Psalms 78:65-72

78:65 But then the Lord awoke from his sleep; ¹ 

he was like a warrior in a drunken rage. ² 

78:66 He drove his enemies back;

he made them a permanent target for insults. ³ 

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; ⁴ 

as secure as the earth, which he established permanently. ⁵ 

78:70 He chose David, his servant,

and took him from the sheepfolds.

78:71 He took him away from following the mother sheep, ⁶ 

and made him the shepherd of Jacob, his people,

and of Israel, his chosen nation. ⁷ 

78:72 David ⁸  cared for them with pure motives; ⁹ 

he led them with skill. ¹⁰ 

[78:65]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “a permanent reproach he made them.”

[78:69]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “from after the ewes he brought him.”

[78:71]  ⁷ tn Heb “to shepherd Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance.”

[78:72]  ⁸ tn Heb “He”; the referent (David, God’s chosen king, mentioned in v. 70) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[78:72]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart.”

[78:72]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and with the understanding of his hands he led them.”