Psalms 30:12

30:12 So now ¹  my heart ²  will sing to you and not be silent;

O Lord my God, I will always ³  give thanks to you.

Psalms 69:20

69:20 Their insults are painful ⁴  and make me lose heart; ⁵ 

I look ⁶  for sympathy, but receive none, ⁷ 

for comforters, but find none.

Psalms 101:6

101:6 I will favor the honest people of the land, ⁸ 

and allow them to live with me. ⁹ 

Those who walk in the way of integrity will attend me. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 104:15

104:15 as well as wine that makes people feel so good, ¹¹ 

and so they can have oil to make their faces shine, ¹² 

as well as food that sustains people’s lives. ¹³ 

Psalms 106:23

106:23 He threatened ¹⁴  to destroy them,

but ¹⁵  Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him ¹⁶ 

and turned back his destructive anger. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 125:3

125:3 Indeed, ¹⁸  the scepter of a wicked king ¹⁹  will not settle ²⁰ 

upon the allotted land of the godly.

Otherwise the godly might

do what is wrong. ²¹ 

[30:12]  ¹ tn Heb “so that”; or “in order that.”

[30:12]  ² tn Heb “glory.” Some view כָבוֹד (khavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.” “Heart” is used in the translation above for the sake of English idiom; the expression “my liver sings” would seem odd indeed to the modern reader.

[30:12]  ³ tn Or “forever.”

[69:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.

[69:20]  ⁵ tn The verb form appears to be a Qal preterite from an otherwise unattested root נוּשׁ (nush), which some consider an alternate form of אָנַשׁ (’anash, “be weak; be sick”; see BDB 60 s.v. I אָנַשׁ). Perhaps the form should be emended to a Niphal, וָאֵאָנְשָׁה (va’e’onshah, “and I am sick”). The Niphal of אָנַשׁ occurs in 2 Sam 12:15, where it is used to describe David’s sick child.

[69:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “wait.”

[69:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I wait for sympathy, but there is none.” The form נוּד (nud) is an infinitive functioning as a verbal noun:, “sympathizing.” Some suggest emending the form to a participle נָד (nad, “one who shows sympathy”). The verb נוּד (nud) also has the nuance “show sympathy” in Job 2:11; 42:11 and Isa 51:19.

[101:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “my eyes [are] on the faithful of the land.”

[101:6]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text simply reads, “in order to live with me.”

[101:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “one who walks in the way of integrity, he will minister to me.”

[104:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and wine [that] makes the heart of man happy.”

[104:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to make [the] face shine from oil.” The Hebrew verb צָהַל (tsahal, “to shine”) occurs only here in the OT. It appears to be an alternate form of צָהַר (tsahar), a derivative from צָהָרִים (tsaharim, “noon”).

[104:15]  ¹² tn Heb “and food [that] sustains the heart of man.”

[106:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “and he said.”

[106:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

[106:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

[106:23]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”

[125:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “for.”

[125:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a scepter of wickedness.” The “scepter” symbolizes royal authority; when collocated with “wickedness” the phrase refers to an oppressive foreign conqueror.

[125:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “rest.”

[125:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “so that the godly might not stretch out their hands in wrongdoing.” A wicked king who sets a sinful example can have an adverse moral and ethical effect on the people he rules.