78:71 He took him away from following the mother sheep, 1
and made him the shepherd of Jacob, his people,
and of Israel, his chosen nation. 2
80:8 You uprooted a vine 3 from Egypt;
you drove out nations and transplanted it.
90:2 Even before the mountains came into existence, 4
or you brought the world into being, 5
you were the eternal God. 6
105:40 They asked for food, 7 and he sent quails;
he satisfied them with food from the sky. 8
1 tn Heb “from after the ewes he brought him.”
2 tn Heb “to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.”
3 sn The vine is here a metaphor for Israel (see Ezek 17:6-10; Hos 10:1).
5 tn Heb “were born.”
6 tn Heb “and you gave birth to the earth and world.” The Polel verbal form in the Hebrew text pictures God giving birth to the world. The LXX and some other ancient textual witnesses assume a polal (passive) verbal form here. In this case the earth becomes the subject of the verb and the verb is understood as third feminine singular rather than second masculine singular.
7 tn Heb “and from everlasting to everlasting you [are] God.” Instead of אֵל (’el, “God”) the LXX reads אַל (’al, “not”) and joins the negative particle to the following verse, making the verb תָּשֵׁב (tashev) a jussive. In this case v. 3a reads as a prayer, “do not turn man back to a low place.” However, taking תָּשֵׁב as a jussive is problematic in light of the following following wayyiqtol form וַתֹּאמֶר (vato’mer, “and you said/say”).
7 tn Heb “he [i.e., his people] asked.” The singular form should probably be emended to a plural שָׁאֲלוּ (sha’alu, “they asked”), the vav (ו) having fallen off by haplography (note the vav at the beginning of the following form).
8 tn Or “bread of heaven.” The reference is to manna (see Exod 16:4, 13-15).