Psalms 28:9

28:9 Deliver your people!

Empower ¹  the nation that belongs to you! ² 

Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms ³  at all times! ⁴ 

Psalms 45:10

45:10 Listen, O princess! ⁵ 

Observe and pay attention! ⁶ 

Forget your homeland ⁷  and your family! ⁸ 

Psalms 79:13

79:13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,

will continually thank you. ⁹ 

We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 80:4

80:4 O Lord God, invincible warrior! ¹¹ 

How long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you? ¹² 

Psalms 110:3

110:3 Your people willingly follow you ¹³  when you go into battle. ¹⁴ 

On the holy hills ¹⁵  at sunrise ¹⁶  the dew of your youth ¹⁷  belongs to you. ¹⁸ 

[28:9]  ¹ tn Or “bless.”

[28:9]  ² tn Heb “your inheritance.” The parallelism (note “your people”) indicates that Israel is in view.

[28:9]  ³ tn Heb “shepherd them and lift them up.”

[28:9]  ⁴ tn Or “forever.”

[45:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “daughter.” The Hebrew noun בת (“daughter”) can sometimes refer to a young woman in a general sense (see H. Haag, TDOT 2:334).

[45:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “see and turn your ear.” The verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “see”) is used here of mental observation.

[45:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “your people.” This reference to the “people” of the princess suggests she was a foreigner. Perhaps the marriage was arranged as part of a political alliance between Israel (or Judah) and a neighboring state. The translation “your homeland” reflects such a situation.

[45:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the house of your father.”

[79:13]  ⁹ tn Or (hyperbolically) “will thank you forever.”

[79:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation we will report your praise.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.

[80:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “Lord, God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’elohey) before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot; “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. In this context the term “hosts” (meaning “armies”) has been rendered “invincible warrior.”

[80:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “How long will you remain angry during the prayer of your people.” Some take the preposition -בְּ (bet) in an adversative sense here (“at/against the prayer of your people”), but the temporal sense is preferable. The psalmist expects persistent prayer to pacify God.

[110:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your people, free will offerings.” Perhaps the people, in their willingness to volunteer, are compared metaphorically to freewill offerings. Following the LXX, some revocalize the text and read “with you is nobility.”

[110:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “in the day of your power.”

[110:3]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “in splendor of holiness.” The plural construct form הַדְרֵי (hadrey, from הָדַר, hadar, “splendor”) occurs only here; it may indicate degree or perhaps refer by metonymy to garments (see Pss 29:2 and 96:9, where the phrase הַדְרַת קֹדֶשׁ [hadrat qodesh] refers to “holy attire”). If one retains the reading of the MT, this phrase should probably be taken with the preceding line. However, because of the subsequent references to “dawn” and to “dew,” it is better to emend the text to הַרְרֵי קֹדֶשׁ (harrey qodesh, “mountains of holiness”), a reading found in many medieval Hebrew mss and in some other ancient witnesses (see Joel 2:2; Ps 133:3, as well as L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 80). The “mountains of holiness” are probably the hills surrounding Zion (see Ps 87:1; 125:2; 133:3).

[110:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “from the womb of dawn.” The Hebrew noun רֶחֶם (rekhem, “womb”) is probably used here metonymically for “birth.” The form מִשְׁחָר (mishkhar) occurs only here and should be emended to שַׁחַר (shakhar, “dawn”) with the mem (מ) being understood as dittographic (note the final mem [ם] on the preceding word). The phrase “womb [i.e., “birth”] of dawn” refers to sunrise.

[110:3]  ²¹ sn The point of the metaphor is not entirely clear. The dew may symbolize the king’s youthful vitality or, more likely (note the parallelism), may refer to his army of strong, youthful warriors.

[110:3]  ²² tn Heb “to you [is].”