Psalms 42:8

42:8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, ¹ 

and by night he gives me a song, ² 

a prayer ³  to the living God.

Psalms 46:7

46:7 The Lord who commands armies is on our side! ⁴ 

The God of Jacob ⁵  is our protector! ⁶  (Selah)

Psalms 46:11

46:11 The Lord who commands armies is on our side! ⁷ 

The God of Jacob ⁸  is our protector! ⁹  (Selah)

Psalms 77:6

77:6 I said, “During the night I will remember the song I once sang;

I will think very carefully.”

I tried to make sense of what was happening. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 81:2

81:2 Sing ¹¹  a song and play the tambourine,

the pleasant sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument!

Psalms 83:8

83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,

lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. ¹²  (Selah)

Psalms 86:17

86:17 Show me evidence of your favor! ¹³ 

Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, ¹⁴ 

for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 87:4

87:4 I mention Rahab ¹⁶  and Babylon to my followers. ¹⁷ 

Here are ¹⁸  Philistia and Tyre, ¹⁹  along with Ethiopia. ²⁰ 

It is said of them, “This one was born there.” ²¹ 

Psalms 88:4

88:4 They treat me like ²²  those who descend into the grave. ²³ 

I am like a helpless man, ²⁴ 

Psalms 89:13

89:13 Your arm is powerful,

your hand strong,

your right hand ²⁵  victorious. ²⁶ 

Psalms 106:5

106:5 so I may see the prosperity ²⁷  of your chosen ones,

rejoice along with your nation, ²⁸ 

and boast along with the people who belong to you. ²⁹ 

Psalms 120:5

120:5 How miserable I am! ³⁰ 

For I have lived temporarily ³¹  in Meshech;

I have resided among the tents of Kedar. ³² 

[42:8]  ¹ sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).

[42:8]  ² tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”

[42:8]  ³ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (tÿfillah, “prayer”).

[46:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “the Lord of hosts is with us.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Ps 24:10). The military imagery is further developed in vv. 8-9.

[46:7]  ⁵ tn That is, Israel, or Judah (see Ps 20:1).

[46:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “our elevated place” (see Pss 9:9; 18:2).

[46:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Lord of hosts is with us.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Ps 24:10). The military imagery is further developed in vv. 8-9.

[46:11]  ⁸ tn That is, Israel, or Judah (see Ps 20:1).

[46:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “our elevated place” (see Pss 9:9; 18:2).

[77:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will remember my song in the night, with my heart I will reflect. And my spirit searched.” As in v. 4, the words of v. 6a are understood as what the psalmist said earlier. Consequently the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 10). The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive at the beginning of the final line is taken as sequential to the perfect “I thought” in v. 6.

[81:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “lift up.”

[83:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.

[86:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Work with me a sign for good.” The expression “work a sign” also occurs in Judg 6:17.

[86:17]  ²⁰ tn After the imperative in the preceding line (“work”), the prefixed verb forms with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose or result.

[86:17]  ²¹ tn The perfect verbal forms are understood here as dramatic/rhetorical, expressing the psalmist’s certitude that such a sign from the Lord will be followed by his intervention. Another option is to understand the forms as future perfects (“for you, O Lord, will have helped me and comforted me”).

[87:4]  ²² sn “Rahab,” which means “proud one,” is used here as a title for Egypt (see Isa 30:7).

[87:4]  ²³ tn Heb “to those who know me” (see Ps 36:10). Apparently the Lord speaks here. The verbal construction (the Hiphil of זָכַר, zakhar, “remember” followed by the preposition -לְ [le] with a substantive) is rare, but the prepositional phrase is best understood as indicating the recipient of the announcement (see Jer 4:16). Some take the preposition in the sense of “among” and translate, “among those who know me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). In this case these foreigners are viewed as the Lord’s people and the psalm is interpreted as anticipating a time when all nations will worship the Lord (see Ps 86:9) and be considered citizens of Zion.

[87:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Look.”

[87:4]  ²⁵ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[87:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Cush.”

[87:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and this one was born there.” The words “It is said of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarification and stylistic purposes (see v. 5). Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand “there” as referring to Zion, but it seems more likely that the adverb refers to the nations just mentioned. The foreigners are identified by their native lands.

[88:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “I am considered with.”

[88:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[88:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”

[89:13]  ²⁸ sn The Lord’s arm, hand, and right hand all symbolize his activities, especially his exploits in war.

[89:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “is lifted up.” The idiom “the right hand is lifted up” refers to victorious military deeds (see Pss 89:42; 118:16).

[106:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “good.”

[106:5]  ³² tn Heb “in order that [I may] rejoice with the rejoicing of your nation.”

[106:5]  ³³ tn Heb “with your inheritance.”

[120:5]  ³⁴ tn Or “woe to me.” The Hebrew term אוֹיָה (’oyah, “woe”) which occurs only here, is an alternate form of אוֹי (’oy).

[120:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “I live as a resident alien.”

[120:5]  ³⁶ sn Meshech was located in central Anatolia (modern Turkey). Kedar was located in the desert to east-southeast of Israel. Because of the reference to Kedar, it is possible that Ps 120:5 refers to a different Meshech, perhaps one associated with the individual mentioned as a descendant of Aram in 1 Chr 1:17. (However, the LXX in 1 Chr 1:17 follows the parallel text in Gen 10:23, which reads “Mash,” not Meshech.) It is, of course, impossible that the psalmist could have been living in both the far north and the east at the same time. For this reason one must assume that he is recalling his experience as a wanderer among the nations or that he is using the geographical terms metaphorically and sarcastically to suggest that the enemies who surround him are like the barbarians who live in these distant regions. For a discussion of the problem, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 146.