Psalms 22:23

22:23 You loyal followers of the Lord, ¹  praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! ² 

Psalms 22:27

22:27 Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to him! ³ 

Let all the nations ⁴  worship you! ⁵ 

Psalms 22:29

22:29 All of the thriving people ⁶  of the earth will join the celebration and worship; ⁷ 

all those who are descending into the grave ⁸  will bow before him,

including those who cannot preserve their lives. ⁹ 

Psalms 39:5

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, ¹⁰ 

and my life span is nothing from your perspective. ¹¹ 

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. ¹² 

Psalms 59:5

59:5 You, O Lord God, the invincible warrior, ¹³  the God of Israel,

rouse yourself and punish ¹⁴  all the nations!

Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers! (Selah)

[22:23]  ¹ tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[22:23]  ² tn Heb “fear him.”

[22:27]  ³ tn Heb “may all the ends of the earth remember and turn to the Lord.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 27 are understood as jussives (cf. NEB). Another option (cf. NIV, NRSV) is to take the forms as imperfects and translate, “all the people of the earth will acknowledge and turn…and worship.” See vv. 29-32.

[22:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “families of the nations.”

[22:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “before you.”

[22:29]  ⁵ tn Heb “fat [ones].” This apparently refers to those who are healthy and robust, i.e., thriving. In light of the parallelism, some prefer to emend the form to יְשֵׁנֵי (yÿsheney, “those who sleep [in the earth]”; cf. NAB, NRSV), but דִּשְׁנֵי (dishney, “fat [ones]”) seems to form a merism with “all who descend into the grave” in the following line. The psalmist envisions all people, whether healthy or dying, joining in worship of the Lord.

[22:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “eat and worship.” The verb forms (a perfect followed by a prefixed form with vav [ו] consecutive) are normally used in narrative to relate completed actions. Here the psalmist uses the forms rhetorically as he envisions a time when the Lord will receive universal worship. The mood is one of wishful thinking and anticipation; this is not prophecy in the strict sense.

[22:29]  ⁷ tn Heb “all of the ones going down [into] the dust.” This group stands in contrast to those mentioned in the previous line. Together the two form a merism encompassing all human beings – the healthy, the dying, and everyone in between.

[22:29]  ⁸ tn Heb “and his life he does not revive.”

[39:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 309.

[39:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”

[59:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “Lord, God, Hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’elohey) before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”). See Ps 89:9, but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yÿhvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 80:4, 19; 84:8 as well.

[59:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “wake up to punish” (see Pss 35:23; 44:23).