Psalms 74:2

74:2 Remember your people ¹  whom you acquired in ancient times,

whom you rescued ²  so they could be your very own nation, ³ 

as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!

Psalms 87:4

87:4 I mention Rahab ⁴  and Babylon to my followers. ⁵ 

Here are ⁶  Philistia and Tyre, ⁷  along with Ethiopia. ⁸ 

It is said of them, “This one was born there.” ⁹ 

Psalms 137:3

137:3 for there our captors ask us to compose songs; ¹⁰ 

those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: ¹¹ 

“Sing for us a song about Zion!” ¹² 

[74:2]  ¹ tn Heb “your assembly,” which pictures God’s people as an assembled community.

[74:2]  ² tn Heb “redeemed.” The verb “redeem” casts God in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).

[74:2]  ³ tn Heb “the tribe of your inheritance” (see Jer 10:16; 51:19).

[87:4]  ⁴ sn “Rahab,” which means “proud one,” is used here as a title for Egypt (see Isa 30:7).

[87:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “to those who know me” (see Ps 36:10). Apparently the Lord speaks here. The verbal construction (the Hiphil of זָכַר, zakhar, “remember” followed by the preposition -לְ [le] with a substantive) is rare, but the prepositional phrase is best understood as indicating the recipient of the announcement (see Jer 4:16). Some take the preposition in the sense of “among” and translate, “among those who know me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). In this case these foreigners are viewed as the Lord’s people and the psalm is interpreted as anticipating a time when all nations will worship the Lord (see Ps 86:9) and be considered citizens of Zion.

[87:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “Look.”

[87:4]  ⁷ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[87:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “Cush.”

[87:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “and this one was born there.” The words “It is said of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarification and stylistic purposes (see v. 5). Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand “there” as referring to Zion, but it seems more likely that the adverb refers to the nations just mentioned. The foreigners are identified by their native lands.

[137:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “ask us [for] the words of a song.”

[137:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “our [?] joy.” The derivation and meaning of the Hebrew phrase תוֹלָלֵינוּ (tolalenu, “our [?]”) are uncertain. A derivation from תָּלַל (talal, “to mock”) fits contextually, but this root occurs only in the Hiphil stem. For a discussion of various proposals, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 236.

[137:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “from a song of Zion.” Most modern translations read, “one of the songs of Zion,” taking the preposition מִן (min, “from”) as partitive and “song” as collective. The present translation assumes the mem (ם) is enclitic, being misunderstood later as the prefixed preposition.