Psalms 80:4-7

80:4 O Lord God, invincible warrior! ¹ 

How long will you remain angry at your people while they pray to you? ² 

80:5 You have given them tears as food; ³ 

you have made them drink tears by the measure. ⁴ 

80:6 You have made our neighbors dislike us, ⁵ 

and our enemies insult us.

80:7 O God, invincible warrior, ⁶  restore us!

Smile on us! ⁷  Then we will be delivered! ⁸ 

[80:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Lord, God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’elohey) before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot; “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. In this context the term “hosts” (meaning “armies”) has been rendered “invincible warrior.”

[80:4]  ² tn Heb “How long will you remain angry during the prayer of your people.” Some take the preposition -בְּ (bet) in an adversative sense here (“at/against the prayer of your people”), but the temporal sense is preferable. The psalmist expects persistent prayer to pacify God.

[80:5]  ³ tn Heb “you have fed them the food of tears.”

[80:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “[by] the third part [of a measure].” The Hebrew term שָׁלִישׁ (shalish, “third part [of a measure]”) occurs only here and in Isa 40:12.

[80:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “you have made us an object of contention to our neighbors.”

[80:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “O God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9), but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 59:5 and 84:8 as well. See also v. 4 for a similar construction.

[80:7]  ⁸ tn The idiom “cause your face to shine” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

[80:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “cause your face to shine in order that we may be delivered.” After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.