Psalms 68:9

68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall ¹  on your chosen people. ² 

When they ³  are tired, you sustain them, ⁴ 

Psalms 68:2

68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. ⁵ 

As wax melts before fire,

so the wicked are destroyed before God.

Psalms 3:1

Psalm 3 ⁶ 

A psalm of David, written when he fled from his son Absalom. ⁷ 

3:1 Lord, how ⁸  numerous are my enemies!

Many attack me. ⁹ 

[68:9]  ¹ tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).

[68:9]  ² tn Heb “[on] your inheritance.” This refers to Israel as God’s specially chosen people (see Pss 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 106:40). Some take “your inheritance” with what follows, but the vav (ו) prefixed to the following word (note וְנִלְאָה, vÿnil’ah) makes this syntactically unlikely.

[68:9]  ³ tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”

[3:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 3. The psalmist acknowledges that he is confronted by many enemies (vv. 1-2). But, alluding to a divine oracle he has received (vv. 4-5), he affirms his confidence in God’s ability to protect him (vv. 3, 6) and requests that God make his promise a reality (vv. 7-8).

[3:1]  ⁷ sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).

[3:1]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term מָה (mah, “how”) is used here as an adverbial exclamation (see BDB 553 s.v.).

[3:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “many rise up against me.”