Psalms 78:61-72

78:61 He allowed the symbol of his strong presence to be captured; ¹ 

he gave the symbol of his splendor ²  into the hand of the enemy. ³ 

78:62 He delivered his people over to the sword,

and was angry with his chosen nation. ⁴ 

78:63 Fire consumed their ⁵  young men,

and their ⁶  virgins remained unmarried. ⁷ 

78:64 Their ⁸  priests fell by the sword,

but their ⁹  widows did not weep. ¹⁰ 

78:65 But then the Lord awoke from his sleep; ¹¹ 

he was like a warrior in a drunken rage. ¹² 

78:66 He drove his enemies back;

he made them a permanent target for insults. ¹³ 

78:67 He rejected the tent of Joseph;

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim.

78:68 He chose the tribe of Judah,

and Mount Zion, which he loves.

78:69 He made his sanctuary as enduring as the heavens above; ¹⁴ 

as secure as the earth, which he established permanently. ¹⁵ 

78:70 He chose David, his servant,

and took him from the sheepfolds.

78:71 He took him away from following the mother sheep, ¹⁶ 

and made him the shepherd of Jacob, his people,

and of Israel, his chosen nation. ¹⁷ 

78:72 David ¹⁸  cared for them with pure motives; ¹⁹ 

he led them with skill. ²⁰ 

[78:61]  ¹ tn Heb “and he gave to captivity his strength.” The expression “his strength” refers metonymically to the ark of the covenant, which was housed in the tabernacle at Shiloh.

[78:61]  ² tn Heb “and his splendor into the hand of an enemy.” The expression “his splendor” also refers metonymically to the ark of the covenant.

[78:61]  ³ sn Verses 60-61 refer to the Philistines’ capture of the ark in the days of Eli (1 Sam 4:1-11).

[78:62]  ⁴ tn Heb “his inheritance.”

[78:63]  ⁵ tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

[78:63]  ⁶ tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

[78:63]  ⁷ tn Heb “were not praised,” that is, in wedding songs. The young men died in masses, leaving no husbands for the young women.

[78:64]  ⁸ tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

[78:64]  ⁹ tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

[78:64]  ¹⁰ sn Because of the invading army and the ensuing panic, the priests’ widows had no time to carry out the normal mourning rites.

[78:65]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the master awoke like one sleeping.” The Lord’s apparent inactivity during the time of judgment is compared to sleep.

[78:65]  ¹² tn Heb “like a warrior overcome with wine.” The Hebrew verb רוּן (run, “overcome”) occurs only here in the OT. The phrase “overcome with wine” could picture a drunken warrior controlled by his emotions and passions (as in the present translation), or it could refer to a warrior who awakes from a drunken stupor.

[78:66]  ¹³ tn Heb “a permanent reproach he made them.”

[78:69]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “and he built like the exalting [ones] his sanctuary.” The phrase כְּמוֹ־רָמִים (kÿmo-ramim, “like the exalting [ones]”) is a poetic form of the comparative preposition followed by a participial form of the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”). The text should be emended to כִּמְרֹמִים (kimromim, “like the [heavenly] heights”). See Ps 148:1, where “heights” refers to the heavens above.

[78:69]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “like the earth, [which] he established permanently.” The feminine singular suffix on the Hebrew verb יָסַד (yasad, “to establish”) refers to the grammatically feminine noun “earth.”

[78:71]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from after the ewes he brought him.”

[78:71]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.”

[78:72]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “He”; the referent (David, God’s chosen king, mentioned in v. 70) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[78:72]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart.”

[78:72]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and with the understanding of his hands he led them.”