Discovery BoxPsalms 18:20
Context18:20 The Lord repaid 1 me for my godly deeds; 2
he rewarded 3 my blameless behavior. 4
Psalms 18:34
Context18:34 He trains my hands for battle; 5
my arms can bend even the strongest bow. 6
Psalms 63:10
Context63:10 Each one will be handed over to the sword; 7
their corpses will be eaten by jackals. 8
Psalms 81:14
Context81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and attack 9 their adversaries.”
Psalms 89:21
Context89:21 My hand will support him, 10
and my arm will strengthen him.
Psalms 135:15
Context135:15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold,
they are man-made. 11
Psalms 143:6
Context
[18:20] 1 tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect.
[18:20] 2 tn Heb “according to my righteousness.” As vv. 22-24 make clear, the psalmist refers here to his unwavering obedience to God’s commands. In these verses the psalmist explains that the
[18:20] 3 tn The unreduced Hiphil prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, in which case the psalmist would be generalizing. However, both the preceding and following contexts (see especially v. 24) suggest he is narrating his experience. Despite its unreduced form, the verb is better taken as a preterite. For other examples of unreduced Hiphil preterites, see Pss 55:14a; 68:9a, 10b; 80:8a; 89:43a; 107:38b; 116:6b.
[18:20] 4 tn Heb “according to the purity of my hands he repaid to me.” “Hands” suggest activity and behavior.
[18:34] 5 sn He trains my hands. The psalmist attributes his skill with weapons to divine enablement. Egyptian reliefs picture gods teaching the king how to shoot a bow. See O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 265.
[18:34] 6 tn Heb “and a bow of bronze is bent by my arms”; or “my arms bend a bow of bronze.” The verb נָחַת (nakhat) apparently means “pull back, bend” here (see HALOT 692 s.v. נחת). The third feminine singular verbal form appears to agree with the feminine singular noun קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”). In this case the verb must be taken as Niphal (passive). However, it is possible that “my arms” is the subject of the verb and “bow” the object. In this case the verb is Piel (active). For other examples of a feminine singular verb being construed with a plural noun, see GKC 464 §145.k.
[63:10] 9 tn Heb “they will deliver him over to the sword.” The third masculine plural subject must be indefinite (see GKC 460 §144.f) and the singular pronominal suffix either representative or distributive (emphasizing that each one will be so treated). Active verbs with indefinite subjects may be translated as passives with the object (in the Hebrew text) as subject (in the translation).
[63:10] 10 tn Heb “they will be [the] portion of jackals”; traditionally, “of foxes.”
[81:14] 13 tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).
[89:21] 17 tn Heb “with whom my hand will be firm.”
[135:15] 21 tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
[143:6] 25 tn The words “in prayer” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the psalmist is referring to a posture of prayer.
[143:6] 26 tn Heb “faint” or “weary.” See Ps 63:1.
[143:6] 27 tc Heb “my soul like a faint land for you.” A verb (perhaps “thirsts”) is implied (see Ps 63:1). The translation assumes an emendation of the preposition -כְּ (kÿ, “like”) to -בְּ (bÿ, “in,” see Ps 63:1; cf. NEB “athirst for thee in a thirsty land”). If the MT is retained, one might translate, “my soul thirsts for you, as a parched land does for water/rain” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
