Psalms 65:4

65:4 How blessed ¹  is the one whom you choose,

and allow to live in your palace courts. ² 

May we be satisfied with the good things of your house –

your holy palace. ³ 

Psalms 69:20

69:20 Their insults are painful ⁴  and make me lose heart; ⁵ 

I look ⁶  for sympathy, but receive none, ⁷ 

for comforters, but find none.

[65:4]  ¹ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[65:4]  ² tn Heb “[whom] you bring near [so that] he might live [in] your courts.”

[65:4]  ³ tn Or “temple.”

[69:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.

[69:20]  ⁵ tn The verb form appears to be a Qal preterite from an otherwise unattested root נוּשׁ (nush), which some consider an alternate form of אָנַשׁ (’anash, “be weak; be sick”; see BDB 60 s.v. I אָנַשׁ). Perhaps the form should be emended to a Niphal, וָאֵאָנְשָׁה (va’e’onshah, “and I am sick”). The Niphal of אָנַשׁ occurs in 2 Sam 12:15, where it is used to describe David’s sick child.

[69:20]  ⁶ tn Heb “wait.”

[69:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I wait for sympathy, but there is none.” The form נוּד (nud) is an infinitive functioning as a verbal noun:, “sympathizing.” Some suggest emending the form to a participle נָד (nad, “one who shows sympathy”). The verb נוּד (nud) also has the nuance “show sympathy” in Job 2:11; 42:11 and Isa 51:19.