Psalms 46:10

46:10 He says, ¹  “Stop your striving and recognize ²  that I am God!

I will be exalted ³  over ⁴  the nations! I will be exalted over ⁵  the earth!”

Psalms 66:7

66:7 He rules ⁶  by his power forever;

he watches ⁷  the nations.

Stubborn rebels should not exalt ⁸  themselves. (Selah)

Psalms 79:10

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ⁹ 

Psalms 96:10

96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

The world is established, it cannot be moved.

He judges the nations fairly.”

Psalms 110:6

110:6 He executes judgment ¹⁰  against ¹¹  the nations;

he fills the valleys with corpses; ¹² 

he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield. ¹³ 

[46:10]  ¹ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[46:10]  ² tn Heb “do nothing/be quiet (see 1 Sam 15:16) and know.” This statement may be addressed to the hostile nations, indicating they should cease their efforts to destroy God’s people, or to Judah, indicating they should rest secure in God’s protection. Since the psalm is an expression of Judah’s trust and confidence, it is more likely that the words are directed to the nations, who are actively promoting chaos and are in need of a rebuke.

[46:10]  ³ tn Elsewhere in the psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”) when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 18:46; 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 57:5, 11).

[46:10]  ⁴ tn Or “among.”

[46:10]  ⁵ tn Or “in.”

[66:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “[the] one who rules.”

[66:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “his eyes watch.” “Eyes” are an anthropomorphism, attributed to God here to emphasize his awareness of all that happens on earth.

[66:7]  ⁸ tn The verb form is jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al). The Kethib (consonantal text) has a Hiphil form of the verb, apparently to be understood in an exhibitive sense (“demonstrate stubborn rebellion”; see BDB 927 s.v. רוּם Hiph), while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Qal form, to be understood in an intransitive sense. The preposition -לְ (lamed) with pronominal suffix should be understood in a reflexive sense (“for themselves”) and indicates that the action is performed with the interest of the subject in mind.

[79:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[110:6]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 6-7 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though they could be taken as future.

[110:6]  ¹⁷ tn Or “among.”

[110:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת(ge’ayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton.

[110:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he strikes [the verb is מָחַץ (makhats), translated “strikes down” in v. 5] head[s] over a great land.” The Hebrew term רַבָּה (rabbah, “great”) is here used of distance or spatial measurement (see 1 Sam 26:13).