Psalms 16:5-11

16:5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity; ¹ 

you make my future secure. ² 

16:6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields

or received a beautiful tract of land. ³ 

16:7 I will praise ⁴  the Lord who ⁵  guides ⁶  me;

yes, during the night I reflect and learn. ⁷ 

16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord; ⁸ 

because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.

16:9 So my heart rejoices

and I am happy; ⁹ 

My life is safe. ¹⁰ 

16:10 You will not abandon me ¹¹  to Sheol; ¹² 

you will not allow your faithful follower ¹³  to see ¹⁴  the Pit. ¹⁵ 

16:11 You lead me in ¹⁶  the path of life; ¹⁷ 

I experience absolute joy in your presence; ¹⁸ 

you always give me sheer delight. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 22:23-26

22:23 You loyal followers of the Lord, ²⁰  praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! ²¹ 

22:24 For he did not despise or detest the suffering ²²  of the oppressed; ²³ 

he did not ignore him; ²⁴ 

when he cried out to him, he responded. ²⁵ 

22:25 You are the reason I offer praise ²⁶  in the great assembly;

I will fulfill my promises before the Lord’s loyal followers. ²⁷ 

22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! ²⁸ 

Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!

May you ²⁹  live forever!

Psalms 145:1-2

Psalm 145 ³⁰ 

A psalm of praise, by David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God, O king!

I will praise your name continually! ³¹ 

145:2 Every day I will praise you!

I will praise your name continually! ³² 

Hebrews 11:16

11:16 But as it is, ³³  they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

[16:5]  ¹ tn Heb “O Lord, the portion of my possession and my cup”; or “the Lord [is] the portion of my possession and my cup.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel, and to a cup of wine, which may symbolize a reward (in Ps 11:6 it symbolizes the judgment one deserves) or divine blessing (see Ps 23:5). The metaphor highlights the fact that God is the psalmist’s source of security and prosperity.

[16:5]  ² tc Heb “you take hold of my lot.” The form תּוֹמִיךְ (tomikh) should be emended to a participle, תוֹמֵךְ (tomekh). The psalmist pictures the Lord as casting his lot (a method used to allot landed property) for him, thus assuring that he will receive a fertile piece of land (see v. 6). As in the previous line, land represents security and economic stability, thus “you make my future secure.”

[16:6]  ³ tn Heb “measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant [places]; yes, property [or “an inheritance”] is beautiful for me.” On the dative use of עַל, see BDB 758 s.v. II.8. Extending the metaphor used in v. 5, the psalmist compares the divine blessings he has received to a rich, beautiful tract of land that one might receive by allotment or inheritance.

[16:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “bless,” that is, “proclaim as worthy of praise.”

[16:7]  ⁵ tn Or “because.”

[16:7]  ⁶ tn Or “counsels, advises.”

[16:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “yes, [during] nights my kidneys instruct [or “correct”] me.” The “kidneys” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s moral character (see Ps 26:2). In the quiet darkness the Lord speaks to his inner being, as it were, and enables him to grow in moral understanding.

[16:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “I set the Lord before me continually.” This may mean that the psalmist is aware of the Lord’s presence and sensitive to his moral guidance (see v. 7), or that he trusts in the Lord’s protection (see the following line).

[16:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “my glory is happy.” Some view the Hebrew term כְּבוֹדִי (kÿvodiy, “my glory”) as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 30:12; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”

[16:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “yes, my flesh dwells securely.” The psalmist’s “flesh” stands by metonymy for his body and, by extension, his physical life.

[16:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[16:10]  ¹² sn In ancient Israelite cosmology Sheol is the realm of the dead, viewed as being under the earth’s surface. See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 165-76.

[16:10]  ¹³ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד [khasid], traditionally rendered “holy one”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10). The psalmist here refers to himself, as the parallel line (“You will not abandon me to Sheol”) indicates.

[16:10]  ¹⁴ tn That is, “experience.” The psalmist is confident that the Lord will protect him in his present crisis (see v. 1) and prevent him from dying.

[16:10]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew word שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 30:9; 49:9; 55:24; 103:4). Note the parallelism with the previous line.

[16:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “cause me to know”; or “cause me to experience.”

[16:11]  ¹⁷ tn This is a metaphorical way of saying, “you preserve my life.” The phrase “path of life” stands in contrast to death/Sheol in Prov 2:18-19; 5:5-6; 15:24.

[16:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “abundance of joy [is] with your face.” The plural form of the noun שִׂמְחָה (simkhah, “joy”) occurs only here and in Ps 45:15. It may emphasize the degree of joy experienced.

[16:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “delight [is] in your right hand forever.” The plural form of the adjective נָעִים (na’im, “pleasant, delightful”) may here emphasize the degree of delight experienced (see Job 36:11).

[22:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[22:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “fear him.”

[22:24]  ²² tn Or “affliction”; or “need.”

[22:24]  ²³ sn In this verse the psalmist refers to himself in the third person and characterizes himself as oppressed.

[22:24]  ²⁴ tn Heb “he did not hide his face from him.” For other uses of the idiom “hide the face” meaning “ignore,” see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9. Sometimes the idiom carries the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 27:9; 88:14).

[22:24]  ²⁵ tn Heb “heard.”

[22:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from with you [is] my praise.”

[22:25]  ²⁷ tn Heb “my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.” When asking the Lord for help, the psalmists would typically promise to praise the Lord publicly if he intervened and delivered them.

[22:26]  ²⁸ sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.

[22:26]  ²⁹ tn Heb “may your heart[s].”

[145:1]  ³⁰ sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ³¹ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[145:2]  ³² tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[11:16]  ³³ tn Grk “now.”