Discovery BoxPsalms 68:30
Context68:30 Sound your battle cry 1 against the wild beast of the reeds, 2
and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls! 3
They humble themselves 4 and offer gold and silver as tribute. 5
God 6 scatters 7 the nations that like to do battle.
Psalms 81:15
Context81:15 (May those who hate the Lord 8 cower in fear 9 before him!
May they be permanently humiliated!) 10
Psalms 81:2
Context81:2 Sing 11 a song and play the tambourine,
the pleasant sounding harp, and the ten-stringed instrument!
Psalms 22:1
ContextFor the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” 13 a psalm of David.
22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 14
I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. 15
[68:30] 1 tn The Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar) is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts such as Ps 68 this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Ps 106:9 and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 18:15; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.
[68:30] 2 sn The wild beast of the reeds probably refers to a hippopotamus, which in turn symbolizes the nation of Egypt.
[68:30] 3 tn Heb “an assembly of bulls, with calves of the nations.”
[68:30] 4 tn Heb “humbling himself.” The verb form is a Hitpael participle from the root רָפַס (rafas, “to trample”). The Hitpael of this verb appears only here and in Prov 6:3, where it seems to mean, “humble oneself,” a nuance that fits nicely in this context. The apparent subject is “wild beast” or “assembly,” though both of these nouns are grammatically feminine, while the participle is a masculine form. Perhaps one should emend the participial form to a masculine plural (מִתְרַפִּם, mitrapim) and understand “bulls” or “calves” as the subject.
[68:30] 5 tc Heb “with pieces [?] of silver.” The meaning of the Hebrew term רַצֵּי (ratsey) is unclear. It is probably best to emend the text to בֶּצֶר וְכָסֶף (betser vÿkhasef, “[with] gold and silver”).
[68:30] 6 tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
[68:30] 7 tn The verb בָּזַר (bazar) is an alternative form of פָּזַר (pazar, “scatter”).
[81:15] 8 tn “Those who hate the
[81:15] 9 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.
[81:15] 10 tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the
[22:1] 12 sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.
[22:1] 13 tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.
[22:1] 14 sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).
[22:1] 15 tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.
