Psalms 60:1

Psalm 60 ¹ 

For the music director; according to the shushan-eduth style; ²  a prayer ³  of David written to instruct others. ⁴  It was written when he fought against Aram Naharaim and Aram-Zobah. That was when Joab turned back and struck down ⁵  12,000 Edomites ⁶  in the Valley of Salt. ⁷ 

60:1 O God, you have rejected us. ⁸ 

You suddenly turned on us in your anger. ⁹ 

Please restore us! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 69:16

69:16 Answer me, O Lord, for your loyal love is good! ¹¹ 

Because of your great compassion, turn toward me!

Psalms 86:16

86:16 Turn toward me and have mercy on me!

Give your servant your strength!

Deliver your slave! ¹² 

Micah 7:19

7:19 You will once again ¹³  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ¹⁴  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ¹⁵  sins into the depths of the sea. ¹⁶ 

[60:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 60. The psalmist grieves over Israel’s humiliation, but in response to God’s assuring word, he asks for divine help in battle and expresses his confidence in victory.

[60:1]  ² tn The Hebrew expression means “lily of the testimony.” It may refer to a particular music style or to a tune title.

[60:1]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-59, is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[60:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “to teach.”

[60:1]  ⁵ tn In Josh 8:21 and Judg 20:48 the two verbs “turn back” and “strike down” are also juxtaposed. There they refer to a military counter-attack.

[60:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “12,000 of Edom.” Perhaps one should read אֲרַם (’aram, “Aram”) here rather than אֱדוֹם (’edom, “Edom”).

[60:1]  ⁷ sn The heading apparently refers to the military campaign recorded in 2 Sam 10 and 1 Chr 19.

[60:1]  ⁸ sn You have rejected us. See Pss 43:2; 44:9, 23.

[60:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “you broke out upon us, you were angry.”

[60:1]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s wish or prayer.

[69:16]  ¹¹ tn Or “pleasant”; or “desirable.”

[86:16]  ¹² tn Heb “the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 116:16) 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.

[7:19]  ¹³ tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.

[7:19]  ¹⁴ tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.

[7:19]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.

[7:19]  ¹⁶ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).