A psalm – a song used at the dedication of the temple; 2 by David.
30:1 I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up, 3
and did not allow my enemies to gloat 4 over me.
37:10 Evil men will soon disappear; 5
you will stare at the spot where they once were, but they will be gone. 6
59:11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,
because then my people might forget the lesson. 7
Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,
O Lord who shields us! 8
62:4 They 9 spend all their time planning how to bring him 10 down. 11
They love to use deceit; 12
they pronounce blessings with their mouths,
but inwardly they utter curses. 13 (Selah)
125:3 Indeed, 14 the scepter of a wicked king 15 will not settle 16
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly might
do what is wrong. 17
127:2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,
and work so hard for your food. 18
Yes, 19 he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep. 20
1 sn Psalm 30. The author thanks the Lord for delivering him from death and urges others to join him in praise. The psalmist experienced divine discipline for a brief time, but when he cried out for help the Lord intervened and restored his favor.
2 tn Heb “a song of the dedication of the house.” The referent of “house” is unclear. It is possible that David wrote this psalm for the dedication ceremony of Solomon’s temple. Another possibility is that the psalm was used on the occasion of the dedication of the second temple following the return from exile, or on the occasion of the rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.
3 tn Elsewhere the verb דָּלָה (dalah) is used of drawing water from a well (Exod 2:16, 19; Prov 20:5). The psalmist was trapped in the pit leading to Sheol (see v. 3), but the
4 tn Or “rejoice.”
5 tn Heb “and yet, a little, there will be no wicked [one].”
6 tn Heb “and you will carefully look upon his place, but he will not be [there].” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer is in view.
9 tn Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.”
10 tn Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”
13 tn That is, the psalmist’s enemies addressed in the previous verse.
14 tn That is, the generic “man” referred to in the previous verse.
15 tn Heb “only from his lofty place [or perhaps, “dignity”] they plan to drive [him] away.”
16 tn Heb “they delight [in] a lie.”
17 sn The enemies use deceit to bring down their victim. They make him think they are his friends by pronouncing blessings upon him, but inwardly they desire his demise.
17 tn Or “for.”
18 tn Heb “a scepter of wickedness.” The “scepter” symbolizes royal authority; when collocated with “wickedness” the phrase refers to an oppressive foreign conqueror.
19 tn Or “rest.”
20 tn Heb “so that the godly might not stretch out their hands in wrongdoing.” A wicked king who sets a sinful example can have an adverse moral and ethical effect on the people he rules.
21 tn Heb “[it is] vain for you, you who are early to rise, who delay sitting, who eat the food of hard work.” The three substantival participles are parallel and stand in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the preposition. See לָכֶם (lakhem, “for you”).
22 tn Here the Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4; Ps 63:2).
23 tn Heb “he gives to his beloved, sleep.” The translation assumes that the Hebrew term שֵׁנָא (shena’, “sleep,” an alternate form of שֵׁנָה, shenah) is an adverbial accusative. The point seems to be this: Hard work by itself is not what counts, but one’s relationship to God, for God is able to bless an individual even while he sleeps. (There may even be a subtle allusion to the miracle of conception following sexual intercourse; see the reference to the gift of sons in the following verse.) The statement is not advocating laziness, but utilizing hyperbole to give perspective and to remind the addressees that God must be one’s first priority. Another option is to take “sleep” as the direct object: “yes, he gives sleep to his beloved” (cf. NIV, NRSV). In this case the point is this: Hard work by itself is futile, for only God is able to bless one with sleep, which metonymically refers to having one’s needs met. He blesses on the basis of one’s relationship to him, not on the basis of physical energy expended.