2:8 Ask me,
and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, 1
the ends of the earth as your personal property.
9:17 The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; 2
this is the destiny of 3 all the nations that ignore 4 God,
10:16 The Lord rules forever! 5
The nations are driven out of his land. 6
33:10 The Lord frustrates 7 the decisions of the nations;
he nullifies the plans 8 of the peoples.
59:8 But you, O Lord, laugh in disgust at them; 9
you taunt 10 all the nations.
67:2 Then those living on earth will know what you are like;
all nations will know how you deliver your people. 11
72:11 All kings will bow down to him;
all nations will serve him.
80:8 You uprooted a vine 12 from Egypt;
you drove out nations and transplanted it.
94:10 Does the one who disciplines the nations not punish?
He is the one who imparts knowledge to human beings!
105:44 He handed the territory of nations over to them,
and they took possession of what other peoples had produced, 13
111:6 He announced that he would do mighty deeds for his people,
giving them a land that belonged to other nations. 14
113:4 The Lord is exalted over all the nations;
his splendor reaches beyond the sky. 15
117:1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!
Applaud him, all you foreigners! 17
118:10 All the nations surrounded me. 18
Indeed, in the name of the Lord 19 I pushed them away. 20
1 sn I will give you the nations. The
2 tn Heb “the wicked turn back to Sheol.” The imperfect verbal form either emphasizes what typically happens or describes vividly the aftermath of the
3 tn The words “this is the destiny of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The verb “are turned back” is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).
4 tn Heb “forget.” “Forgetting God” refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see also Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 44:20). The nations’ refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty accounts for their brazen attempt to attack and destroy his people.
3 tn Heb “the
4 tn Or “the nations perish from his land.” The perfect verb form may express what is typical or it may express rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude that God’s deliverance is “as good as done.”
4 tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the
5 tn Heb “thoughts.”
5 sn Laugh in disgust. See Pss 2:4; 37:13.
6 tn Or “scoff at”; or “deride”; or “mock” (see Ps 2:4).
6 tn Heb “to know in the earth your way, among all nations your deliverance.” The infinitive with -לְ (lamed) expresses purpose/result. When God demonstrates his favor to his people, all nations will recognize his character as a God who delivers. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) refers here to God’s characteristic behavior, more specifically, to the way he typically saves his people.
7 sn The vine is here a metaphor for Israel (see Ezek 17:6-10; Hos 10:1).
8 tn Heb “and the [product of the] work of peoples they possessed.”
9 tn Heb “the strength of his deeds he proclaimed to his people, to give to them an inheritance of nations.”
10 tn Heb “above the sky [is] his splendor.”
11 sn Psalm 117. The psalmist tells the nations to praise the Lord for his loyal love and faithfulness.
12 tn Or “peoples” (see Ps 108:3).
12 sn The reference to an attack by the nations suggests the psalmist may have been a military leader.
13 tn In this context the phrase “in the name of the
14 tn Traditionally the verb has been derived from מוּל (mul, “to circumcise”) and translated “[I] cut [them] off” (see BDB 557-58 s.v. II מוּל). However, it is likely that this is a homonym meaning “to fend off” (see HALOT 556 s.v. II מול) or “to push away.” In this context, where the psalmist is reporting his past experience, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite. The phrase also occurs in vv. 11, 12.