Psalms 132:6

132:6 Look, we heard about it ¹  in Ephrathah, ² 

we found it in the territory of Jaar. ³ 

Psalms 50:10

50:10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,

as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills. ⁴ 

Psalms 83:14

83:14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,

or the flames that consume the mountainsides, ⁵ 

Psalms 96:12

96:12 Let the fields and everything in them celebrate!

Then let the trees of the forest shout with joy

Psalms 104:20

104:20 You make it dark and night comes, ⁶ 

during which all the beasts of the forest prowl around.

[132:6]  ¹ tn Rather than having an antecedent, the third feminine singular pronominal suffix here (and in the next line) appears to refer to the ark of the covenant, mentioned in v. 8. (The Hebrew term אָרוֹן [’aron, “ark”] is sometimes construed as grammatically feminine. See 1 Sam 4:17; 2 Chr 8:11.)

[132:6]  ² sn Some understand Ephrathah as a reference to Kiriath-jearim because of the apparent allusion to this site in the next line (see the note on “Jaar”). The ark was kept in Kiriath-jearim after the Philistines released it (see 1 Sam 6:21-7:2). However, the switch in verbs from “heard about” to “found” suggests that Ephrathah not be equated with Jair. The group who is speaking heard about the ark while they were in Ephrath. They then went to retrieve it from Kiriath-jearim (“Jaar”). It is more likely that Ephrathah refers to a site near Bethel (Gen 35:16, 19; 48:7) or to Bethlehem (Ruth 4:11; Mic 5:2).

[132:6]  ³ tn Heb “fields of the forest.” The Hebrew term יָעַר (ya’ad, “forest”) is apparently a shortened alternative name for קִרְיַת יְעָרִים (qiryat yÿ’arim, “Kiriath-jearim”), the place where the ark was kept after it was released by the Philistines and from which David and his men retrieved it (see 1 Chr 13:6).

[50:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “[the] animals on a thousand hills.” The words “that graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The term בְּהֵמוֹה (bÿhemot, “animal”) refers here to cattle (see Ps 104:14).

[83:14]  ⁷ sn The imagery of fire and flames suggests unrelenting, destructive judgment.

[104:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you make darkness, so that it might be night.”