Discovery BoxPsalms 5:11
Context5:11 But may all who take shelter 1 in you be happy! 2
May they continually 3 shout for joy! 4
Shelter them 5 so that those who are loyal to you 6 may rejoice! 7
Psalms 15:5
Context15:5 He does not charge interest when he lends his money. 8
He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. 9
The one who lives like this 10 will never be upended.
Psalms 37:28
Context37:28 For the Lord promotes 11 justice,
and never abandons 12 his faithful followers.
They are permanently secure, 13
but the children 14 of evil men are wiped out. 15
Psalms 48:8
Context48:8 We heard about God’s mighty deeds, now we have seen them, 16
in the city of the Lord, the invincible Warrior, 17
in the city of our God.
God makes it permanently secure. 18 (Selah)
Psalms 133:3
Context133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon, 19
which flows down upon the hills of Zion. 20
Indeed 21 that is where the Lord has decreed
a blessing will be available – eternal life. 22
[5:11] 1 sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).
[5:11] 2 tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer. The psalmist calls on God to reward his faithful followers.
[5:11] 3 tn Or perhaps more hyperbolically, “forever.”
[5:11] 4 tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer.
[5:11] 5 tn Heb “put a cover over them.” The verb form is a Hiphil imperfect from סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “cover, shut off”). The imperfect expresses the psalmist’s wish or request.
[5:11] 6 tn Heb “the lovers of your name.” The phrase refers to those who are loyal to the Lord. See Pss 69:36; 119:132; Isa 56:6.
[5:11] 7 tn The vav (ו) with prefixed verbal form following the volitional “shelter them” indicates purpose or result (“so that those…may rejoice).
[15:5] 8 sn He does not charge interest. Such an individual is truly generous, and not simply concerned with making a profit.
[15:5] 9 tn Heb “a bribe against the innocent he does not take.” For other texts condemning the practice of a judge or witness taking a bribe, see Exod 23:8; Deut 16:19; 27:25; 1 Sam 8:3; Ezek 22:12; Prov 17:23.
[15:5] 10 tn Heb “does these things.”
[37:28] 15 tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the
[37:28] 16 tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.
[37:28] 17 tn Or “protected forever.”
[37:28] 18 tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
[37:28] 19 tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.
[48:8] 22 tn Heb “As we have heard, so we have seen.” The community had heard about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history. Having personally witnessed his saving power with their own eyes, they could now affirm that the tradition was not exaggerated or inaccurate.
[48:8] 23 tn Heb “the
[48:8] 24 tn Or “God makes it secure forever.” The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.
[133:3] 29 sn Hermon refers to Mount Hermon, located north of Israel.
[133:3] 30 sn The hills of Zion are those surrounding Zion (see Pss 87:1; 125:2). The psalmist does not intend to suggest that the dew from Mt. Hermon in the distant north actually flows down upon Zion. His point is that the same kind of heavy dew that replenishes Hermon may also be seen on Zion’s hills. See A. Cohen, Psalms (SoBB), 439. “Dew” here symbolizes divine blessing, as the next line suggests.
[133:3] 32 tn Heb “there the
