Discovery BoxPsalms 106:18-48
Context106:18 Fire burned their group;
the flames scorched the wicked. 1
106:19 They made an image of a calf at Horeb,
and worshiped a metal idol.
106:20 They traded their majestic God 2
for the image of an ox that eats grass.
106:21 They rejected 3 the God who delivered them,
the one who performed great deeds in Egypt,
106:22 amazing feats in the land of Ham,
mighty 4 acts by the Red Sea.
106:23 He threatened 5 to destroy them,
but 6 Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him 7
and turned back his destructive anger. 8
106:24 They rejected the fruitful land; 9
they did not believe his promise. 10
106:25 They grumbled in their tents; 11
they did not obey 12 the Lord.
106:26 So he made a solemn vow 13
that he would make them die 14 in the desert,
106:27 make their descendants 15 die 16 among the nations,
and scatter them among foreign lands. 17
106:28 They worshiped 18 Baal of Peor,
and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. 19
106:29 They made the Lord angry 20 by their actions,
and a plague broke out among them.
106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, 21
and the plague subsided.
106:31 This brought him a reward,
an eternal gift. 22
106:32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,
and Moses suffered 23 because of them,
106:33 for they aroused 24 his temper, 25
and he spoke rashly. 26
106:34 They did not destroy the nations, 27
as the Lord had commanded them to do.
106:35 They mixed in with the nations
and learned their ways. 28
106:36 They worshiped 29 their idols,
which became a snare to them. 30
106:37 They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons. 31
106:38 They shed innocent blood –
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted by bloodshed. 32
106:39 They were defiled by their deeds,
and unfaithful in their actions. 33
106:40 So the Lord was angry with his people 34
and despised the people who belong to him. 35
106:41 He handed them over to 36 the nations,
and those who hated them ruled over them.
106:42 Their enemies oppressed them;
they were subject to their authority. 37
106:43 Many times he delivered 38 them,
but they had a rebellious attitude, 39
and degraded themselves 40 by their sin.
106:44 Yet he took notice of their distress,
when he heard their cry for help.
106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,
and relented 41 because of his great loyal love.
106:46 He caused all their conquerors 42
to have pity on them.
106:47 Deliver us, O Lord, our God!
Gather us from among the nations!
Then we will give thanks 43 to your holy name,
and boast about your praiseworthy deeds. 44
106:48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise, 45
in the future and forevermore. 46
[106:18] 1 sn Verses 16-18 describe the events of Num 16:1-40.
[106:20] 2 tn Heb “their glory.” According to an ancient Hebrew scribal tradition, the text originally read “his glory” or “my glory.” In Jer 2:11 the
[106:22] 4 tn Or “awe-inspiring.”
[106:23] 5 tn Heb “and he said.”
[106:23] 6 tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”
[106:23] 7 tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”
[106:23] 8 tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”
[106:24] 9 tn Heb “a land of delight” (see also Jer 3:19; Zech 7:14).
[106:24] 10 tn Heb “his word.”
[106:25] 11 sn They grumbled in their tents. See Deut 1:27.
[106:25] 12 tn Heb “did not listen to the voice of.”
[106:26] 13 tn Heb “and he lifted his hand to [or “concerning”] them.” The idiom “to lift a hand” here refers to swearing an oath. One would sometimes solemnly lift one’s hand when making such a vow (see Ezek 20:5-6, 15).
[106:26] 14 tn Heb “to cause them to fall.”
[106:27] 15 tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
[106:27] 16 tn Heb “and to cause their offspring to fall.” Some emend the verb to “scatter” to form tighter parallelism with the following line (cf. NRSV “disperse”).
[106:27] 17 tn Heb “among the lands.” The word “foreign” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
[106:28] 18 tn Heb “joined themselves to.”
[106:28] 19 tn Here “the dead” may refer to deceased ancestors (see Deut 26:14). Another option is to understand the term as a derogatory reference to the various deities which the Israelites worshiped at Peor along with Baal (see Num 25:2 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 49).
[106:29] 20 tn Heb “They made angry [him].” The pronominal suffix is omitted here, but does appear in a few medieval Hebrew
[106:30] 21 sn The intervention of Phinehas is recounted in Num 25:7-8.
[106:31] 22 tn Heb “and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to a generation and a generation forever.” The verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon”) is collocated with צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) only in Ps 106:31 and Gen 15:6, where God rewards Abram’s faith with a land grant.
[106:32] 23 tn Heb “there was harm to Moses.”
[106:33] 24 tn The Hebrew text vocalizes the form as הִמְרוּ (himru), a Hiphil from מָרָה (marah, “to behave rebelliously”), but the verb fits better with the object (“his spirit”) if it is revocalized as הֵמֵרוּ (hemeru), a Hiphil from מָרַר (marar, “to be bitter”). The Israelites “embittered” Moses’ “spirit” in the sense that they aroused his temper with their complaints.
[106:33] 25 tn Heb “his spirit.”
[106:33] 26 tn The Hebrew text adds “with his lips,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[106:34] 27 tn That is, the nations of Canaan.
[106:35] 28 tn Heb “their deeds.”
[106:36] 30 sn Became a snare. See Exod 23:33; Judg 2:3.
[106:37] 31 tn The Hebrew term שֵׁדִים (shedim, “demons”) occurs only here and in Deut 32:17. Some type of lesser deity is probably in view.
[106:38] 32 sn Num 35:33-34 explains that bloodshed defiles a land.
[106:39] 33 tn Heb “and they committed adultery in their actions.” This means that they were unfaithful to the
[106:40] 34 tn Heb “the anger of the
[106:40] 35 tn Heb “his inheritance.”
[106:41] 36 tn Heb “gave them into the hand of.”
[106:42] 37 tn Heb “they were subdued under their hand.”
[106:43] 38 tn The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“he would deliver”).
[106:43] 39 tn Heb “but they rebelled in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“they would have a rebellious attitude”).
[106:43] 40 tn Heb “they sank down.” The Hebrew verb מָכַךְ (makhakh, “to lower; to sink”) occurs only here in the Qal.
[106:45] 41 tn The Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) refers here to God relenting from a punishment already underway.
[106:47] 43 tn Heb “to give thanks.” The infinitive construct indicates result after the imperative.
[106:47] 44 tn Heb “to boast in your praise.”
[106:48] 45 tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.
[106:48] 46 tn Heb “from everlasting to everlasting.”
[106:48] 47 tn Heb “surely” (אָמֵן, ’amen), traditionally transliterated “amen.”
[106:48] 48 sn The final verse (v. 48) is a conclusion to this fourth “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the first, second and third “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52, respectively).
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