Psalms 27:4-6

27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –

this is what I desire!

I want to live ¹  in the Lord’s house ²  all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the splendor ³  of the Lord

and contemplate in his temple.

27:5 He will surely ⁴  give me shelter ⁵  in the day of danger; ⁶ 

he will hide me in his home; ⁷ 

he will place me ⁸  on an inaccessible rocky summit. ⁹ 

27:6 Now I will triumph

over my enemies who surround me! ¹⁰ 

I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! ¹¹ 

I will sing praises to the Lord!

Psalms 28:7-8

28:7 The Lord strengthens and protects me; ¹² 

I trust in him with all my heart. ¹³ 

I am rescued ¹⁴  and my heart is full of joy; ¹⁵ 

I will sing to him in gratitude. ¹⁶ 

28:8 The Lord strengthens his people; ¹⁷ 

he protects and delivers his chosen king. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 43:2-4

43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. ¹⁹ 

Why do you reject me? ²⁰ 

Why must I walk around ²¹  mourning ²² 

because my enemies oppress me?

43:3 Reveal ²³  your light ²⁴  and your faithfulness!

They will lead me, ²⁵ 

they will escort ²⁶  me back to your holy hill, ²⁷ 

and to the place where you live. ²⁸ 

43:4 Then I will go ²⁹  to the altar of God,

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ³⁰ 

so that I express my thanks to you, ³¹  O God, my God, with a harp.

[27:4]  ¹ tn Heb “my living.”

[27:4]  ² sn The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).

[27:4]  ³ tn Or “beauty.”

[27:5]  ⁴ tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.

[27:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”

[27:5]  ⁶ tn Or “trouble.”

[27:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “tent.”

[27:5]  ⁸ tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.

[27:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “on a rocky summit he lifts me up.” The Lord places the psalmist in an inaccessible place where his enemies cannot reach him. See Ps 18:2.

[27:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”

[27:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).

[28:7]  ¹² tn Heb “The Lord [is] my strength and my shield.”

[28:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “in him my heart trusts.”

[28:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “I am helped.”

[28:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and my heart exults.”

[28:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and from my song I will thank him.” As pointed in the Hebrew text, מִשִּׁירִי (mishiri) appears to be “from my song,” but the preposition “from” never occurs elsewhere with the verb “to thank” (Hiphil of יָדָה, yadah). Perhaps משׁיר is a noun form meaning “song.” If so, it can be taken as an adverbial accusative, “and [with] my song I will thank him.” See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 236.

[28:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the Lord [is] strength to them” (or perhaps, “to him”). The form לָמוֹ (lamo, “to them/him”) is probably a corruption of an original לְעַמוֹ (lÿ’amo, “to his people”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 236), perhaps due to quiescence of the letter ayin (ע; see P. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 55). Note the reference to the Lord’s “people” in the next verse.

[28:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he [is] a refuge of help for his anointed one.” The noun מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh, “anointed one”) refers to the Davidic king, who perhaps speaks as representative of the nation in this psalm. See Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 84:9; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17.

[43:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.

[43:2]  ²⁰ tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).

[43:2]  ²¹ tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.

[43:2]  ²² sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.

[43:3]  ²³ tn Heb “send.”

[43:3]  ²⁴ sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.

[43:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.

[43:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “bring.”

[43:3]  ²⁷ sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.

[43:3]  ²⁸ tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the Lord’s special dwelling place (see Pss 46:4; 84:1; 132:5, 7).

[43:4]  ²⁹ 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.”

[43:4]  ³⁰ 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.

[43:4]  ³¹ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.