45:4 Appear in your majesty and be victorious! 1
Ride forth for the sake of what is right, 2
on behalf of justice! 3
Then your right hand will accomplish mighty acts! 4
48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, 5
a source of joy to the whole earth. 6
Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; 7
it is the city of the great king.
49:11 Their grave becomes their permanent residence,
their eternal dwelling place. 8
They name their lands after themselves, 9
52:9 I will continually 10 thank you when 11 you execute judgment; 12
I will rely 13 on you, 14 for your loyal followers know you are good. 15
78:5 He established a rule 16 in Jacob;
he set up a law in Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to make his deeds known to their descendants, 17
87:4 I mention Rahab 18 and Babylon to my followers. 19
Here are 20 Philistia and Tyre, 21 along with Ethiopia. 22
It is said of them, “This one was born there.” 23
97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He protects 24 the lives of his faithful followers;
he delivers them from the power 25 of the wicked.
125:3 Indeed, 26 the scepter of a wicked king 27 will not settle 28
upon the allotted land of the godly.
Otherwise the godly might
do what is wrong. 29
125:5 As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path, 30
may the Lord remove them, 31 along with those who behave wickedly! 32
May Israel experience peace! 33
127:2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,
and work so hard for your food. 34
Yes, 35 he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep. 36
144:2 who loves me 37 and is my stronghold,
my refuge 38 and my deliverer,
my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,
who makes nations submit to me. 39
1 tn Heb “and your majesty, be successful.” The syntax is awkward. The phrase “and your majesty” at the beginning of the verse may be accidentally repeated (dittography); it appears at the end of v. 3.
2 tn Or “for the sake of truth.”
3 tc The precise meaning of the MT is uncertain. The form עַנְוָה (’anvah) occurs only here. One could emend the text to עֲנָוָה וְצֶדֶק (’anavah vÿtsedeq, “[for the sake of truth], humility, and justice”). In this case “humility” would perhaps allude to the king’s responsibility to “serve” his people by promoting justice (cf. NIV “in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness”). The present translation assumes an emendation to יַעַן (ya’an, “because; on account of”) which would form a suitable parallel to עַל־דְּבַר (’al-dÿvar, “because; for the sake of”) in the preceding line.
4 tn Heb “and your right hand will teach you mighty acts”; or “and may your right hand teach you mighty acts.” After the imperatives in the first half of the verse, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive likely indicates purpose (“so that your right hand might teach you mighty acts”) or result (see the present translation). The “right hand” here symbolizes the king’s military strength. His right hand will “teach” him mighty acts by performing them and thereby causing him to experience their magnificence.
5 tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.
6 sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).
7 tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the
9 tc Heb “their inward part [is] their houses [are] permanent, their dwelling places for a generation and a generation.” If one follows the MT, then קֶרֶב (qerev, “inward part”) must refer to the seat of these people’s thoughts (for other examples of this use of the term, see BDB 899 s.v., though BDB prefers an emendation in this passage). In this case all three lines of v. 11 expose these people’s arrogant assumption that they will last forever, which then stands in sharp contrast to reality as summarized in v. 12. In this case one might translate the first two lines, “they think that their houses are permanent and that their dwelling places will last forever” (cf. NASB). Following the lead of several ancient versions, the present translation assumes an emendation of קִרְבָּם (qirbam, “their inward part”) to קְבָרִים (qÿvarim, “graves”). This assumes that the letters bet (ב) and resh (ר) were accidentally transposed in the MT. In this case the first two lines support the point made in v. 10, while the third line of v. 11 stands in contrast to v. 12. The phrase בֵּית עוֹלָם (bet ’olam, “permanent house”) is used of a tomb in Eccl 12:5 (as well as in Phoenician tomb inscriptions, see DNWSI 1:160 for a list of texts) and מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan, “dwelling place”) refers to a tomb in Isa 22:16. Cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV.
10 sn Naming their lands after themselves is a claim of possession.
13 tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”
14 tn Or “for.”
15 tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.
16 tn Or “wait.”
17 tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.
18 tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”
17 tn The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to God’s command that the older generation teach their children about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history (see Exod 10:2; Deut 4:9; 6:20-25).
18 tn Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the
21 sn “Rahab,” which means “proud one,” is used here as a title for Egypt (see Isa 30:7).
22 tn Heb “to those who know me” (see Ps 36:10). Apparently the
23 tn Heb “Look.”
24 map For location see Map1-A2; Map2-G2; Map4-A1; JP3-F3; JP4-F3.
25 tn Heb “Cush.”
26 tn Heb “and this one was born there.” The words “It is said of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarification and stylistic purposes (see v. 5). Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand “there” as referring to Zion, but it seems more likely that the adverb refers to the nations just mentioned. The foreigners are identified by their native lands.
25 tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the
26 tn Heb “hand.”
29 tn Or “for.”
30 tn Heb “a scepter of wickedness.” The “scepter” symbolizes royal authority; when collocated with “wickedness” the phrase refers to an oppressive foreign conqueror.
31 tn Or “rest.”
32 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.
33 tn Heb “and the ones making their paths twisted.” A sinful lifestyle is compared to a twisting, winding road.
34 tn Heb “lead them away.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer here (note the prayers directly before and after this). Another option is to translate, “the
35 tn Heb “the workers of wickedness.”
36 tn Heb “peace [be] upon Israel.” The statement is understood as a prayer (see Ps 122:8 for a similar prayer for peace).
37 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”).
38 tn Here the Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4; Ps 63:2).
39 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.
41 tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).
42 tn Or “my elevated place.”
43 tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”