Discovery BoxPsalms 2:12
ContextOtherwise he 2 will be angry, 3
and you will die because of your behavior, 4
when his anger quickly ignites. 5
How blessed 6 are all who take shelter in him! 7
Psalms 3:7
ContextDeliver me, my God!
Yes, 9 you will strike 10 all my enemies on the jaw;
you will break the teeth 11 of the wicked. 12
Psalms 5:11
Context5:11 But may all who take shelter 13 in you be happy! 14
May they continually 15 shout for joy! 16
Shelter them 17 so that those who are loyal to you 18 may rejoice! 19
Psalms 27:4
Context27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –
this is what I desire!
I want to live 20 in the Lord’s house 21 all the days of my life,
so I can gaze at the splendor 22 of the Lord
and contemplate in his temple.
Psalms 31:23
Context31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers 23 of his!
The Lord protects those who have integrity,
but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. 24
Psalms 32:6
Context32:6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers 25 should pray to you
while there is a window of opportunity. 26
Certainly 27 when the surging water 28 rises,
it will not reach them. 29
Psalms 35:10
Context35:10 With all my strength I will say, 30
“O Lord, who can compare to you?
You rescue 31 the oppressed from those who try to overpower them; 32
the oppressed and needy from those who try to rob them.” 33
Psalms 39:11
Context39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins; 34
like a moth you slowly devour their strength. 35
Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)
Psalms 42:3
Context42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; 36
all day long they say to me, 37 “Where is your God?”
Psalms 48:2
Context48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, 38
a source of joy to the whole earth. 39
Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; 40
it is the city of the great king.
Psalms 63:11
Context63:11 But the king 41 will rejoice in God;
everyone who takes oaths in his name 42 will boast,
for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. 43
Psalms 75:8
Context75:8 For the Lord holds in his hand a cup full
of foaming wine mixed with spices, 44
and pours it out. 45
Surely all the wicked of the earth
will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.” 46
Psalms 78:38
Context78:38 Yet he is compassionate.
He forgives sin and does not destroy.
He often holds back his anger,
and does not stir up his fury. 47
Psalms 92:9
Context92:9 Indeed, 48 look at your enemies, O Lord!
Indeed, 49 look at how your enemies perish!
All the evildoers are scattered!
Psalms 106:48
Context106:48 The Lord God of Israel deserves praise, 50
in the future and forevermore. 51
Let all the people say, “We agree! 52 Praise the Lord!” 53
Psalms 134:1
ContextA song of ascents. 55
134:1 Attention! 56 Praise the Lord,
all you servants of the Lord,
who serve 57 in the Lord’s temple during the night.
Psalms 138:2
Context138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple,
and give thanks to your name,
because of your loyal love and faithfulness,
for you have exalted your promise above the entire sky. 58
[2:12] 1 tn Traditionally, “kiss the son” (KJV). But בַּר (bar) is the Aramaic word for “son,” not the Hebrew. For this reason many regard the reading as suspect. Some propose emendations of vv. 11b-12a. One of the more popular proposals is to read בִּרְעָדָה נַשְּׁקוּ לְרַגְלָיו (bir’adah nashÿqu lÿraslayv, “in trembling kiss his feet”). It makes better sense to understand בַּר (bar) as an adjective meaning “pure” (see Pss 24:4; 73:1 and BDB 141 s.v. בַּר 3) functioning here in an adverbial sense. If read this way, then the syntactical structure of exhortation (imperative followed by adverbial modifier) corresponds to the two preceding lines (see v. 11). The verb נָשַׁק (nashaq, “kiss”) refers metonymically to showing homage (see 1 Sam 10:1; Hos 13:2). The exhortation in v. 12a advocates a genuine expression of allegiance and warns against insincerity. When swearing allegiance, vassal kings would sometimes do so insincerely, with the intent of rebelling when the time was right. The so-called “Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon” also warn against such an attitude. In this treaty the vassal is told: “If you, as you stand on the soil where this oath [is sworn], swear the oath with your words and lips [only], do not swear with your entire heart, do not transmit it to your sons who will live after this treaty, if you take this curse upon yourselves but do not plan to keep the treaty of Esarhaddon…may your sons and grandsons because of this fear in the future” (see J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East, 2:62).
[2:12] 2 tn Throughout the translation of this verse the third person masculine pronouns refer to the
[2:12] 3 tn The implied subject of the verb is the
[2:12] 4 tn Heb “and you will perish [in the] way.” The Hebrew word דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) here refers to their rebellious behavior (not to a pathway, as often understood). It functions syntactically as an adverbial accusative in relation to the verb “perish.”
[2:12] 5 tn Or “burns.” The
[2:12] 6 tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).
