Psalms 118:22-26

118:22 The stone which the builders discarded ¹ 

has become the cornerstone. ² 

118:23 This is the Lord’s work.

We consider it amazing! ³ 

118:24 This is the day the Lord has brought about. ⁴ 

We will be happy and rejoice in it.

118:25 Please Lord, deliver!

Please Lord, grant us success! ⁵ 

118:26 May the one who comes in the name of the Lord ⁶  be blessed!

We will pronounce blessings on you ⁷  in the Lord’s temple. ⁸ 

[118:22]  ¹ tn Or “rejected.”

[118:22]  ² tn Heb “the head of the corner.”

[118:23]  ³ tn Heb “it is amazing in our eyes.” The use of the plural pronoun here and in vv. 24-27 suggests that the psalmist may be speaking for the entire nation. However, it is more likely that vv. 22-27 are the people’s response to the psalmist’s thanksgiving song (see especially v. 26). They rejoice with him because his deliverance on the battlefield (see vv. 10-12) had national repercussions.

[118:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “this is the day the Lord has made.” Though sometimes applied in a general way, this statement in its context refers to the day of deliverance which the psalmist and people celebrate.

[118:25]  ⁷ sn A petition for deliverance and success seems odd in a psalm thanking God for deliverance, but it is not unique (see Ps 9:19-20). The people ask God to continue to intervene for them as he has for the psalmist.

[118:26]  ⁹ sn The people refer here to the psalmist, who enters the Lord’s temple to thank him publicly (see vv. 19-21), as the one who comes in the name of the Lord.

[118:26]  ¹⁰ tn The pronominal suffix is second masculine plural, but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note the mem [מ] at the beginning of the following form) or enclitic, in which case the suffix may be taken as second masculine singular, referring to the psalmist.

[118:26]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the house of the Lord.”