Psalms 7:6

7:6 Stand up angrily, ¹  Lord!

Rise up with raging fury against my enemies! ² 

Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! ³ 

Psalms 42:8

42:8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, ⁴ 

and by night he gives me a song, ⁵ 

a prayer ⁶  to the living God.

Psalms 68:28

68:28 God has decreed that you will be powerful. ⁷ 

O God, you who have acted on our behalf, demonstrate your power,

Psalms 71:3

71:3 Be my protector and refuge, ⁸ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ⁹ 

For you are my high ridge ¹⁰  and my stronghold.

Psalms 78:5

78:5 He established a rule ¹¹  in Jacob;

he set up a law in Israel.

He commanded our ancestors

to make his deeds known to their descendants, ¹² 

Psalms 111:9

111:9 He delivered his people; ¹³ 

he ordained that his covenant be observed forever. ¹⁴ 

His name is holy and awesome.

[7:6]  ¹ tn Heb “in your anger.”

[7:6]  ² tn Heb “Lift yourself up in the angry outbursts of my enemies.” Many understand the preposition prefixed to עַבְרוֹת (’avrot, “angry outbursts”) as adversative, “against,” and the following genitive “enemies” as subjective. In this case one could translate, “rise up against my furious enemies” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The present translation, however, takes the preposition as indicating manner (cf. “in your anger” in the previous line) and understands the plural form of the noun as indicating an abstract quality (“fury”) or excessive degree (“raging fury”). Cf. Job 21:30.

[7:6]  ³ tc Heb “Wake up to me [with the] judgment [which] you have commanded.” The LXX understands אֵלִי (’eliy, “my God”) instead of אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”; the LXX reading is followed by NEB, NIV, NRSV.) If the reading of the MT is retained, the preposition probably has the sense of “on account of, for the sake of.” The noun מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “judgment”) is probably an adverbial accusative, modifying the initial imperative, “wake up.” In this case צִוִּיתָ (tsivvita, “[which] you have commanded”) is an asyndetic relative clause. Some take the perfect as precative. In this case one could translate the final line, “Wake up for my sake! Decree judgment!” (cf. NIV). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[42:8]  ⁴ sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).

[42:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”

[42:8]  ⁶ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (tÿfillah, “prayer”).

[68:28]  ⁷ tn Heb “God has commanded your strength.” The statement is apparently addressed to Israel (see v. 26).

[71:3]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “become for me a rocky summit of a dwelling place.” The Hebrew term מָעוֹן (ma’on, “dwelling place”) should probably be emended to מָעוֹז (ma’oz, “refuge”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ¹¹ tc Heb “to enter continually, you commanded to deliver me.” The Hebrew phrase לָבוֹא תָּמִיד צִוִּיתָ (lavo’ tamid tsivvita, “to enter continually, you commanded”) should be emended to לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת (lÿvet mÿtsudot, “a house of strongholds”; see Ps 31:2).

[71:3]  ¹² sn You are my high ridge. This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.

[78:5]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to God’s command that the older generation teach their children about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history (see Exod 10:2; Deut 4:9; 6:20-25).

[78:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “which he commanded our fathers to make them known to their sons.” The plural suffix “them” probably refers back to the Lord’s mighty deeds (see vv. 3-4).

[111:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “redemption he sent for his people.”

[111:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he commanded forever his covenant.”