Psalms 60:3-5

60:3 You have made your people experience hard times; ¹ 

you have made us drink intoxicating wine. ² 

60:4 You have given your loyal followers ³  a rallying flag,

so that they might seek safety from the bow. ⁴  (Selah)

60:5 Deliver by your power ⁵  and answer me, ⁶ 

so that the ones you love may be safe. ⁷ 

[60:3]  ¹ tn Heb “you have caused your people to see [what is] hard.”

[60:3]  ² tn Heb “wine of staggering,” that is, intoxicating wine that makes one stagger in drunkenness. Intoxicating wine is here an image of divine judgment that makes its victims stagger like drunkards. See Isa 51:17-23.

[60:4]  ³ tn Heb “those who fear you.”

[60:4]  ⁴ tn There is a ray of hope in that God has allowed his loyal followers to rally under a battle flag. The translation assumes the verb is from the root נוּס (nus, “flee”) used here in the Hitpolel in the sense of “find safety for oneself” (HALOT 681 s.v. נוס) or “take flight for oneself” (BDB 630-31 s.v. נוּס). Another option is to take the verb as a denominative from נֵס (nes, “flag”) and translate “that it may be displayed” (BDB 651 s.v. II נסס) or “that they may assemble under the banner” (HALOT 704 s.v. II נסס). Here קֹשֶׁט (qoshet) is taken as an Aramaized form of קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”; BDB 905-6 s.v. קֶשֶׁת), though some understand the homonymic קֹשְׁטְ (qosht, “truth”) here (see Prov 22:21; cf. NASB). If one follows the latter interpretation, the line may be translated, “so that they might assemble under the banner for the sake of truth.”

[60:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “right hand.”

[60:5]  ⁶ tn The Qere (marginal reading) has “me,” while the Kethib (consonantal text) has “us.”

[60:5]  ⁷ tn Or “may be rescued.” The lines are actually reversed in the Hebrew text, “So that the ones you love may be rescued, deliver by your power and answer me.”