emended to עֵד (’ed, “witness”) in light of the parallelism (see the note on the word “turn out” in the following line). The “appointed time” refers to the time when the divine judgment anticipated in vv. 6-20 will be realized.
14 tn Heb “and a witness to the end and it does not lie.” The Hebrew term יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) has been traditionally understood as a verb form from the root פּוּחַ (puakh, “puff, blow”; cf. NEB “it will come in breathless haste”; NASB “it hastens toward the goal”) but recent scholarship has demonstrated that it is actually a noun meaning “witness” (cf. NIV “it speaks of the end / and will not prove false”; NRSV “it speaks of the end, and does not lie”). See J. J. M. Roberts, Nahum, Habakkuk, and Zephaniah (OTL), 106. “The end” corresponds to “the appointed time” of the preceding line and refers to the time when the prophecy to follow will be fulfilled.
15 tn Heb “it”; the referent (the message) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
16 tn Heb “If it should delay, wait for it.” The Hebrew word חָזוֹן (khazon, “vision, message”) is the subject of the third person verbs in v. 3 and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix in the phrase “for it.”
17 sn A quotation from Isa 26:20.
18 sn A quotation from Hab 2:3.