32:7 You are my hiding place;
you protect me from distress.
You surround me with shouts of joy from those celebrating deliverance. 1 (Selah)
32:8 I will instruct and teach you 2 about how you should live. 3
I will advise you as I look you in the eye. 4
32:9 Do not be 5 like an unintelligent horse or mule, 6
which will not obey you
unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit. 7
32:10 An evil person suffers much pain, 8
but the Lord’s faithfulness overwhelms the one who trusts in him. 9
32:11 Rejoice in the Lord and be happy, you who are godly!
Shout for joy, all you who are morally upright! 10
1 tn Heb “[with] shouts of joy of deliverance you surround me.”
2 tn The second person pronominal forms in this verse are singular. The psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually (see also the note on the word “eye” in the next line). A less likely option (but one which is commonly understood) is that the
3 tn Heb “I will instruct you and I will teach you in the way [in] which you should walk.”
4 tn Heb “I will advise, upon you my eye,” that is, “I will offer advice [with] my eye upon you.” In 2 Chr 20:12 the statement “our eye is upon you” means that the speakers are looking to the
5 tn The verb form is plural (i.e., “do not all of you be”); the psalmist addresses the whole group.
6 tn Heb “like a horse, like a mule without understanding.”
7 tn Heb “with a bridle and bit, its [?] to hold, not to come near to you.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun עֲדִי (’adiy) is uncertain. Normally the word refers to “jewelry,” so some suggest the meaning “trappings” here (cf. NASB). Some emend the form to לְחֵיהֶם (lÿkhehem, “their jawbones”) but it is difficult to see how the present Hebrew text, even if corrupt, could have derived from this proposed original reading. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 265) takes the form from an Arabic root and translates “whose gallop.” Cf. also NRSV “whose temper must be curbed.”
8 tn Heb “many [are the] pains of evil [one].” The singular form is representative here; the typical evildoer, representative of the larger group of wicked people, is in view.
9 tn Heb “but the one who trusts in the
10 tn Heb “all [you] pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the