Discovery BoxPsalms 8:1
ContextFor the music director, according to the gittith style; 2 a psalm of David.
how magnificent 4 is your reputation 5 throughout the earth!
You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! 6
Psalms 10:9
Context10:9 He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; 7
he lies in ambush, waiting to catch 8 the oppressed;
he catches the oppressed 9 by pulling in his net. 10
Psalms 11:4
Context11:4 The Lord is in his holy temple; 11
the Lord’s throne is in heaven. 12
his eyes 15 examine 16 all people. 17
Psalms 26:1
ContextBy David.
26:1 Vindicate me, O Lord,
for I have integrity, 19
and I trust in the Lord without wavering.
Psalms 35:8
Context35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! 20
Let the net they hid catch them!
Let them fall into destruction! 21
Psalms 41:2
Context41:2 May the Lord protect him and save his life! 22
May he be blessed 23 in the land!
Do not turn him over 24 to his enemies! 25
Psalms 43:4
Context43:4 Then I will go 26 to the altar of God,
to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, 27
so that I express my thanks to you, 28 O God, my God, with a harp.
Psalms 48:2
Context48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, 29
a source of joy to the whole earth. 30
Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; 31
it is the city of the great king.
Psalms 55:3
Context55:3 because of what the enemy says, 32
and because of how the wicked 33 pressure me, 34
for they hurl trouble 35 down upon me 36
and angrily attack me.
Psalms 57:3
Context57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me 37
from my enemies who hurl insults! 38 (Selah)
May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!
Psalms 59:5
Context59:5 You, O Lord God, the invincible warrior, 39 the God of Israel,
rouse yourself and punish 40 all the nations!
Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers! (Selah)
Psalms 71:6
Context71:6 I have leaned on you since birth; 41
you pulled me 42 from my mother’s womb.
I praise you continually. 43
Psalms 72:15
Context72:15 May he live! 44 May they offer him gold from Sheba! 45
May they continually pray for him!
May they pronounce blessings on him all day long! 46
Psalms 81:1
ContextFor the music director; according to the gittith style; 48 by Asaph.
81:1 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!
Shout out to the God of Jacob!
Psalms 115:12
Context115:12 The Lord takes notice of us, 49 he will bless 50 –
he will bless the family 51 of Israel,
he will bless the family of Aaron.
Psalms 125:5
Context125:5 As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path, 52
may the Lord remove them, 53 along with those who behave wickedly! 54
May Israel experience peace! 55
Psalms 129:8
Context129:8 Those who pass by will not say, 56
“May you experience the Lord’s blessing!
We pronounce a blessing on you in the name of the Lord.”
Psalms 131:2
Context131:2 Indeed 57 I am composed and quiet, 58
like a young child carried by its mother; 59
I am content like the young child I carry. 60
[8:1] 1 sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.
[8:1] 2 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.
[8:1] 3 tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the
[8:1] 4 tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”
[8:1] 5 tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
[8:1] 6 tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.
[10:9] 8 tn The verb, which also appears in the next line, occurs only here and in Judg 21:21.
[10:9] 9 tn The singular form is collective (see v. 10) or refers to the typical or representative oppressed individual.
[10:9] 10 tn Or “when he [i.e., the wicked man] pulls in his net.”
[11:4] 13 tn Because of the royal imagery involved here, one could translate “lofty palace.” The
[11:4] 14 sn The
[11:4] 15 sn His eyes. The anthropomorphic language draws attention to God’s awareness of and interest in the situation on earth. Though the enemies are hidden by the darkness (v. 2), the Lord sees all.
[11:4] 16 tn The two Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in this verse describe the
[11:4] 18 tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 7:9; 26:2; 139:23.
[11:4] 19 tn Heb “test the sons of men.”
[26:1] 19 sn Psalm 26. The author invites the Lord to test his integrity, asserts his innocence and declares his loyalty to God.
[26:1] 20 tn Heb “for I in my integrity walk.”
[35:8] 25 tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.
[35:8] 26 tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.
[41:2] 31 tn The prefixed verbal forms are taken as jussives in the translation because the jussive is clearly used in the final line of the verse, suggesting that this is a prayer. The psalmist stops to pronounce a prayer of blessing on the godly individual envisioned in v. 1. Of course, he actually has himself primarily in view. He mixes confidence (vv. 1, 3) with petition (v. 2) because he stands in the interval between the word of assurance and the actual intervention by God.
