Psalms 25:10

25:10 The Lord always proves faithful and reliable ¹ 

to those who follow the demands of his covenant. ² 

Psalms 50:5

50:5 He says: ³ 

“Assemble my covenant people before me, ⁴ 

those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice!” ⁵ 

Psalms 74:20

74:20 Remember your covenant promises, ⁶ 

for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules. ⁷ 

Psalms 78:10

78:10 They did not keep their covenant with God, ⁸ 

and they refused to obey ⁹  his law.

Psalms 78:37

78:37 They were not really committed to him, ¹⁰ 

and they were unfaithful to his covenant.

Psalms 83:5

83:5 Yes, ¹¹  they devise a unified strategy; ¹² 

they form an alliance ¹³  against you.

Psalms 89:3

89:3 The Lord said, ¹⁴ 

“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;

I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant:

Psalms 89:34

89:34 I will not break ¹⁵  my covenant

or go back on what I promised. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 89:39

89:39 You have repudiated ¹⁷  your covenant with your servant; ¹⁸ 

you have thrown his crown to the ground. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 105:8

105:8 He always remembers his covenantal decree,

the promise he made ²⁰  to a thousand generations –

[25:10]  ¹ tn Heb “all the paths of the Lord are faithful and trustworthy.” The Lord’s “paths” refer here to his characteristic actions.

[25:10]  ² tn Heb “to the ones who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”

[50:5]  ³ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.

[50:5]  ⁴ tn Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד (khasid, “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.

[50:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8).

[74:20]  ⁵ tc Heb “look at the covenant.” The LXX reads “your covenant,” which seems to assume a second person pronominal suffix. The suffix may have been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word (כִּי) begins with kaf (כ).

[74:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “for the dark places of the earth are full of dwelling places of violence.” The “dark regions” are probably the lands where the people have been exiled (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:157). In some contexts “dark regions” refers to Sheol (Ps 88:6) or to hiding places likened to Sheol (Ps 143:3; Lam 3:6).

[78:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “the covenant of God.”

[78:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “walk in.”

[78:37]  ⁹ tn Heb “and their heart was not firm with him.”

[83:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[83:5]  ¹² tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”

[83:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[89:3]  ¹³ tn The words “the Lord said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. It is clear that the words of vv. 3-4 are spoken by the Lord, in contrast to vv. 1-2, which are spoken by the psalmist.

[89:34]  ¹⁵ tn Or “desecrate.”

[89:34]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and what proceeds out of my lips I will not alter.”

[89:39]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew verb appears only here and in Lam 2:7.

[89:39]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the covenant of your servant.”

[89:39]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “you dishonor [or “desecrate”] on the ground his crown.”

[105:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[the] word he commanded.” The text refers here to God’s unconditional covenantal promise to Abraham and the patriarchs, as vv. 10-12 make clear.