50:5 He says: 1
“Assemble my covenant people before me, 2
those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice!” 3
50:6 The heavens declare his fairness, 4
for God is judge. 5 (Selah)
1 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.
2 tn Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד (khasid, “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.
3 tn Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8).
4 tn Or “justice.”
5 tn Or “for God, he is about to judge.” The participle may be taken as substantival (as in the translation above) or as a predicate (indicating imminent future action in this context).