Psalms 68:1

Psalm 68 ¹ 

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

68:1 God springs into action! ² 

His enemies scatter;

his adversaries ³  run from him. ⁴ 

Psalms 4:1-8

Psalm 4 ⁵ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of David.

4:1 When I call out, answer me,

O God who vindicates me! ⁶ 

Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. ⁷ 

Have mercy on me ⁸  and respond to ⁹  my prayer!

4:2 You men, ¹⁰  how long will you try to turn my honor into shame? ¹¹ 

How long ¹²  will you love what is worthless ¹³ 

and search for what is deceptive? ¹⁴  (Selah)

4:3 Realize that ¹⁵  the Lord shows the godly special favor; ¹⁶ 

the Lord responds ¹⁷  when I cry out to him.

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ¹⁸ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ¹⁹  (Selah)

4:5 Offer the prescribed sacrifices ²⁰ 

and trust in the Lord! ²¹ 

4:6 Many say, “Who can show us anything good?”

Smile upon us, Lord! ²² 

4:7 You make me happier ²³ 

than those who have abundant grain and wine. ²⁴ 

4:8 I will lie down and sleep peacefully, ²⁵ 

for you, Lord, make me safe and secure. ²⁶ 

Psalms 6:1-10

Psalm 6 ²⁷ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments, according to the sheminith style; ²⁸  a psalm of David.

6:1 Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger!

Do not discipline me in your raging fury! ²⁹ 

6:2 Have mercy on me, ³⁰  Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ³¹ 

6:3 I am absolutely terrified, ³² 

and you, Lord – how long will this continue? ³³ 

6:4 Relent, Lord, rescue me! ³⁴ 

Deliver me because of your faithfulness! ³⁵ 

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death, ³⁶ 

In Sheol who gives you thanks? ³⁷ 

6:6 I am exhausted as I groan;

all night long I drench my bed in tears; ³⁸ 

my tears saturate the cushion beneath me. ³⁹ 

6:7 My eyes ⁴⁰  grow dim ⁴¹  from suffering;

they grow weak ⁴²  because of all my enemies. ⁴³ 

6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, ⁴⁴ 

for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping! ⁴⁵ 

6:9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;

the Lord has accepted ⁴⁶  my prayer.

6:10 May all my enemies be humiliated ⁴⁷  and absolutely terrified! ⁴⁸ 

May they turn back and be suddenly humiliated!

[68:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 68. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior and celebrates the fact that God exerts his power on behalf of his people.

[68:1]  ² tn Or “rises up.” The verb form is an imperfect, not a jussive. The psalmist is describing God’s appearance in battle in a dramatic fashion.

[68:1]  ³ tn Heb “those who hate him.”

[68:1]  ⁴ sn The wording of v. 1 echoes the prayer in Num 10:35: “Spring into action, Lord! Then your enemies will be scattered and your adversaries will run from you.”

[4:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 4. The psalmist asks God to hear his prayer, expresses his confidence that the Lord will intervene, and urges his enemies to change their ways and place their trust in God. He concludes with another prayer for divine intervention and again affirms his absolute confidence in God’s protection.

[4:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “God of my righteousness.”

[4:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “in distress (or “a narrow place”) you make (a place) large for me.” The function of the Hebrew perfect verbal form here is uncertain. The translation above assumes that the psalmist is expressing his certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm (vv. 3, 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“lead me”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[4:1]  ⁸ tn Or “show me favor.”

[4:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “hear.”

[4:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “sons of man.”

[4:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “how long my honor to shame?”

[4:2]  ¹¹ tn The interrogative construction עַד־מֶה (’ad-meh, “how long?”), is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[4:2]  ¹² tn Heb “emptiness.”

[4:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “a lie.” Some see the metonymic language of v. 2b (“emptiness, lie”) as referring to idols or false gods. However, there is no solid immediate contextual evidence for such an interpretation. It is more likely that the psalmist addresses those who threaten him (see v. 1) and refers in a general way to their sinful lifestyle. (See R. Mosis, TDOT 7:121.) The two terms allude to the fact that sinful behavior is ultimately fruitless and self-destructive.

[4:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “and know that.”

[4:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “that the Lord sets apart a faithful one for himself.” The psalmist states a general principle, though the singular form and the parallel line indicate he has himself in mind as the representative godly person. A חָסִיד (khasid; here translated as “the godly”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[4:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hears.”

[4:4]  ¹⁷ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

[4:5]  ²¹ tn Or “proper, right.” The phrase also occurs in Deut 33:19 and Ps 51:19.

[4:5]  ²² sn Trust in the Lord. The psalmist urges his enemies to make peace with God and become his followers.

[4:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “lift up upon us the light of your face, Lord.” The verb נסה is apparently an alternate form of נשׂא, “lift up.” See GKC 217 §76.b. The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

[4:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you place joy in my heart.” Another option is to understand the perfect verbal form as indicating certitude, “you will make me happier.”

[4:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “from (i.e., more than) the time (when) their grain and their wine are abundant.”

[4:8]  ³³ tn Heb “in peace at the same time I will lie down and sleep.”

[4:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “for you, Lord, solitarily, securely make me dwell.” The translation understands לְבָדָד (lÿvadad) as modifying the verb; the Lord keeps enemies away from the psalmist so that he is safe and secure. Another option is to take לְבָדָד with what precedes and translate, “you alone, Lord, make me secure.”

[6:1]  ³⁷ sn Psalm 6. The psalmist begs the Lord to withdraw his anger and spare his life. Having received a positive response to his prayer, the psalmist then confronts his enemies and describes how they retreat.

[6:1]  ³⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term שְׁמִינִית (shÿminit, “sheminith”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. See 1 Chr 15:21.

[6:1]  ³⁹ sn The implication is that the psalmist has sinned, causing God to discipline him by bringing a life-threatening illness upon him (see vv. 2-7).

[6:2]  ⁴¹ tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2]  ⁴² tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[6:3]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “my being is very terrified.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and you, Lord, how long?” The suffering psalmist speaks in broken syntax. He addresses God, but then simply cries out with a brief, but poignant, question: How long will this (= his suffering) continue?

[6:4]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “my being,” or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[6:4]  ⁵⁰ sn Deliver me because of your faithfulness. Though the psalmist is experiencing divine discipline, he realizes that God has made a commitment to him in the past, so he appeals to God’s faithfulness in his request for help.

[6:5]  ⁵³ tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.

[6:5]  ⁵⁴ tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[6:6]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “I cause to swim through all the night my bed.”

[6:6]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “with my tears my bed I flood/melt.”

[6:7]  ⁶¹ tn The Hebrew text has the singular “eye” here.

[6:7]  ⁶² tn Or perhaps, “are swollen.”

[6:7]  ⁶³ tn Or perhaps, “grow old.”

[6:7]  ⁶⁴ sn In his weakened condition the psalmist is vulnerable to the taunts and threats of his enemies.

[6:8]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.

[6:8]  ⁶⁶ sn The Lord has heard. The psalmist’s mood abruptly changes because the Lord responded positively to the lament and petition of vv. 1-7 and promised him deliverance.

[6:9]  ⁶⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a preterite here; it is parallel to a perfect and refers to the fact that the Lord has responded favorably to the psalmist’s request.

[6:10]  ⁷³ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling judgment down on his enemies.

[6:10]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “and may they be very terrified.” The psalmist uses the same expression in v. 3 to describe the terror he was experiencing. Now he asks the Lord to turn the tables and cause his enemies to know what absolute terror feels like.