68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall 1 on your chosen people. 2
When they 3 are tired, you sustain them, 4
68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. 5
As wax melts before fire,
so the wicked are destroyed before God.
A psalm of David, written when he fled from his son Absalom. 7
3:1 Lord, how 8 numerous are my enemies!
Many attack me. 9
1 tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).
2 tn Heb “[on] your inheritance.” This refers to Israel as God’s specially chosen people (see Pss 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 106:40). Some take “your inheritance” with what follows, but the vav (ו) prefixed to the following word (note וְנִלְאָה, vÿnil’ah) makes this syntactically unlikely.
3 tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”
4 tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”
5 tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”
6 sn Psalm 3. The psalmist acknowledges that he is confronted by many enemies (vv. 1-2). But, alluding to a divine oracle he has received (vv. 4-5), he affirms his confidence in God’s ability to protect him (vv. 3, 6) and requests that God make his promise a reality (vv. 7-8).
7 sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).
8 tn The Hebrew term מָה (mah, “how”) is used here as an adverbial exclamation (see BDB 553 s.v.).
9 tn Heb “many rise up against me.”