5:12 Certainly 1 you reward 2 the godly, 3 Lord.
Like a shield you protect 4 them 5 in your good favor. 6
21:6 For you grant him lasting blessings;
you give him great joy by allowing him into your presence. 7
33:18 Look, the Lord takes notice of his loyal followers, 8
those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness 9
34:15 The Lord pays attention to the godly
and hears their cry for help. 10
42:5 Why are you depressed, 11 O my soul? 12
Why are you upset? 13
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention. 14
36:7 He does not take his eyes 15 off the righteous;
but with kings on the throne
he seats the righteous 16 and exalts them forever. 17
36:1 Elihu said further: 19
3:12 Why did the knees welcome me, 20
and why were there 21 two breasts 22
that I might nurse at them? 23
1 tn Or “For.”
2 tn Or “bless.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line highlight how God characteristically rewards and protects the godly.
3 tn Or “innocent.” The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense.
4 tn Heb “surround.” In 1 Sam 23:26 the verb describes how Saul and his men hemmed David in as they chased him.
5 tn Heb “him.” The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense and is thus translated “them.”
6 tn Or “with favor” (cf. NRSV). There is no preposition before the noun in the Hebrew text, nor is there a pronoun attached. “Favor” here stands by metonymy for God’s defensive actions on behalf of the one whom he finds acceptable.
7 tn Heb “you make him happy with joy with [i.e., “close by” or “in”] your face.” On the idiom “with your face” (i.e., “in your presence”) see Ps 16:11 and BDB 816 s.v. פָּנֻה II.2.a.
8 tn Heb “look, the eye of the
9 tn Heb “for the ones who wait for his faithfulness.”
10 tn Heb “the eyes of the
11 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
12 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
13 tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.
14 tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (’elohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (pÿney, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.
15 tc Many commentators accept the change of “his eyes” to “his right” (reading דִּינוֹ [dino] for עֵינָיו [’enayv]). There is no compelling reason for the change; it makes the line commonplace.
16 tn Heb “them”; the referent (the righteous) has been repeated from the first part of the verse for clarity.
17 tn Heb “he seats them forever and exalts them.” The last verb can be understood as expressing a logical consequence of the preceding action (cf. GKC 328 §111.l = “he seats them forever so that he exalts them”). Or the two verbs can be taken as an adverbial hendiadys whereby the first modifies the second adverbially: “he exalts them by seating them forever” or “when he seats them forever” (cf. GKC 326 §111.d). Some interpret this verse to say that God seats kings on the throne, making a change in subject in the middle of the verse. But it makes better sense to see the righteous as the subject matter throughout – they are not only protected, but are exalted.
18 sn This very lengthy speech can be broken down into the following sections: the discipline of suffering (36:2-25), the work and wisdom of God (36:26–37:24).
19 tn The use of וַיֹּסֶף (vayyosef) is with the hendiadys construction: “and he added and said,” meaning “and he said again, further.”
20 tn The verb קִדְּמוּנִי (qiddÿmuni) is the Piel from קָדַם (qadam), meaning “to come before; to meet; to prevent.” Here it has the idea of going to meet or welcome someone. In spite of various attempts to connect the idea to the father or to adoption rites, it probably simply means the mother’s knees that welcome the child for nursing. See R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel, 42.
21 tn There is no verb in the second half of the verse. The idea simply has, “and why breasts that I might suck?”
22 sn The commentaries mention the parallel construction in the writings of Ashurbanipal: “You were weak, Ashurbanipal, you who sat on the knees of the goddess, queen of Nineveh; of the four teats that were placed near to your mouth, you sucked two and you hid your face in the others” (M. Streck, Assurbanipal [VAB], 348).
23 tn Heb “that I might suckle.” The verb is the Qal imperfect of יָנַק (yanaq, “suckle”). Here the clause is subordinated to the preceding question and so function as a final imperfect.