43:4 Then I will go 3 to the altar of God,
to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, 4
so that I express my thanks to you, 5 O God, my God, with a harp.
54:1 “Shout for joy, O barren one who has not given birth!
Give a joyful shout and cry out, you who have not been in labor!
For the children of the desolate one are more numerous
than the children of the married woman,” says the Lord.
54:6 “Indeed, the Lord will call you back
like a wife who has been abandoned and suffers from depression, 6
like a young wife when she has been rejected,” says your God.
1 tn Heb “and he will become for you a restorer of life and a sustainer of your old age” (NASB similar).
2 tn Heb “who, she”; KJV “which is better to thee.”
3 tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”
4 tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
5 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.
6 tn Heb “like a woman abandoned and grieved in spirit.”