Psalms 46:5

46:5 God lives within it, ¹  it cannot be moved. ² 

God rescues it ³  at the break of dawn. ⁴ 

Psalms 143:7-9

143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!

My strength is fading. ⁵ 

Do not reject me, ⁶ 

or I will join ⁷  those descending into the grave. ⁸ 

143:8 May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, ⁹ 

for I trust in you.

Show me the way I should go, ¹⁰ 

because I long for you. ¹¹ 

143:9 Rescue me from my enemies, O Lord!

I run to you for protection. ¹² 

Psalms 143:2

143:2 Do not sit in judgment on ¹³  your servant,

for no one alive is innocent before you. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 2:3

2:3 They say, ¹⁵  “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! ¹⁶ 

Let’s free ourselves from ¹⁷  their ropes!”

Psalms 3:8

3:8 The Lord delivers; ¹⁸ 

you show favor to your people. ¹⁹  (Selah)

Psalms 3:1

Psalm 3 ²⁰ 

A psalm of David, written when he fled from his son Absalom. ²¹ 

3:1 Lord, how ²²  numerous are my enemies!

Many attack me. ²³ 

[46:5]  ¹ tn Heb “God [is] within her.” The feminine singular pronoun refers to the city mentioned in v. 4.

[46:5]  ² tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “it will not be upended.” Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense. The verb מוֹט (mot), translated “upended” here, is used in v. 2 of the mountains “tumbling” into the seas and in v. 6 of nations being “upended.” By way of contrast, Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, is secure and immune from such turmoil and destruction.

[46:5]  ³ tn Or “helps her.” The imperfect draws attention to the generalizing character of the statement.

[46:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “at the turning of morning.” (For other uses of the expression see Exod 14:27 and Judg 19:26).

[143:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”

[143:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[143:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[143:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.

[143:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “cause me to hear in the morning your loyal love.” Here “loyal love” probably stands metonymically for an oracle of assurance promising God’s intervention as an expression of his loyal love.

[143:8]  ¹⁰ sn The way probably refers here to God’s moral and ethical standards and requirements (see v. 10).

[143:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for to you I lift up my life.” The Hebrew expression נָאָשׂ נֶפֶשׁ (na’as nefesh, “to lift up [one’s] life”) means “to desire; to long for” (see Deut 24:15; Prov 19:18; Jer 22:27; 44:14; Hos 4:8, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 16).

[143:9]  ¹² tn Heb “to you I cover,” which makes no sense. The translation assumes an emendation to נַסְתִּי (nastiy, “I flee,” a Qal perfect, first singular form from נוּס, nos). Confusion of kaf (כ) and nun (נ) is attested elsewhere (see P. K. McCarter, Textual Criticism [GBS], 48). The collocation of נוּס (“flee”) with אֶל (’el, “to”) is well-attested.

[143:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

[143:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”

[2:3]  ¹⁵ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The quotation represents the words of the rebellious kings.

[2:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “their (i.e., the Lord’s and the king’s) shackles.” The kings compare the rule of the Lord and his vice-regent to being imprisoned.

[2:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “throw off from us.”

[3:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to the Lord [is] deliverance.”

[3:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “upon your people [is] your blessing.” In this context God’s “blessing” includes deliverance/protection, vindication, and sustained life (see Pss 21:3, 6; 24:5).

[3:1]  ²⁰ sn Psalm 3. The psalmist acknowledges that he is confronted by many enemies (vv. 1-2). But, alluding to a divine oracle he has received (vv. 4-5), he affirms his confidence in God’s ability to protect him (vv. 3, 6) and requests that God make his promise a reality (vv. 7-8).

[3:1]  ²¹ sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).

[3:1]  ²² tn The Hebrew term מָה (mah, “how”) is used here as an adverbial exclamation (see BDB 553 s.v.).

[3:1]  ²³ tn Heb “many rise up against me.”