119:102 I do not turn aside from your regulations,
for you teach me.
א (Alef)
119:1 How blessed are those whose actions are blameless, 2
who obey 3 the law of the Lord.
A psalm of David.
15:1 Lord, who may be a guest in your home? 5
Who may live on your holy hill? 6
A psalm of David.
15:1 Lord, who may be a guest in your home? 8
Who may live on your holy hill? 9
2:1 Why 11 do the nations rebel? 12
Why 13 are the countries 14 devising 15 plots that will fail? 16
1 sn Psalm 119. The psalmist celebrates God’s law and the guidance it provides his people. He expresses his desire to know God’s law thoroughly so that he might experience the blessings that come to those who obey it. This lengthy psalm exhibits an elaborate acrostic pattern. The psalm is divided into twenty-two sections (corresponding to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet), each of which is comprised of eight verses. Each of the verses in the first section (vv. 1-8) begins with the letter alef (א), the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet. This pattern continues throughout the psalm as each new section highlights a successive letter of the alphabet. Each verse in section two (vv. 9-16) begins with the second letter of the alphabet, each verse in section three (vv. 17-24) with the third letter, etc. This rigid pattern creates a sense of order and completeness and may have facilitated memorization.
2 tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness of those who are blameless of way.”
3 tn Heb “walk in.”
4 sn Psalm 15. This psalm describes the character qualities that one must possess to be allowed access to the divine presence.
5 tn Heb “Who may live as a resident alien in your tent?”
6 sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill probably refers to Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 43:3; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.
7 sn Psalm 15. This psalm describes the character qualities that one must possess to be allowed access to the divine presence.
8 tn Heb “Who may live as a resident alien in your tent?”
9 sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill probably refers to Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 43:3; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.
10 sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.
11 tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.
12 tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.
13 tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
14 tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).
15 tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).
16 tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.