Psalms 42:2

42:2 I thirst ¹  for God,

for the living God.

I say, ²  “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” ³ 

Psalms 47:1

Psalm 47 ⁴ 

For the music director; by the Korahites; a psalm.

47:1 All you nations, clap your hands!

Shout out to God in celebration! ⁵ 

Psalms 49:7

49:7 Certainly a man cannot rescue his brother; ⁶ 

he cannot pay God an adequate ransom price ⁷ 

Psalms 62:11

62:11 God has declared one principle;

two principles I have heard: ⁸ 

God is strong, ⁹ 

Psalms 66:3

66:3 Say to God:

“How awesome are your deeds!

Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear ¹⁰  before you.

Psalms 68:4

68:4 Sing to God! Sing praises to his name!

Exalt the one who rides on the clouds! ¹¹ 

For the Lord is his name! ¹² 

Rejoice before him!

Psalms 68:31

68:31 They come with red cloth ¹³  from Egypt,

Ethiopia ¹⁴  voluntarily offers tribute ¹⁵  to God.

Psalms 68:34

68:34 Acknowledge God’s power, ¹⁶ 

his sovereignty over Israel,

and the power he reveals in the skies! ¹⁷ 

Psalms 81:1

Psalm 81 ¹⁸ 

For the music director; according to the gittith style; ¹⁹  by Asaph.

81:1 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!

Shout out to the God of Jacob!

[42:2]  ¹ tn Or “my soul thirsts.”

[42:2]  ² tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[42:2]  ³ tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (’era’eh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (’er’eh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (’et) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).

[47:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 47. In this hymn the covenant community praises the Lord as the exalted king of the earth who has given them victory over the nations and a land in which to live.

[47:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “Shout to God with [the] sound of a ringing cry!”

[49:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “a brother, he surely does not ransom, a man.” The sequence אִישׁ...אָח (’akh...’ish, “a brother…a man”) is problematic, for the usual combination is אָח...אָח (“a brother…a brother”) or אִישׁ...אִישׁ (“a man…a man”). When אִישׁ and אָח are combined, the usual order is אָח...אִישׁ (“a man…a brother”), with “brother” having a third masculine singular suffix, “his brother.” This suggests that “brother” is the object of the verb and “man” the subject. (1) Perhaps the altered word order and absence of the suffix can be explained by the text’s poetic character, for ellipsis is a feature of Hebrew poetic style. (2) Another option, supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss, is to emend “brother” to the similar sounding אַךְ (’akh, “surely; but”) which occurs in v. 15 before the verb פָּדָה (padah, “ransom”). If this reading is accepted the Qal imperfect יִפְדֶּה (yifddeh, “he can [not] ransom”) would need to be emended to a Niphal (passive) form, יִפָּדֶה (yifadeh, “he can[not] be ransomed”) unless one understands the subject of the Qal verb to be indefinite (“one cannot redeem a man”). (A Niphal imperfect can be collocated with a Qal infinitive absolute. See GKC 344-45 §113.w.) No matter how one decides the textual issues, the imperfect in this case is modal, indicating potential, and the infinitive absolute emphasizes the statement.

[49:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “he cannot pay to God his ransom price.” Num 35:31 may supply the legal background for the metaphorical language used here. The psalmist pictures God as having a claim on the soul of the individual. When God comes to claim the life that ultimately belongs to him, he demands a ransom price that is beyond the capability of anyone to pay. The psalmist’s point is that God has ultimate authority over life and death; all the money in the world cannot buy anyone a single day of life beyond what God has decreed.

[62:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “one God spoke, two which I heard.” This is a numerical saying utilizing the “x” followed by “x + 1” pattern to facilitate poetic parallelism. (See W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament [VTSup], 55-56.) As is typical in such sayings, a list corresponding to the second number (in this case “two”) follows. Another option is to translate, “God has spoken once, twice [he has spoken] that which I have heard.” The terms אַחַת (’akhat, “one; once”) and שְׁתַּיִם (shÿtayim, “two; twice”) are also juxtaposed in 2 Kgs 6:10 (where they refer to an action that was done more than “once or twice”) and in Job 33:14 (where they refer to God speaking “one way” and then in “another manner”).

[62:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “that strength [belongs] to God.”

[66:3]  ¹³ tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).

[68:4]  ¹⁶ tn Traditionally the Hebrew term עֲרָבוֹת (’aravot) is taken as “steppe-lands” (often rendered “deserts”), but here the form is probably a homonym meaning “clouds.” Verse 33, which depicts God as the one who “rides on the sky” strongly favors this (see as well Deut 33:26), as does the reference in v. 9 to God as the source of rain. The term עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “cloud”) is cognate with Akkadian urpatu/erpetu and with Ugaritic ’rpt. The phrase rkb ’rpt (“one who rides on the clouds”) appears in Ugaritic mythological texts as an epithet of the storm god Baal. The nonphonemic interchange of the bilabial consonants b and p is attested elsewhere in roots common to Hebrew and Ugaritic, though the phenomenon is relatively rare.

[68:4]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “in the Lord his name.” If the MT is retained, the preposition -בְ (bet) is introducing the predicate (the so-called bet of identity), “the Lord is his name.” However, some prefer to emend the text to כִּי יָהּ שְׁמוֹ (ki yah shÿmo, “for Yah is his name”). This emendation, reflected in the present translation, assumes a confusion of bet (ב) and kaf (כ) and haplography of yod (י).

[68:31]  ¹⁹ tn This noun, which occurs only here in the OT, apparently means “red cloth” or “bronze articles” (see HALOT 362 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NEB “tribute”). Traditionally the word has been taken to refer to “nobles” (see BDB 365 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NIV “envoys”). Another option would be to emend the text to הַשְׁמַנִּים (hashmannim, “the robust ones,” i.e., leaders).

[68:31]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Cush.”

[68:31]  ²¹ tn Heb “causes its hands to run,” which must mean “quickly stretches out its hands” (to present tribute).

[68:34]  ²² tn Heb “give strength to God.”

[68:34]  ²³ sn The language of v. 34 echoes that of Deut 33:26.

[81:1]  ²⁵ sn Psalm 81. The psalmist calls God’s people to assemble for a festival and then proclaims God’s message to them. The divine speech (vv. 6-16) recalls how God delivered the people from Egypt, reminds Israel of their rebellious past, expresses God’s desire for his people to obey him, and promises divine protection in exchange for obedience.

[81:1]  ²⁶ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument. See the superscription to Ps 8.