Discovery BoxPsalms 108:1-9
ContextA song, a psalm of David.
108:1 I am determined, 2 O God!
I will sing and praise you with my whole heart. 3
108:2 Awake, O stringed instrument and harp!
I will wake up at dawn! 4
108:3 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord!
I will sing praises to you before foreigners! 5
108:4 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, 6
and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
108:5 Rise up 7 above the sky, O God!
May your splendor cover the whole earth! 8
108:6 Deliver by your power 9 and answer me,
so that the ones you love may be safe. 10
108:7 God has spoken in his sanctuary: 11
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem,
the valley of Succoth I will measure off. 12
108:8 Gilead belongs to me,
as does Manasseh! 13
Ephraim is my helmet, 14
Judah my royal scepter. 15
108:9 Moab is my wash basin. 16
I will make Edom serve me. 17
I will shout in triumph over Philistia.”
[108:1] 1 sn Psalm 108. With some minor variations, this psalm is a composite of Ps 57:7-11 (see vv. 1-5) and Ps 60:5-12 (see vv. 6-13).
[108:1] 2 tn Or perhaps “confident”; Heb “my heart is steadfast.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and/or emotions.
[108:1] 3 tn Heb “also my glory,” but this makes little sense in the context. Some view the term כָּבוֹד (“glory”) here 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 (kÿvodiy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 30:12; 57:9; as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 3:93. 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.”
[108:2] 4 tn BDB 1007 s.v. שַׁחַר takes “dawn” as an adverbial accusative, though others understand it as a personified direct object. “Dawn” is used metaphorically for the time of deliverance and vindication the psalmist anticipates. When salvation “dawns,” the psalmist will “wake up” in praise.
[108:3] 5 tn Or “the peoples.”
[108:4] 6 tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”
[108:5] 8 tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)
[108:6] 9 tn Heb “right hand.”
[108:6] 10 tn Or “may be rescued.” The lines are actually reversed in the Hebrew text: “So that the ones you love may be rescued, deliver by your power and answer me.”
[108:7] 11 tn Heb “in his holy place.”
[108:7] 12 sn Shechem stands for the territory west of the Jordan River; the valley of Succoth represents the region east of the Jordan.
[108:8] 13 tn Gilead was located east of the Jordan River. Half of the tribe of Manasseh lived east of the Jordan in the region of Bashan.
[108:8] 14 tn Heb “the protection of my head.”
[108:8] 15 sn Judah, like Ephraim, was the other major tribe west of the Jordan River. The Davidic king, symbolized here by the royal scepter, came from this tribe.
[108:9] 16 sn The metaphor of the wash basin, used to rinse one’s hands and feet, suggests that Moab, in contrast to Israel’s elevated position (vv. 7-8), would be reduced to the status of a servant.
[108:9] 17 tn Heb “over Edom I will throw my sandal.” The point of the metaphor is not entirely clear. Some interpret this as idiomatic for “taking possession of.” Others translate עַל (’al) as “to” and understand this as referring to a master throwing his dirty sandal to a servant so that the latter might dust it off.
