Psalms 56:12

56:12 I am obligated to fulfill the vows I made to you, O God; ¹ 

I will give you the thank-offerings you deserve, ² 

Psalms 65:1

Psalm 65 ³ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, a song.

65:1 Praise awaits you, ⁴  O God, in Zion.

Vows made to you are fulfilled.

Psalms 66:13

66:13 I will enter ⁵  your temple with burnt sacrifices;

I will fulfill the vows I made to you,

Psalms 66:16

66:16 Come! Listen, all you who are loyal to God! ⁶ 

I will declare what he has done for me.

Psalms 116:14-19

116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people.

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers. ⁷ 

116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;

I am your lowest slave. ⁸ 

You saved me from death. ⁹ 

116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people,

116:19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 118:19-20

118:19 Open for me the gates of the just king’s temple! ¹⁰ 

I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

118:20 This is the Lord’s gate –

the godly enter through it.

Ecclesiastes 5:4-5

5:4 When you make a vow ¹¹  to God, do not delay in paying it. ¹² 

For God ¹³  takes no pleasure in fools:

Pay what you vow!

5:5 It is better for you not to vow

than to vow and not pay it. ¹⁴ 

[56:12]  ¹ tn Heb “upon me, O God, [are] your vows.”

[56:12]  ² tn Heb “I will repay thank-offerings to you.”

[65:1]  ³ sn Psalm 65. The psalmist praises God because he forgives sin and blesses his people with an abundant harvest.

[65:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “for you, silence, praise.” Many prefer to emend the noun דֻּמִיָּה (dumiyyah, “silence”) to a participle דּוֹמִיָּה (domiyyah), from the root דָּמָה (damah, “be silent”), understood here in the sense of “wait.”

[66:13]  ⁵ sn Here the psalmist switches to the singular; he speaks as the representative of the nation.

[66:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “all of the fearers of God.”

[116:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.

[116:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.

[116:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).

[118:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the gates of justice.” The gates of the Lord’s temple are referred to here, as v. 20 makes clear. They are called “gates of justice” because they are the entrance to the just king’s palace. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “vow a vow.” The phrase תִּדֹּר נֶדֶר (tiddor neder, “to vow a vow”) is a Hebrew idiom in which the root נדר is repeated for emphasis. The construction is a cognate accusative (see IBHS 166-67 §10.2.1f). The verb נָדַר (nadar, “to vow”) refers to the action of making a solemn promise to the Lord to perform an action or offer a sacrifice, e.g., Lev 27:8; Num 6:21; 30:11; Deut 23:23-24; Jonah 2:10; Mal 1:14; Pss 76:12; 132:2; see HALOT 674 s.v. נדר. The noun נֶדֶר (“vow”) was a gift or offering promised to be given to the Lord (Num 30:3; Deut 12:11; 23:19; Isa 19:12; Nah 2:1 [ET 1:15]; Ps 61:6, 9); see HALOT 674–75 s.v. נֵדֶר. It usually was a sacrifice or free-will offering (Deut 12:6; Ps 66:13) that was often promised during times of pressure (Judg 11:30; 1 Sam 1:11; 2 Sam 15:7-8; Pss 22:25; 66:13; 116:14, 18; Jonah 2:9).

[5:4]  ¹² tn The term לְשַׁלְּמוֹ (lÿshallÿmo, preposition + Piel infinitive construct from שָׁלַם, shalam + 3rd person masculine singular suffix) is derived from the root שׁלם which is used in a general sense of paying a debt (2 Kgs 4:7; Ps 37:21; Prov 22:27; Job 41:3), and more specifically of fulfilling a vow to the Lord (Deut 23:22; 2 Sam 15:7; Pss 22:26; 50:14; 61:9; 66:13; 76:12; 116:14, 18; Prov 7:14; Job 22:27; Isa 19:21; Jonah 2:10; Nah 2:1); see HALOT 1535 s.v. שׁלם 3a; BDB 1022 s.v. שָׁלֵם 4. An Israelite was never required to make a vow, but once made, it had to be paid (Lev 22:18-25; 27:1-13; Num 15:2-10; Nah 1:15 [2:1 HT]).

[5:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “he”; the referent (“God”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:5]  ¹⁴ tn The word “it” does not appear in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for clarity.