33:2 Give thanks to the Lord with the harp!
Sing to him to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument!
33:3 Sing to him a new song! 1
Play skillfully as you shout out your praises to him! 2
40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song, 3
praising our God. 4
May many see what God has done,
so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord! 5
A psalm.
98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, 7
for he performs 8 amazing deeds!
His right hand and his mighty arm
accomplish deliverance. 9
149:1 Praise the Lord!
Sing to the Lord a new song!
Praise him in the assembly of the godly! 11
“You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals
because you were killed, 13
and at the cost of your own blood 14 you have purchased 15 for God
persons 16 from every tribe, language, 17 people, and nation.
5:10 You have appointed 18 them 19 as a kingdom and priests 20 to serve 21 our God, and they will reign 22 on the earth.”
1 sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the lives of his people in fresh and exciting ways.
2 tn Heb “play skillfully with a loud shout.”
3 sn A new song was appropriate because the Lord had intervened in the psalmist’s experience in a fresh and exciting way.
4 tn Heb “and he placed in my mouth a new song, praise to our God.”
5 tn Heb “may many see and fear and trust in the
6 sn Psalm 98. The psalmist summons the whole earth to praise God because he reveals his justice and delivers Israel.
7 sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See Ps 96:1.
8 tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 1-3 are understood here as describing characteristic divine activities. Another option is to translate them as present perfects, “has performed…has accomplished deliverance, etc.” referring to completed actions that have continuing results.
9 tn Heb “his right hand delivers for him and his holy arm.” The right hand and arm symbolize his power as a warrior-king (see Isa 52:10). His arm is “holy” in the sense that it is in a category of its own; God’s power is incomparable.
10 sn Psalm 149. The psalmist calls upon God’s people to praise him because he is just and avenges them.
11 tn Heb “his praise in the assembly of the godly ones.”
12 tn The redundant participle λέγοντες (legontes) has not been translated here.
13 tn Or “slaughtered”; traditionally, “slain.”
14 tn The preposition ἐν (en) is taken to indicate price here, like the Hebrew preposition ב (bet) does at times. BDAG 329 s.v. ἐν 5.b states, “The ἐν which takes the place of the gen. of price is also instrumental ἠγόρασας ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου Rv 5:9 (cp. 1 Ch 21:24 ἀγοράζω ἐν ἀργυρίῳ).”
15 tc The Greek text as it stands above (i.e., the reading τῷ θεῷ [tw qew] alone) is found in codex A. א 2050 2344 Ï sy add the term “us” (ἡμᾶς, Jhmas), either before or after τῷ θεῷ, as an attempt to clarify the object of “purchased” (ἠγόρασας, hgorasa"). A few
16 tn The word “persons” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context.
17 tn Grk “and language,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.
18 tn The verb ἐποίησας (epoihsas) is understood to mean “appointed” here. For an example of this use, see Mark 3:14.
19 tc The vast majority of witnesses have αὐτούς (autous, “them”) here, while the Textus Receptus reads ἡμᾶς (Jhmas, “us”) with insignificant support (pc gig vgcl sa Prim Bea). There is no question that the original text read αὐτούς here.
20 tn The reference to “kingdom and priests” may be a hendiadys: “priestly kingdom.”
21 tn The words “to serve” are not in the Greek text, but are implied by the word “priests.”
22 tc The textual problem here between the present tense βασιλεύουσιν (basileuousin, “they are reigning”; so A 1006 1611 ÏK pc) and the future βασιλεύσουσιν (basileusousin, “they will reign”; so א 1854 2053 ÏA pc lat co) is a difficult one. Both readings have excellent support. On the one hand, the present tense seems to be the harder reading in this context. On the other hand, codex A elsewhere mistakes the future for the present (20:6). Further, the lunar sigma in uncial script could have been overlooked by some scribes, resulting in the present tense. All things considered, there is a slight preference for the future.
23 tn Grk “elders, and no one.” This is a continuation of the previous sentence in the Greek text, but because of the length and complexity of the sentence a new sentence was started here in the translation.