Discovery BoxPsalms 81:14-16
Context81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,
and attack 1 their adversaries.”
81:15 (May those who hate the Lord 2 cower in fear 3 before him!
May they be permanently humiliated!) 4
81:16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat, 5
and would satisfy your appetite 6 with honey from the rocky cliffs.” 7
[81:14] 1 tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).
[81:15] 2 tn “Those who hate the
[81:15] 3 tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.
[81:15] 4 tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the
[81:16] 3 tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.
[81:16] 4 tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.
[81:16] 5 sn The language in this verse, particularly the references to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.
