Psalms 115:1--117:2

Psalm 115 ¹ 

115:1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us!

But to your name bring honor, ² 

for the sake of your loyal love and faithfulness. ³ 

115:2 Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

115:3 Our God is in heaven!

He does whatever he pleases! ⁴ 

115:4 Their ⁵  idols are made of silver and gold –

they are man-made. ⁶ 

115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but cannot see,

115:6 ears, but cannot hear,

noses, but cannot smell,

115:7 hands, but cannot touch,

feet, but cannot walk.

They cannot even clear their throats. ⁷ 

115:8 Those who make them will end up ⁸  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

115:9 O Israel, trust in the Lord!

He is their deliverer ⁹  and protector. ¹⁰ 

115:10 O family ¹¹  of Aaron, trust in the Lord!

He is their deliverer ¹²  and protector. ¹³ 

115:11 You loyal followers of the Lord, ¹⁴  trust in the Lord!

He is their deliverer ¹⁵  and protector. ¹⁶ 

115:12 The Lord takes notice of us, ¹⁷  he will bless ¹⁸  –

he will bless the family ¹⁹  of Israel,

he will bless the family of Aaron.

115:13 He will bless his loyal followers, ²⁰ 

both young and old. ²¹ 

115:14 May he increase your numbers,

yours and your children’s! ²² 

115:15 May you be blessed by the Lord,

the creator ²³  of heaven and earth!

115:16 The heavens belong to the Lord, ²⁴ 

but the earth he has given to mankind. ²⁵ 

115:17 The dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death. ²⁶ 

115:18 But we will praise the Lord

now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 116 ²⁷ 

116:1 I love the Lord

because he heard my plea for mercy, ²⁸ 

116:2 and listened to me. ²⁹ 

As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. ³⁰ 

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ³¹ 

the snares ³²  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ³³  with trouble and sorrow.

116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,

“Please Lord, rescue my life!”

116:5 The Lord is merciful and fair;

our God is compassionate.

116:6 The Lord protects ³⁴  the untrained; ³⁵ 

I was in serious trouble ³⁶  and he delivered me.

116:7 Rest once more, my soul, ³⁷ 

for the Lord has vindicated you. ³⁸ 

116:8 Yes, ³⁹  Lord, ⁴⁰  you rescued my life from death,

and kept my feet from stumbling.

116:9 I will serve ⁴¹  the Lord

in the land ⁴²  of the living.

116:10 I had faith when I said,

“I am severely oppressed.”

116:11 I rashly declared, ⁴³ 

“All men are liars.”

116:12 How can I repay the Lord

for all his acts of kindness to me?

116:13 I will celebrate my deliverance, ⁴⁴ 

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people.

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers. ⁴⁵ 

116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;

I am your lowest slave. ⁴⁶ 

You saved me from death. ⁴⁷ 

116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people,

116:19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Psalm 117 ⁴⁸ 

117:1 Praise the Lord, all you nations!

Applaud him, all you foreigners! ⁴⁹ 

117:2 For his loyal love towers ⁵⁰  over us,

and the Lord’s faithfulness endures.

Praise the Lord!

[115:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 115. The psalmist affirms that Israel’s God is superior to pagan idols and urges Israel to place their confidence in him.

[115:1]  ² tn Or “give glory.”

[115:1]  ³ sn The psalmist asks the Lord to demonstrate his loyal love and faithfulness, not simply so Israel may benefit, but primarily so that the Lord will receive honor among the nations, who will recognize, contrary to their present view (see v. 2), that Israel’s God is committed to his people.

[115:3]  ⁴ sn He does whatever he pleases. Such sovereignty is characteristic of kings (see Eccl 8:3).

[115:4]  ⁵ tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).

[115:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[115:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).

[115:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”

[115:9]  ⁹ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[115:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and their shield.”

[115:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[115:10]  ¹² tn Or “[source of] help.”

[115:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and their shield.”

[115:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[115:11]  ¹⁵ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[115:11]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and their shield.”

[115:12]  ¹⁷ tn Or “remembers us.”

[115:12]  ¹⁸ tn Another option is to translate the prefixed form of the verb “bless” in vv. 12-13 as a jussive, “may he bless” (see v. 14).

[115:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “house.”

[115:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the fearers of the Lord.”

[115:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “the small along with the great.” The translation assumes that “small” and “great” here refer to age (see 2 Chr 15:13). Another option is to translate “both the insignificant and the prominent” (see Job 3:19; cf. NEB “high and low alike”).

[115:14]  ²² tn Heb “may he add to you, to you and your sons.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating this is a prayer.

[115:15]  ²³ tn Or “maker.”

[115:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord.”

[115:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to the sons of man.”

[115:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).

[116:1]  ²⁷ sn Psalm 116. The psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him from a life threatening crisis and promises to tell the entire covenant community what God has done for him.

[116:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3-4).

[116:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”

[116:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”

[116:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ³² tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.

[116:3]  ³³ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.

[116:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.

[116:6]  ³⁵ tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.

[116:6]  ³⁶ tn Heb “I was low.”

[116:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”

[116:7]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).

[116:8]  ³⁹ tn Or “for.”

[116:8]  ⁴⁰ tn “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.

[116:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “walk before” (see Ps 56:13). On the meaning of the Hebrew idiom, see the notes at 2 Kgs 20:3/Isa 38:3.

[116:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “lands, regions.”

[116:11]  ⁴³ tn Heb “I said in my haste.”

[116:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “a cup of deliverance I will lift up.” Perhaps this alludes to a drink offering the psalmist will present as he thanks the Lord for his deliverance. See v. 17.

[116:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.

[116:16]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.

[116:16]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).

[117:1]  ⁴⁸ sn Psalm 117. The psalmist tells the nations to praise the Lord for his loyal love and faithfulness.

[117:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “peoples” (see Ps 108:3).

[117:2]  ⁵⁰ tn For this sense of the Hebrew verb גָּבַר (gavar), see Ps 103:11 and L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.