[2:12] 7 sn Who take shelter in him. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
[3:7] 8 tn In v. 2 the psalmist describes his enemies as those who “confront” him (קָמִים [qamim], literally, “rise up against him”). Now, using the same verbal root (קוּם, qum) he asks the
[3:7] 9 tn Elsewhere in the psalms the particle כִּי (ki), when collocated with a perfect verbal form and subordinated to a preceding imperative directed to God, almost always has an explanatory or causal force (“for, because”) and introduces a motivating argument for why God should respond positively to the request (see Pss 5:10; 6:2; 12:1; 16:1; 41:4; 55:9; 56:1; 57:1; 60:2; 69:1; 74:20; 119:94; 123:3; 142:6; 143:8). (On three occasions the כִּי is recitative after a verb of perception [“see/know that,” see Pss 4:3; 25:19; 119:159]). If כִּי is taken as explanatory here, then the psalmist is arguing that God should deliver him now because that is what God characteristically does. However, such a motivating argument is not used in the passages cited above. The motivating argument usually focuses on the nature of the psalmist’s dilemma or the fact that he trusts in the Lord. For this reason it is unlikely that כִּי has its normal force here. Most scholars understand the particle כִּי as having an asseverative (emphasizing) function here (“indeed, yes”; NEB leaves the particle untranslated).
[3:7] 10 tn If the particle כִּי (ki) is taken as explanatory, then the perfect verbal forms in v. 7b would describe God’s characteristic behavior. However, as pointed out in the preceding note on the word “yes,” the particle probably has an asseverative force here. If so, the perfects may be taken as indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s assault on his enemies as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm, as expressed before (vv. 3-6) and after this (v. 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“Strike all my enemies on the jaw, break the teeth of the wicked”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
[3:7] 11 sn The expression break the teeth may envision violent hand-to hand combat, though it is possible that the enemies are pictured here as a dangerous animal (see Job 29:17).
[3:7] 12 tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.
[5:11] 15 sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
[5:11] 16 tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer. The psalmist calls on God to reward his faithful followers.
[5:11] 17 tn Or perhaps more hyperbolically, “forever.”
[5:11] 18 tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer.
[5:11] 19 tn Heb “put a cover over them.” The verb form is a Hiphil imperfect from סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “cover, shut off”). The imperfect expresses the psalmist’s wish or request.
[5:11] 20 tn Heb “the lovers of your name.” The phrase refers to those who are loyal to the Lord. See Pss 69:36; 119:132; Isa 56:6.
[5:11] 21 tn The vav (ו) with prefixed verbal form following the volitional “shelter them” indicates purpose or result (“so that those…may rejoice).
[27:4] 23 sn The
[31:23] 29 tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
[31:23] 30 tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.
[32:6] 36 tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
[32:6] 37 tn Heb “at a time of finding.” This may mean, “while there is time to ‘find’ [the
[32:6] 38 tn The Hebrew term רַק (raq) occasionally has an asseverative force.
[32:6] 39 sn The surging water is here a metaphor for trouble that endangers one’s life.
[32:6] 40 tn Heb “him.” The translation uses the plural “them” to agree with the plural “every one of your faithful followers” in the first line of v. 6.
[35:10] 43 tn Heb “all my bones will say.”
[35:10] 44 tn Heb “[the one who] rescues.” The substantival participle in the Hebrew text characterizes God as one who typically rescues the oppressed.
[35:10] 45 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] 46 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.
[39:11] 50 tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”
[39:11] 51 tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew
[42:3] 57 tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”
[42:3] 58 tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.
[48:2] 64 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] 65 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] 66 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
[63:11] 71 sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.
[63:11] 72 tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”
[63:11] 73 tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.
[75:8] 78 tn Heb “for a cup [is] in the hand of the
[75:8] 79 tn Heb “and he pours out from this.”
[75:8] 80 tn Heb “surely its dregs they slurp up and drink, all the wicked of the earth.”
[78:38] 85 tn One could translate v. 38 in the past tense (“he was compassionate…forgave sin and did not destroy…held back his anger, and did not stir up his fury”), but the imperfect verbal forms are probably best understood as generalizing. Verse 38 steps back briefly from the narrational summary of Israel’s history and lays the theological basis for v. 39, which focuses on God’s mercy toward sinful Israel.
[106:48] 99 tn Heb “[be] blessed.” See Pss 18:46; 28:6; 31:21.
[106:48] 100 tn Heb “from everlasting to everlasting.”
[106:48] 101 tn Heb “surely” (אָמֵן, ’amen), traditionally transliterated “amen.”
[106:48] 102 sn The final verse (v. 48) is a conclusion to this fourth “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the first, second and third “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 41:13; 72:18-19; 89:52, respectively).
[134:1] 106 sn Psalm 134. The psalmist calls on the temple servants to praise God (vv. 1-2). They in turn pronounce a blessing on the psalmist (v. 3).
[134:1] 107 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
[138:2] 113 tc The MT reads, “for you have made great over all your name your word.” If retained, this must mean that God's mighty intervention, in fulfillment of his word of promise, surpassed anything he had done prior to this. However, the statement is odd and several emendations have been proposed. Some read, “for you have exalted over everything your name and your word,” while others suggest, “for you have exalted over all the heavens your name and your word.” The translation assumes an emendation of “your name” to “your heavens” (a construction that appears in Pss 8:3 and 144:5). The point is that God has been faithful to his promise and the reliability of that promise is apparent to all. For a fuller discussion of these options, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 244.
