Psalms 40:3

40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song, ¹ 

praising our God. ² 

May many see what God has done,

so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord! ³ 

Psalms 119:120

119:120 My body ⁴  trembles ⁵  because I fear you; ⁶ 

I am afraid of your judgments.

[40:3]  ¹ sn A new song was appropriate because the Lord had intervened in the psalmist’s experience in a fresh and exciting way.

[40:3]  ² tn Heb “and he placed in my mouth a new song, praise to our God.”

[40:3]  ³ tn Heb “may many see and fear and trust in the Lord.” The translation assumes that the initial prefixed verbal form is a jussive (“may many see”), rather than an imperfect (“many will see”). The following prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) conjunctive are taken as indicating purpose or result (“so that they might swear allegiance…and trust”) after the introductory jussive.

[119:120]  ⁴ tn Heb “my flesh.”

[119:120]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb סָמַר (samar, “to tremble”) occurs only here and in Job 4:15.

[119:120]  ⁶ tn Heb “from fear of you.” The pronominal suffix on the noun is an objective genitive.