Psalms 18:50

18:50 He ¹  gives his chosen king magnificent victories; ² 

he is faithful ³  to his chosen ruler, ⁴ 

to David and his descendants ⁵  forever.” ⁶ 

Psalms 30:12

30:12 So now ⁷  my heart ⁸  will sing to you and not be silent;

O Lord my God, I will always ⁹  give thanks to you.

Psalms 59:17

59:17 You are my source of strength! I will sing praises to you! ¹⁰ 

For God is my refuge, ¹¹  the God who loves me. ¹² 

Psalms 61:8

61:8 Then I will sing praises to your name continually, ¹³ 

as I fulfill ¹⁴  my vows day after day.

Psalms 68:4

68:4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!

Exalt the one who rides on the clouds! ¹⁵ 

For the Lord is his name! ¹⁶ 

Rejoice before him!

Psalms 71:22

71:22 I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument,

praising ¹⁷  your faithfulness, O my God!

I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp,

O Holy One of Israel! ¹⁸ 

Psalms 92:1

Psalm 92 ¹⁹ 

A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.

92:1 It is fitting ²⁰  to thank the Lord,

and to sing praises to your name, O sovereign One! ²¹ 

Psalms 108:1

Psalm 108 ²² 

A song, a psalm of David.

108:1 I am determined, ²³  O God!

I will sing and praise you with my whole heart. ²⁴ 

Psalms 135:3

135:3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good!

Sing praises to his name, for it is pleasant! ²⁵ 

Psalms 144:9

144:9 O God, I will sing a new song to you!

Accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, I will sing praises to you,

Psalms 147:1

Psalm 147 ²⁶ 

147:1 Praise the Lord,

for it is good to sing praises to our God!

Yes, ²⁷  praise is pleasant and appropriate!

[18:50]  ¹ tn Or “the one who.”

[18:50]  ² tn Heb “magnifies the victories of his king.” “His king” refers to the psalmist, the Davidic king whom God has chosen to rule Israel.

[18:50]  ³ tn Heb “[the one who] does loyalty.”

[18:50]  ⁴ tn Heb “his anointed [one],” i.e., the psalmist/Davidic king. See Ps 2:2.

[18:50]  ⁵ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[18:50]  ⁶ sn If David is the author of the psalm (see the superscription), then he here anticipates that God will continue to demonstrate loyalty to his descendants who succeed him. If the author is a later Davidic king, then he views the divine favor he has experienced as the outworking of God’s faithful promises to David his ancestor.

[30:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “so that”; or “in order that.”

[30:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “glory.” Some view כָבוֹד (khavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.” “Heart” is used in the translation above for the sake of English idiom; the expression “my liver sings” would seem odd indeed to the modern reader.

[30:12]  ⁹ tn Or “forever.”

[59:17]  ¹³ tn Heb “my strength, to you I will sing praises.”

[59:17]  ¹⁴ tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[59:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the God of my loyal love.”

[61:8]  ¹⁹ tn Or “forever.”

[61:8]  ²⁰ tn Or perhaps, “and thereby fulfill.” The preposition with the infinitive construct here indicates an accompanying circumstance.

[68:4]  ²⁵ tn Traditionally the Hebrew term עֲרָבוֹת (’aravot) is taken as “steppe-lands” (often rendered “deserts”), but here the form is probably a homonym meaning “clouds.” Verse 33, which depicts God as the one who “rides on the sky” strongly favors this (see as well Deut 33:26), as does the reference in v. 9 to God as the source of rain. The term עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “cloud”) is cognate with Akkadian urpatu/erpetu and with Ugaritic ’rpt. The phrase rkb ’rpt (“one who rides on the clouds”) appears in Ugaritic mythological texts as an epithet of the storm god Baal. The nonphonemic interchange of the bilabial consonants b and p is attested elsewhere in roots common to Hebrew and Ugaritic, though the phenomenon is relatively rare.

[68:4]  ²⁶ tc Heb “in the Lord his name.” If the MT is retained, the preposition -בְ (bet) is introducing the predicate (the so-called bet of identity), “the Lord is his name.” However, some prefer to emend the text to כִּי יָהּ שְׁמוֹ (ki yah shÿmo, “for Yah is his name”). This emendation, reflected in the present translation, assumes a confusion of bet (ב) and kaf (כ) and haplography of yod (י).

[71:22]  ³¹ tn The word “praising” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[71:22]  ³² sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior.

[92:1]  ³⁷ sn Psalm 92. The psalmist praises God because he defeats the wicked and vindicates his loyal followers.

[92:1]  ³⁸ tn Or “good.”

[92:1]  ³⁹ tn Traditionally “O Most High.”

[108:1]  ⁴³ sn Psalm 108. With some minor variations, this psalm is a composite of Ps 57:7-11 (see vv. 1-5) and Ps 60:5-12 (see vv. 6-13).

[108:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Or perhaps “confident”; Heb “my heart is steadfast.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and/or emotions.

[108:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “also my glory,” but this makes little sense in the context. Some view the term כָּבוֹד (“glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvodiy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 30:12; 57:9; as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 3:93. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”

[135:3]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “for [it is] pleasant.” The translation assumes that it is the Lord’s “name” that is pleasant. Another option is to understand the referent of “it” as the act of praising (see Ps 147:1).

[147:1]  ⁵⁵ sn Psalm 147. The psalmist praises the Lord for he is the sovereign ruler of the world who cares for the needs of his covenant people.

[147:1]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “for.”