Psalms 14:7

14:7 I wish the deliverance ¹  of Israel would come from Zion!

When the Lord restores the well-being of his people, ² 

may Jacob rejoice, ³ 

may Israel be happy! ⁴ 

Psalms 35:10

35:10 With all my strength I will say, ⁵ 

“O Lord, who can compare to you?

You rescue ⁶  the oppressed from those who try to overpower them; ⁷ 

the oppressed and needy from those who try to rob them.” ⁸ 

Psalms 39:6

39:6 Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. ⁹ 

Surely they accumulate worthless wealth

without knowing who will eventually haul it away.” ¹⁰ 

Psalms 53:6

53:6 I wish the deliverance ¹¹  of Israel would come from Zion!

When God restores the well-being of his people, ¹² 

may Jacob rejoice, ¹³ 

may Israel be happy! ¹⁴ 

[14:7]  ¹ sn The deliverance of Israel. This refers metonymically to God, the one who lives in Zion and provides deliverance for Israel.

[14:7]  ² tn Heb “turns with a turning [toward] his people.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv).

[14:7]  ³ tn The verb form is jussive.

[14:7]  ⁴ tn Because the parallel verb is jussive, this verb, which is ambiguous in form, should be taken as a jussive as well.

[35:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “all my bones will say.”

[35:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the one who] rescues.” The substantival participle in the Hebrew text characterizes God as one who typically rescues the oppressed.

[35:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “from [the one who is] too strong for him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense. The typical oppressed individual and typical oppressor are in view.

[35:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “the oppressed [one] and needy [one] from [the one who] robs him.” As in the previous line, the singular forms are used in a representative sense.

[39:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “surely, as an image man walks about.” The preposition prefixed to “image” indicates identity here.

[39:6]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “Surely [in] vain they strive, he accumulates and does not know who gathers them.” The MT as it stands is syntactically awkward. The verb forms switch from singular (“walks about”) to plural (“they strive”) and then back to singular (“accumulates and does not know”), even though the subject (generic “man”) remains the same. Furthermore there is no object for the verb “accumulates” and no plural antecedent for the plural pronoun (“them”) attached to “gathers.” These problems can be removed if one emends the text from הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן (hevel yehemaun, “[in] vain they strive”) to הֶבְלֵי הָמוֹן (hevley hamon, “vain things of wealth”). This assumes a misdivision in the MT and a virtual dittography of vav (ו) between the mem and nun of המון. The present translation follows this emendation.

[53:6]  ¹³ tn This refers metonymically to God, the one who lives in Zion and provides deliverance for Israel.

[53:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “turns with a turning [toward] his people.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv).

[53:6]  ¹⁵ tn The verb form is jussive.

[53:6]  ¹⁶ tn Because the parallel verb is jussive, this verb, which is ambiguous in form, should be taken as a jussive as well.