Discovery BoxPsalms 40:12
Context40:12 For innumerable dangers 1 surround me.
My sins overtake me
so I am unable to see;
they outnumber the hairs of my head
so my strength fails me. 2
Psalms 42:4
Context42:4 I will remember and weep! 3
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. 4
Psalms 46:9
Context46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; 5
he shatters 6 the bow and breaks 7 the spear;
he burns 8 the shields with fire. 9
Psalms 48:8
Context48:8 We heard about God’s mighty deeds, now we have seen them, 10
in the city of the Lord, the invincible Warrior, 11
in the city of our God.
God makes it permanently secure. 12 (Selah)
Psalms 123:2
Context123:2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress, 13
so my eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.
Psalms 132:12
Context132:12 If your sons keep my covenant
and the rules I teach them,
their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”
Psalms 133:3
Context133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon, 14
which flows down upon the hills of Zion. 15
Indeed 16 that is where the Lord has decreed
a blessing will be available – eternal life. 17
Psalms 137:7
Context137:7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell. 18
They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, 19
right to its very foundation!”
[40:12] 1 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] 2 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.
[42:4] 3 tn Heb “These things I will remember and I will pour out upon myself my soul.” “These things” are identified in the second half of the verse as those times when the psalmist worshiped in the
[42:4] 4 tc Heb “for I was passing by with the throng [?], I was walking with [?] them to the house of God; with a voice of a ringing shout and thanksgiving a multitude was observing a festival.” The Hebrew phrase בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם (bassakh ’eddaddem, “with the throng [?] I was walking with [?]”) is particularly problematic. The noun סָךְ (sakh) occurs only here. If it corresponds to הָמוֹן (hamon, “multitude”) then one can propose a meaning “throng.” The present translation assumes this reading (cf. NIV, NRSV). The form אֶדַּדֵּם (“I will walk with [?]”) is also very problematic. The form can be taken as a Hitpael from דָּדָה (dadah; this verb possibly appears in Isa 38:15), but the pronominal suffix is problematic. For this reason many emend the form to ם[י]אַדִּרִ (’adirim, “nobles”) or ם-רִ[י]אַדִ (’adirim, “great,” with enclitic mem [ם]). The present translation understands the latter and takes the adjective “great” as modifying “throng.” If one emends סָךְ (sakh, “throng [?]”) to סֹךְ (sokh, “shelter”; see the Qere of Ps 27:5), then ר[י]אַדִּ (’addir) could be taken as a divine epithet, “[in the shelter of] the majestic one,” a reading which may find support in the LXX and Syriac Peshitta.
[46:9] 5 tn Heb “[the] one who causes wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” The participle continues the description begun in v. 8b and indicates that this is the
[46:9] 6 tn The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Ps 29:5). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3). The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.
[46:9] 7 tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries along the generalizing emphasis of the preceding imperfect.
[46:9] 8 tn The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.
[46:9] 9 tn Heb “wagons he burns with fire.” Some read “chariots” here (cf. NASB), but the Hebrew word refers to wagons or carts, not chariots, elsewhere in the OT. In this context, where military weapons are mentioned, it is better to revocalize the form as עֲגִלוֹת (’agilot, “round shields”), a word which occurs only here in the OT, but is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic.
[48:8] 7 tn Heb “As we have heard, so we have seen.” The community had heard about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history. Having personally witnessed his saving power with their own eyes, they could now affirm that the tradition was not exaggerated or inaccurate.
[48:8] 8 tn Heb “the
[48:8] 9 tn Or “God makes it secure forever.” The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.
[123:2] 9 sn Servants look to their master for food, shelter, and other basic needs.
[133:3] 11 sn Hermon refers to Mount Hermon, located north of Israel.
[133:3] 12 sn The hills of Zion are those surrounding Zion (see Pss 87:1; 125:2). The psalmist does not intend to suggest that the dew from Mt. Hermon in the distant north actually flows down upon Zion. His point is that the same kind of heavy dew that replenishes Hermon may also be seen on Zion’s hills. See A. Cohen, Psalms (SoBB), 439. “Dew” here symbolizes divine blessing, as the next line suggests.
[133:3] 14 tn Heb “there the
[137:7] 13 tn Heb “remember, O
