Psalms 76:1-8

Psalm 76 ¹ 

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

76:1 God has revealed himself in Judah; ² 

in Israel his reputation ³  is great.

76:2 He lives in Salem; ⁴ 

he dwells in Zion. ⁵ 

76:3 There he shattered the arrows, ⁶ 

the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. ⁷  (Selah)

76:4 You shine brightly and reveal your majesty,

as you descend from the hills where you killed your prey. ⁸ 

76:5 The bravehearted ⁹  were plundered; ¹⁰ 

they “fell asleep.” ¹¹ 

All the warriors were helpless. ¹² 

76:6 At the sound of your battle cry, ¹³  O God of Jacob,

both rider ¹⁴  and horse “fell asleep.” ¹⁵ 

76:7 You are awesome! Yes, you!

Who can withstand your intense anger? ¹⁶ 

76:8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be. ¹⁷ 

The earth ¹⁸  was afraid and silent

[76:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 76. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior who destroys Israel’s enemies.

[76:1]  ² tn Or “God is known in Judah.”

[76:1]  ³ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[76:2]  ⁴ sn Salem is a shorter name for Jerusalem (see Gen 14:18).

[76:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and his place of refuge is in Salem, and his lair in Zion.” God may be likened here to a lion (see v. 4).

[76:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.

[76:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “shield and sword and battle.” “Battle” probably here stands by metonymy for the weapons of war in general.

[76:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “radiant [are] you, majestic from the hills of prey.” God is depicted as a victorious king and as a lion that has killed its victims.

[76:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “strong of heart.” In Isa 46:12, the only other text where this phrase appears, it refers to those who are stubborn, but here it seems to describe brave warriors (see the next line).

[76:5]  ¹⁰ tn The verb is a rare Aramaized form of the Hitpolel (see GKC 149 §54.a, n. 2); the root is שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder”).

[76:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they slept [in] their sleep.” “Sleep” here refers to the “sleep” of death. A number of modern translations take the phrase to refer to something less than death, however: NASB “cast into a deep sleep”; NEB “fall senseless”; NIV “lie still”; NRSV “lay stunned.”

[76:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and all the men of strength did not find their hands.”

[76:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “from your shout.” The noun is derived from the Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar), which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 18:15; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[76:6]  ¹⁴ tn Or “chariot,” but even so the term is metonymic for the charioteer.

[76:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he fell asleep, and [the] chariot and [the] horse.” Once again (see v. 5) “sleep” refers here to the “sleep” of death.

[76:7]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “and who can stand before you from the time of your anger?” The Hebrew expression מֵאָז (me’az, “from the time of”) is better emended to מֵאֹז (me’oz, “from [i.e., “because of”] the strength of your anger”; see Ps 90:11).

[76:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a [legal] decision,” or “sentence.”

[76:8]  ¹⁸ tn “The earth” stands here by metonymy for its inhabitants.