Psalms 16:6

16:6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields

or received a beautiful tract of land. ¹ 

Psalms 44:9

44:9 But ²  you rejected and embarrassed us!

You did not go into battle with our armies. ³ 

Psalms 89:21

89:21 My hand will support him, ⁴ 

and my arm will strengthen him.

Psalms 89:27

89:27 I will appoint him to be my firstborn son, ⁵ 

the most exalted of the earth’s kings.

Psalms 89:43

89:43 You turn back ⁶  his sword from the adversary, ⁷ 

and have not sustained him in battle. ⁸ 

Psalms 106:40

106:40 So the Lord was angry with his people ⁹ 

and despised the people who belong to him. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 115:6

115:6 ears, but cannot hear,

noses, but cannot smell,

[16:6]  ¹ tn Heb “measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant [places]; yes, property [or “an inheritance”] is beautiful for me.” On the dative use of עַל, see BDB 758 s.v. II.8. Extending the metaphor used in v. 5, the psalmist compares the divine blessings he has received to a rich, beautiful tract of land that one might receive by allotment or inheritance.

[44:9]  ² tn The particle אַף (’af, “but”) is used here as a strong adversative contrasting the following statement with what precedes.

[44:9]  ³ tn Heb “you did not go out with our armies.” The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[89:21]  ³ tn Heb “with whom my hand will be firm.”

[89:27]  ⁴ sn The firstborn son typically had special status and received special privileges.

[89:43]  ⁵ tn The perfect verbal form predominates in vv. 38-45. The use of the imperfect in this one instance may be for rhetorical effect. The psalmist briefly lapses into dramatic mode, describing the king’s military defeat as if it were happening before his very eyes.

[89:43]  ⁶ tc Heb “you turn back, rocky summit, his sword.” The Hebrew term צוּר (tsur, “rocky summit”) makes no sense here, unless it is a divine title understood as vocative, “you turn back, O Rocky Summit, his sword.” Some emend the form to צֹר (tsor, “flint”) on the basis of Josh 5:2, which uses the phrase חַרְבוֹת צֻרִים (kharvot tsurim, “flint knives”). The noun צֹר (tsor, “flint”) can then be taken as “flint-like edge,” indicating the sharpness of the sword. Others emend the form to אָחוֹר (’akhor, “backward”) or to מִצַּר (mitsar, “from the adversary”). The present translation reflects the latter, assuming an original reading תָּשִׁיב מִצָּר חַרְבּוֹ (tashiv mitsar kharbo), which was corrupted to תָּשִׁיב צָר חַרְבּוֹ (tashiv tsar kharbo) by virtual haplography (confusion of bet/mem is well-attested) with צָר (tsar, “adversary”) then being misinterpreted as צוּר in the later tradition.

[89:43]  ⁷ tn Heb “and you have not caused him to stand in the battle.”

[106:40]  ⁶ tn Heb “the anger of the Lord burned against his people.”

[106:40]  ⁷ tn Heb “his inheritance.”