[41:2] 32 tc The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib), which has a Pual (passive) prefixed form, regarded here as a jussive. The Pual of the verb אָשַׁר (’ashar) also appears in Prov 3:18. The marginal reading (Qere) assumes a vav (ו) consecutive and Pual perfect. Some, with the support of the LXX, change the verb to a Piel (active) form with an objective pronominal suffix, “and may he bless him,” or “and he will bless him” (cf. NIV).
[41:2] 33 tn The negative particle אַל (’al) before the prefixed verbal form indicates the verb is a jussive and the statement a prayer. Those who want to take v. 2 as a statement of confidence suggest emending the negative particle to לֹא (lo’), which is used with the imperfect. See the earlier note on the verbal forms in line one of this verse. According to GKC 322 §109.e, this is a case where the jussive is used rhetorically to “express that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one might translate, “you will not turn him over to his enemies,” and take the preceding verbal forms as indicative in mood.
[41:2] 34 tn Heb “do not give him over to the desire of his enemies” (see Ps 27:12).
[43:4] 37 tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”
[43:4] 38 tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.
[43:4] 39 tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.
[48:2] 43 tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.
[48:2] 44 sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).
[48:2] 45 tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the
[55:3] 49 tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”
[55:3] 50 tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.
[55:3] 51 tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (’aqah, “pressure”).
[55:3] 52 tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.
[55:3] 53 tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).
[57:3] 55 tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).
[57:3] 56 tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”
[59:5] 61 tn Heb “
[59:5] 62 tn Heb “wake up to punish” (see Pss 35:23; 44:23).
[71:6] 67 tn Heb “from the womb.”
[71:6] 68 tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).
[71:6] 69 tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”
[72:15] 73 tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect. Because the form has the prefixed vav (ו), some subordinate it to what precedes as a purpose/result clause. In this case the representative poor individual might be the subject of this and the following verb, “so that he may live and give to him gold of Sheba.” But the idea of the poor offering gold is incongruous. It is better to take the jussive as a prayer with the king as subject of the verb. (Perhaps the initial vav is dittographic; note the vav at the end of the last form in v. 14.) The statement is probably an abbreviated version of the formula יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ (yÿkhiy hammelekh, “may the king live”; see 1 Sam 10:24; 2 Sam 16:16; 1 Kgs 1:25, 34, 39; 2 Kgs 11:12).
[72:15] 74 tn Heb “and he will give to him some gold of Sheba.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive with a grammatically indefinite subject (“and may one give”). Of course, the king’s subjects, mentioned in the preceding context, are the tribute bearers in view here.
[72:15] 75 tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives with a grammatically indefinite subject (“and may one pray…and may one bless”). Of course, the king’s subjects, mentioned in the preceding context, are in view here.
[81:1] 79 sn Psalm 81. The psalmist calls God’s people to assemble for a festival and then proclaims God’s message to them. The divine speech (vv. 6-16) recalls how God delivered the people from Egypt, reminds Israel of their rebellious past, expresses God’s desire for his people to obey him, and promises divine protection in exchange for obedience.
[81:1] 80 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument. See the superscription to Ps 8.
[115:12] 85 tn Or “remembers us.”
[115:12] 86 tn Another option is to translate the prefixed form of the verb “bless” in vv. 12-13 as a jussive, “may he bless” (see v. 14).
[125:5] 91 tn Heb “and the ones making their paths twisted.” A sinful lifestyle is compared to a twisting, winding road.
[125:5] 92 tn Heb “lead them away.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer here (note the prayers directly before and after this). Another option is to translate, “the
[125:5] 93 tn Heb “the workers of wickedness.”
[125:5] 94 tn Heb “peace [be] upon Israel.” The statement is understood as a prayer (see Ps 122:8 for a similar prayer for peace).
[129:8] 97 tn The perfect verbal form is used for rhetorical effect; it describes an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
[131:2] 104 tn Heb “I make level and make quiet my soul.”
[131:2] 105 tn Heb “like a weaned [one] upon his mother.”
[131:2] 106 tn Heb “like the weaned [one] upon me, my soul.”
