Psalms 110:5-6
Context110:5 O sovereign Lord, 1 at your right hand
he strikes down 2 kings in the day he unleashes his anger. 3
110:6 He executes judgment 4 against 5 the nations;
he fills the valleys with corpses; 6
he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield. 7
Zechariah 1:15
Context1:15 But I am greatly displeased with the nations that take my grace for granted. 8 I was a little displeased with them, but they have only made things worse for themselves.
[110:5] 1 tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew
[110:5] 2 tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.
[110:5] 3 tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”
[110:6] 4 tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 6-7 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though they could be taken as future.
[110:6] 6 tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת(ge’ayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton.
[110:6] 7 tn Heb “he strikes [the verb is מָחַץ (makhats), translated “strikes down” in v. 5] head[s] over a great land.” The Hebrew term רַבָּה (rabbah, “great”) is here used of distance or spatial measurement (see 1 Sam 26:13).
[1:15] 8 tn Or “the nations that are at ease” (so ASV, NRSV). The Hebrew word in question is שַׁאֲנָן (sha’anan) which has the idea of a careless, even arrogant attitude (see BDB 983 s.v. שַׁאֲנָן); cf. NAB “the complacent nations.” Here it suggests that the nations take for granted that God will never punish them just because he hasn't already done so. Thus they presume on the grace and patience of the Lord. The translation attempts to bring out this nuance rather than the more neutral renderings of TEV “nations that enjoy quiet and peace” or NLT “enjoy peace and security.”