Discovery BoxPsalms 74:1
ContextA well-written song 2 by Asaph.
74:1 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us? 3
Why does your anger burn 4 against the sheep of your pasture?
Psalms 95:7
Context95:7 For he is our God;
we are the people of his pasture,
the sheep he owns. 5
Today, if only you would obey him! 6
Psalms 100:3
Context100:3 Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us and we belong to him; 7
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
[74:1] 1 sn Psalm 74. The psalmist, who has just experienced the devastation of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586
[74:1] 2 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
[74:1] 3 sn The psalmist does not really believe God has permanently rejected his people or he would not pray as he does in this psalm. But this initial question reflects his emotional response to what he sees and is overstated for the sake of emphasis. The severity of divine judgment gives the appearance that God has permanently abandoned his people.
[74:1] 4 tn Heb “smoke.” The picture is that of a fire that continues to smolder.
[95:7] 5 tn Heb “of his hand.”
[95:7] 6 tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.
[100:3] 7 tn The present translation (like most modern translations) follows the Qere (marginal reading), which reads literally, “and to him [are] we.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “and not we.” The suffixed preposition לו (“to him”) was confused aurally with the negative particle לא because the two sound identical.
