Psalms 42:5

42:5 Why are you depressed, ¹  O my soul? ² 

Why are you upset? ³ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ⁴ 

Psalms 42:11

42:11 Why are you depressed, ⁵  O my soul? ⁶ 

Why are you upset? ⁷ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ⁸ 

Psalms 43:5

43:5 Why are you depressed, ⁹  O my soul? ¹⁰ 

Why are you upset? ¹¹ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ¹² 

Psalms 47:9

47:9 The nobles of the nations assemble,

along with the people of the God of Abraham, ¹³ 

for God has authority over the rulers ¹⁴  of the earth.

He is highly exalted! ¹⁵ 

[42:5]  ¹ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:5]  ² sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:5]  ³ tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.

[42:5]  ⁴ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (’elohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (pÿney, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.

[42:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:11]  ⁶ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

[42:11]  ⁸ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.

[43:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[43:5]  ¹⁰ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[43:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

[43:5]  ¹² tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is identical to the one in Ps 42:11. See also 42:5, which differs only slightly.

[47:9]  ¹³ tc The words “along with” do not appear in the MT. However, the LXX has “with,” suggesting that the original text may have read עִם עַם (’im ’am, “along with the people”). In this case the MT is haplographic (the consonantal sequence ayin-mem [עם] being written once instead of twice). Another option is that the LXX is simply and correctly interpreting “people” as an adverbial accusative and supplying the appropriate preposition.

[47:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “for to God [belong] the shields of the earth.” Perhaps the rulers are called “shields” because they are responsible for protecting their people. See Ps 84:9, where the Davidic king is called “our shield,” and perhaps also Hos 4:18.

[47:9]  ¹⁵ tn The verb עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”) appears once more (see v. 5), though now in the Niphal stem.