For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; 2 a prayer 3 of David written to instruct others. 4 It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram-Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down 5 12,000 Edomites 6 in the Valley of Salt. 7
60:1 O God, you have rejected us. 8
You suddenly turned on us in your anger. 9
Please restore us! 10
69:16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good! 11
Because of your great compassion, turn toward me!
86:16 Turn toward me and have mercy on me!
Give your servant your strength!
Deliver your slave! 12
7:19 You will once again 13 have mercy on us;
you will conquer 14 our evil deeds;
you will hurl our 15 sins into the depths of the sea. 16
1 sn Psalm 60. The psalmist grieves over Israel’s humiliation, but in response to God’s assuring word, he asks for divine help in battle and expresses his confidence in victory.
2 tn The Hebrew expression means “lily of the testimony.” It may refer to a particular music style or to a tune title.
3 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-59, is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
4 tn Heb “to teach.”
5 tn In Josh 8:21 and Judg 20:48 the two verbs “turn back” and “strike down” are also juxtaposed. There they refer to a military counter-attack.
6 tn Heb “12,000 of Edom.” Perhaps one should read אֲרַם (’aram, “Aram”) here rather than אֱדוֹם (’edom, “Edom”).
7 sn The heading apparently refers to the military campaign recorded in 2 Sam 10 and 1 Chr 19.
8 sn You have rejected us. See Pss 43:2; 44:9, 23.
9 tn Heb “you broke out upon us, you were angry.”
10 tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.
11 tn Or “pleasant”; or “desirable.”
12 tn Heb “the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 116:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the
13 tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the
14 tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the
15 tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.
16 sn In this metaphor the