Psalms 44:14

44:14 You made us ¹  an object of ridicule ²  among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt. ³ 

Psalms 67:4

67:4 Let foreigners ⁴  rejoice and celebrate!

For you execute justice among the nations,

and govern the people living on earth. ⁵  (Selah)

Psalms 2:1

Psalm 2 ⁶ 

2:1 Why ⁷  do the nations rebel? ⁸ 

Why ⁹  are the countries ¹⁰  devising ¹¹  plots that will fail? ¹² 

Psalms 149:7

149:7 in order to take ¹³  revenge on the nations,

and punish foreigners.

Psalms 7:7

7:7 The countries are assembled all around you; ¹⁴ 

take once more your rightful place over them! ¹⁵ 

Psalms 9:8

9:8 He judges the world fairly;

he makes just legal decisions for the nations. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 47:3

47:3 He subdued nations beneath us ¹⁷ 

and countries ¹⁸  under our feet.

Psalms 57:9

57:9 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Master!

I will sing praises to you before foreigners! ¹⁹ 

Psalms 65:7

65:7 You calm the raging seas ²⁰ 

and their roaring waves,

as well as the commotion made by the nations. ²¹ 

Psalms 105:44

105:44 He handed the territory of nations over to them,

and they took possession of what other peoples had produced, ²² 

Psalms 108:3

108:3 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord!

I will sing praises to you before foreigners! ²³ 

Psalms 148:11

148:11 you kings of the earth and all you nations,

you princes and all you leaders ²⁴  on the earth,

Psalms 44:2

44:2 You, by your power, ²⁵  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ²⁶ 

you crushed ²⁷  the people living there ²⁸  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ²⁹ 

[44:14]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:14]  ² tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”

[44:14]  ³ tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).

[67:4]  ⁴ tn Or “peoples.”

[67:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “for you judge nations fairly, and [as for the] peoples in the earth, you lead them.” The imperfects are translated with the present tense because the statement is understood as a generalization about God’s providential control of the world. Another option is to understand the statement as anticipating God’s future rule (“for you will rule…and govern”).

[2:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ⁸ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ¹⁰ tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ¹¹ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ¹² tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.

[149:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to do.”

[7:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the assembly of the peoples surrounds you.” Some understand the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may the assembly of the peoples surround you.”

[7:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “over it (the feminine suffix refers back to the feminine noun “assembly” in the preceding line) on high return.” Some emend שׁוּבָה (shuvah, “return”) to שֵׁבָה (shevah, “sit [in judgment]”) because they find the implication of “return” problematic. But the psalmist does not mean to imply that God has abandoned his royal throne and needs to regain it. Rather he simply urges God, as sovereign king of the world, to once more occupy his royal seat of judgment and execute judgment, as the OT pictures God doing periodically.

[9:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the peoples.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 8 either describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions (“will judge…”).

[47:3]  ¹⁹ tn On the meaning of the verb דָּבַר (davar, “subdue”), a homonym of דָּבַר (“speak”), see HALOT 209-10 s.v. I דבר. See also Ps 18:47 and 2 Chr 22:10. The preterite form of the verb suggests this is an historical reference and the next verse, which mentions the gift of the land, indicates that the conquest under Joshua is in view.

[47:3]  ²⁰ tn Or “peoples” (see Pss 2:1; 7:7; 9:8; 44:2).

[57:9]  ²² tn Or “the peoples.”

[65:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the roar of the seas.”

[65:7]  ²⁶ sn The raging seas…the commotion made by the nations. The raging seas symbolize the turbulent nations of the earth (see Ps 46:2-3, 6; Isa 17:12).

[105:44]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and the [product of the] work of peoples they possessed.”

[108:3]  ³¹ tn Or “the peoples.”

[148:11]  ³⁴ tn Or “judges.”

[44:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “you, your hand.”

[44:2]  ³⁸ tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

[44:2]  ³⁹ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).

[44:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “peoples.”

[44:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.