Psalms 30:1

Psalm 30 ¹ 

A psalm – a song used at the dedication of the temple; ²  by David.

30:1 I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up, ³ 

and did not allow my enemies to gloat ⁴  over me.

Psalms 37:28

37:28 For the Lord promotes ⁵  justice,

and never abandons ⁶  his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure, ⁷ 

but the children ⁸  of evil men are wiped out. ⁹ 

Psalms 39:6

39:6 Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. ¹⁰ 

Surely they accumulate worthless wealth

without knowing who will eventually haul it away.” ¹¹ 

Psalms 40:4

40:4 How blessed ¹²  is the one ¹³  who trusts in the Lord ¹⁴ 

and does not seek help from ¹⁵  the proud or from liars! ¹⁶ 

Psalms 40:12

40:12 For innumerable dangers ¹⁷  surround me.

My sins overtake me

so I am unable to see;

they outnumber the hairs of my head

so my strength fails me. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 55:19

55:19 God, the one who has reigned as king from long ago,

will hear and humiliate them. ¹⁹  (Selah)

They refuse to change,

and do not fear God. ²⁰ 

Psalms 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ²¹ 

powerful men stalk ²²  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ²³ 

Psalms 77:2

77:2 In my time of trouble I sought ²⁴  the Lord.

I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ²⁵ 

I ²⁶  refused to be comforted.

[30:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 30. The author thanks the Lord for delivering him from death and urges others to join him in praise. The psalmist experienced divine discipline for a brief time, but when he cried out for help the Lord intervened and restored his favor.

[30:1]  ² tn Heb “a song of the dedication of the house.” The referent of “house” is unclear. It is possible that David wrote this psalm for the dedication ceremony of Solomon’s temple. Another possibility is that the psalm was used on the occasion of the dedication of the second temple following the return from exile, or on the occasion of the rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.

[30:1]  ³ tn Elsewhere the verb דָּלָה (dalah) is used of drawing water from a well (Exod 2:16, 19; Prov 20:5). The psalmist was trapped in the pit leading to Sheol (see v. 3), but the Lord hoisted him up. The Piel stem is used here, perhaps suggesting special exertion on the Lord’s part.

[30:1]  ⁴ tn Or “rejoice.”

[37:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.

[37:28]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.

[37:28]  ⁷ tn Or “protected forever.”

[37:28]  ⁸ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:28]  ⁹ tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.

[39:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “surely, as an image man walks about.” The preposition prefixed to “image” indicates identity here.

[39:6]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “Surely [in] vain they strive, he accumulates and does not know who gathers them.” The MT as it stands is syntactically awkward. The verb forms switch from singular (“walks about”) to plural (“they strive”) and then back to singular (“accumulates and does not know”), even though the subject (generic “man”) remains the same. Furthermore there is no object for the verb “accumulates” and no plural antecedent for the plural pronoun (“them”) attached to “gathers.” These problems can be removed if one emends the text from הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן (hevel yehemaun, “[in] vain they strive”) to הֶבְלֵי הָמוֹן (hevley hamon, “vain things of wealth”). This assumes a misdivision in the MT and a virtual dittography of vav (ו) between the mem and nun of המון. The present translation follows this emendation.

[40:4]  ¹³ 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, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[40:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “man.” See the note on the word “one” in Ps 1:1.

[40:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “who has made the Lord his [object of] trust.”

[40:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and does not turn toward.”

[40:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “those falling away toward a lie.”

[40:12]  ¹⁷ tn Or “sinful deeds.” The Hebrew term used here can have a nonmoral nuance (“dangers”) or a moral one (“sinful deeds”) depending on the context. The next line (see “my sins”) seems to favor the moral sense, but the psalmist also speaks of enemies shortly after this (v. 14).

[40:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and my heart abandons me.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of emotional strength and courage. For a similar idea see Ps 38:10.

[55:19]  ²¹ tc Heb “God will hear and answer them, even [the] one who sits [from] ancient times.” The prefixed verbal from with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the anticipatory force of the preceding imperfect. The verb appears to be a Qal form from עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”). If this reading is retained, the point would be that God “answered” them in judgment. The translation assumes an emendation to the Piel וַיְעַנֵּם (vay’annem; see 2 Kgs 17:20) and understands the root as עָנָה (’anah, “to afflict”; see also 1 Kgs 8:35).

[55:19]  ²² tn Heb “[the ones] for whom there are no changes, and they do not fear God.”

[59:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ²⁷ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.

[77:2]  ²⁹ tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.

[77:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “my hand [at] night was extended and was not growing numb.” The verb נָגַר (nagar), which can mean “flow” in certain contexts, here has the nuance “be extended.” The imperfect form (תָפוּג, tafug, “to be numb”) is used here to describe continuous action in the past.

[77:2]  ³¹ tn Or “my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).