Psalms 22:29

22:29 All of the thriving people ¹  of the earth will join the celebration and worship; ² 

all those who are descending into the grave ³  will bow before him,

including those who cannot preserve their lives. ⁴ 

Psalms 52:9

52:9 I will continually ⁵  thank you when ⁶  you execute judgment; ⁷ 

I will rely ⁸  on you, ⁹  for your loyal followers know you are good. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 58:1

Psalm 58 ¹¹ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ¹²  a prayer ¹³  of David.

58:1 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? ¹⁴ 

Do you judge people ¹⁵  fairly?

Psalms 79:2

79:2 They have given the corpses of your servants

to the birds of the sky; ¹⁶ 

the flesh of your loyal followers

to the beasts of the earth.

Psalms 85:8

85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says. ¹⁷ 

For he will make ¹⁸  peace with his people, his faithful followers. ¹⁹ 

Yet they must not ²⁰  return to their foolish ways.

Psalms 89:19

89:19 Then you ²¹  spoke through a vision to your faithful followers ²²  and said:

“I have energized a warrior; ²³ 

I have raised up a young man ²⁴  from the people.

Psalms 97:10

97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!

He protects ²⁵  the lives of his faithful followers;

he delivers them from the power ²⁶  of the wicked.

Psalms 127:2

127:2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,

and work so hard for your food. ²⁷ 

Yes, ²⁸  he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep. ²⁹ 

Psalms 148:14

148:14 He has made his people victorious, ³⁰ 

and given all his loyal followers reason to praise –

the Israelites, the people who are close to him. ³¹ 

Praise the Lord!

[22:29]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his life he does not revive.”

[52:9]  ⁵ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[52:9]  ⁶ tn Or “for.”

[52:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.

[52:9]  ⁸ tn Or “wait.”

[52:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.

[52:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”

[58:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 58. The psalmist calls on God to punish corrupt judges because a vivid display of divine judgment will convince observers that God is the just judge of the world who vindicates the godly.

[58:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 57, 59, and 75.

[58:1]  ¹¹ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam) which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 56-57, 59-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[58:1]  ¹² tn Heb “Really [in] silence, what is right do you speak?” The Hebrew noun אֵלֶם (’elem, “silence”) makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some feel that this is an indictment of the addressees’ failure to promote justice; they are silent when they should make just decisions. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֵלִם (’elim), which in turn is understood as a defectively written form of אֵילִים (’elim, “rulers,” a metaphorical use of אַיִל, ’ayil, “ram”; see Exod 15:15; Ezek 17:13). The rhetorical question is sarcastic, challenging their claim to be just. Elsewhere the collocation of דָּבַר (davar, “speak”) with צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “what is right”) as object means “to speak the truth” (see Ps 52:3; Isa 45:19). Here it refers specifically to declaring what is right in a legal setting, as the next line indicates.

[58:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “the sons of mankind.” The translation assumes the phrase is the object of the verb “to judge.” Some take it as a vocative, “Do you judge fairly, O sons of mankind?” (Cf. NASB; see Ezek 20:4; 22:2; 23:36.)

[79:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “[as] food for the birds of the sky.”

[85:8]  ¹⁷ sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.

[85:8]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).

[85:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.

[85:8]  ²⁰ tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (’el), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.

[89:19]  ²¹ tn The pronoun “you” refers to the Lord, who is addressed here. The quotation that follows further develops the announcement of vv. 3-4.

[89:19]  ²² tc Many medieval mss read the singular here, “your faithful follower.” In this case the statement refers directly to Nathan’s oracle to David (see 2 Sam 7:17).

[89:19]  ²³ tn Heb “I have placed help upon a warrior.”

[89:19]  ²⁴ tn Or perhaps “a chosen one.”

[97:10]  ²⁵ tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the Lord.” In this case one could translate, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, the one who protects the lives…and delivers them.”

[97:10]  ²⁶ tn Heb “hand.”

[127:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “[it is] vain for you, you who are early to rise, who delay sitting, who eat the food of hard work.” The three substantival participles are parallel and stand in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the preposition. See לָכֶם (lakhem, “for you”).

[127:2]  ³⁰ tn Here the Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4; Ps 63:2).

[127:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “he gives to his beloved, sleep.” The translation assumes that the Hebrew term שֵׁנָא (shena’, “sleep,” an alternate form of שֵׁנָה, shenah) is an adverbial accusative. The point seems to be this: Hard work by itself is not what counts, but one’s relationship to God, for God is able to bless an individual even while he sleeps. (There may even be a subtle allusion to the miracle of conception following sexual intercourse; see the reference to the gift of sons in the following verse.) The statement is not advocating laziness, but utilizing hyperbole to give perspective and to remind the addressees that God must be one’s first priority. Another option is to take “sleep” as the direct object: “yes, he gives sleep to his beloved” (cf. NIV, NRSV). In this case the point is this: Hard work by itself is futile, for only God is able to bless one with sleep, which metonymically refers to having one’s needs met. He blesses on the basis of one’s relationship to him, not on the basis of physical energy expended.

[148:14]  ³³ tn Heb “and he lifted up a horn for his people.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). Another option is to take the “horn” as a symbol for the Davidic king, through whom the Lord gives his people military victory.

[148:14]  ³⁴ tn “[there is] praise for all his loyal followers, to the sons of Israel, the people near him.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the victory that prompts it.