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 48:2

48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, ⁵ 

a source of joy to the whole earth. ⁶ 

Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; ⁷ 

it is the city of the great king.

Psalms 53:6

53:6 I wish the deliverance ⁸  of Israel would come from Zion!

When God restores the well-being of his people, ⁹ 

may Jacob rejoice, ¹⁰ 

may Israel be happy! ¹¹ 

Psalms 133:3

133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon, ¹² 

which flows down upon the hills of Zion. ¹³ 

Indeed ¹⁴  that is where the Lord has decreed

a blessing will be available – eternal life. ¹⁵ 

[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.

[48:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.

[48:2]  ⁶ sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).

[48:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the Lord God of Israel lives and rules over the nations. See P. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 353, and T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 103.

[53:6]  ⁹ tn This refers metonymically to God, the one who lives in Zion and provides deliverance for Israel.

[53:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “turns with a turning [toward] his people.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv).

[53:6]  ¹¹ tn The verb form is jussive.

[53:6]  ¹² tn Because the parallel verb is jussive, this verb, which is ambiguous in form, should be taken as a jussive as well.

[133:3]  ¹³ sn Hermon refers to Mount Hermon, located north of Israel.

[133:3]  ¹⁴ sn The hills of Zion are those surrounding Zion (see Pss 87:1; 125:2). The psalmist does not intend to suggest that the dew from Mt. Hermon in the distant north actually flows down upon Zion. His point is that the same kind of heavy dew that replenishes Hermon may also be seen on Zion’s hills. See A. Cohen, Psalms (SoBB), 439. “Dew” here symbolizes divine blessing, as the next line suggests.

[133:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

[133:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there the Lord has commanded the blessing, life forever.”