72:7 During his days the godly will flourish; 1
peace will prevail as long as the moon remains in the sky. 2
92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,
and all the evildoers glisten, 3
it is so that they may be annihilated. 4
92:12 The godly 5 grow like a palm tree;
they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon. 6
92:13 Planted in the Lord’s house,
they grow in the courts of our God.
103:15 A person’s life is like grass. 7
Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
90:6 in the morning it glistens 8 and sprouts up;
at evening time it withers 9 and dries up.
132:18 I will humiliate his enemies, 10
and his crown will shine.
72:16 May there be 11 an abundance 12 of grain in the earth;
on the tops 13 of the mountains may it 14 sway! 15
May its 16 fruit trees 17 flourish 18 like the forests of Lebanon! 19
May its crops 20 be as abundant 21 as the grass of the earth! 22
92:14 They bear fruit even when they are old;
they are filled with vitality and have many leaves. 23
52:8 But I 24 am like a flourishing 25 olive tree in the house of God;
I continually 26 trust in God’s loyal love.
37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men 27
growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. 28
44:2 You, by your power, 29 defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; 30
you crushed 31 the people living there 32 and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. 33
128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine 34
in the inner rooms of your house;
your children 35 will be like olive branches,
as they sit all around your table.
144:12 Then 36 our sons will be like plants,
that quickly grow to full size. 37
Our daughters will be like corner pillars, 38
carved like those in a palace. 39
1 tn Heb “sprout up,” like crops. This verse continues the metaphor of rain utilized in v. 6.
2 tn Heb “and [there will be an] abundance of peace until there is no more moon.”
3 tn Or “flourish.”
4 tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”
5 tn The singular is used in a representative sense, with the typical godly person being in view.
6 sn The cedars of the Lebanon forest were well-known in ancient Israel for their immense size.
7 tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.
9 tn Or “flourishes.” The verb is used of a crown shining in Ps 132:18. Perhaps here in Ps 90:6 it refers to the glistening of the grass in the morning dew.
10 tn The Polel form of this verb occurs only here. Perhaps the form should be emended to a Qal (which necessitates eliminating the final lamed [ל] as dittographic). See Ps 37:2.
11 tn Heb “his enemies I will clothe [with] shame.”
13 tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect. The translation assumes the subject is impersonal (rather than the king).
14 tn The Hebrew noun פִסַּה (pissah; which appears here in the construct form) occurs only here in the OT. Perhaps the noun is related to the verbal root פָּשָׂה (pasah, “to spread,” see BDB 832 s.v.; the root appears as פָּסָה [pasah] in postbiblical Hebrew), which is used in postbiblical Hebrew of the rising sun’s rays spreading over the horizon and a tree’s branches spreading out (see Jastrow 1194 s.v. פסי, פָּסָה, פָּשָׂה). In Ps 72:16 a “spreading of grain” would refer to grain fields extending out over the land. C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:139) emend the form to סְפִיחַ (sÿfiakh, “second growth”).
15 tn Heb “top” (singular).
16 tn That is, the grain.
17 tn According to the traditional accentuation of the MT, this verb belongs with what follows. See the translator’s note at the end of the verse for a discussion of the poetic parallelism and interpretation of the verse.
18 tn The antecedent of the third masculine singular pronominal suffix is unclear. It is unlikely that the antecedent is אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) because this noun is normally grammatically feminine. Perhaps רֹאשׁ (ro’sh, “top [of the mountains]”) is the antecedent. Another option is to understand the pronoun as referring to the king, who would then be viewed as an instrument of divine agricultural blessing (see v. 6).
19 tn Heb “fruit.”
20 tc According to the traditional accentuation of the MT, this verb belongs with what follows. See the note on the word “earth” at the end of the verse for a discussion of the poetic parallelism and interpretation of the verse. The present translation takes it with the preceding words, “like Lebanon its fruit” and emends the verb form from וְיָצִיצוּ (vÿyatsitsu; Qal imperfect third masculine plural with prefixed vav, [ו]) to יָצִיץ (yatsits; Qal imperfect third masculine singular). The initial vav is eliminated as dittographic (note the vav on the ending of the preceding form פִּרְיוֹ, piryo, “its/his fruit”) and the vav at the end of the form is placed on the following emended form (see the note on the word “crops”), yielding וַעֲמִיר (va’amir, “and [its] crops”).
21 tn Heb “like Lebanon.”
22 tc The MT has “from the city.” The translation assumes an emendation to עֲמִיר (’amir, “crops”).
23 tn The translation assumes that the verb צוץ (“flourish”) goes with the preceding line. The words “be as abundant” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
24 tc The traditional accentuation and vocalization of the MT differ from the text assumed by the present translation. The MT reads as follows: “May there be an abundance of grain in the earth, / and on the tops of the mountains! / May its [or “his”?] fruit [trees?] rustle like [the trees of] Lebanon! / May they flourish from the city, like the grass of the earth!” If one follows the MT, then it would appear that the “fruit” of the third line is a metaphorical reference to the king’s people, who flow out from the cities to populate the land (see line 4). Elsewhere in the OT people are sometimes compared to grass that sprouts up from the land (see v. 7, as well as Isa 27:6; Pss 92:7; 103:15). The translation understands a different poetic structural arrangement and, assuming the emendations mentioned in earlier notes, interprets each line of the verse to be a prayer for agricultural abundance.
15 tn Heb “they are juicy and fresh.”
17 tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.
18 tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”
19 tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”
19 tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.
20 tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mit’areh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (’arah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (’alah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.
21 tn Heb “you, your hand.”
22 tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.
23 tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).
24 tn Or “peoples.”
25 tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.
23 sn The metaphor of the fruitful vine pictures the wife as fertile; she will give her husband numerous children (see the next line).
24 tn One could translate “sons” (see Ps 127:3 and the note on the word “sons” there), but here the term seems to refer more generally to children of both genders.
25 tn Some consider אֲשֶׁר (’asher) problematic, but here it probably indicates the anticipated consequence of the preceding request. (For other examples of אֲשֶׁר indicating purpose/result, see BDB 83 s.v. and HALOT 99 s.v.) If the psalmist – who appears to be a Davidic king preparing to fight a battle (see vv. 10-11) – is victorious, the whole nation will be spared invasion and defeat (see v. 14) and can flourish. Some prefer to emend the form to אַשְׁרֵי (“how blessed [are our sons]”). A suffixed noun sometimes follows אַשְׁרֵי (’ashrey; see 1 Kgs 10:8; Prov 20:7), but the presence of a comparative element (see “like plants”) after the suffixed noun makes the proposed reading too awkward syntactically.
26 tn Heb “grown up in their youth.” The translation assumes that “grown up” modifies “plants” (just as “carved” modifies “corner pillars” in the second half of the verse). Another option is to take “grown up” as a predicate in relation to “our sons,” in which case one might translate, “they will be strapping youths.”
27 tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here and in Zech 9:15, where it refers to the corners of an altar.
28 tn Heb “carved [in] the pattern of a palace.”