Psalms 106:30-33

106:30 Phinehas took a stand and intervened, ¹ 

and the plague subsided.

106:31 This brought him a reward,

an eternal gift. ² 

106:32 They made him angry by the waters of Meribah,

and Moses suffered ³  because of them,

106:33 for they aroused ⁴  his temper, ⁵ 

and he spoke rashly. ⁶ 

[106:30]  ¹ sn The intervention of Phinehas is recounted in Num 25:7-8.

[106:31]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “there was harm to Moses.”

[106:33]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “his spirit.”

[106:33]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds “with his lips,” but this has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.