Mazmur 22:23

22:23 You loyal followers of the Lord, ¹  praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! ² 

Mazmur 22:25-26

22:25 You are the reason I offer praise ³  in the great assembly;

I will fulfill my promises before the Lord’s loyal followers. ⁴ 

22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! ⁵ 

Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!

May you ⁶  live forever!

Mazmur 63:11

63:11 But the king ⁷  will rejoice in God;

everyone who takes oaths in his name ⁸  will boast,

for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. ⁹ 

Mazmur 74:9

74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; ¹⁰ 

there are no longer any prophets ¹¹ 

and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. ¹² 

Mazmur 87:4

87:4 I mention Rahab ¹³  and Babylon to my followers. ¹⁴ 

Here are ¹⁵  Philistia and Tyre, ¹⁶  along with Ethiopia. ¹⁷ 

It is said of them, “This one was born there.” ¹⁸ 

[22:23]  ¹ tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[22:23]  ² tn Heb “fear him.”

[22:25]  ³ tn Heb “from with you [is] my praise.”

[22:25]  ⁴ tn Heb “my vows I will fulfill before those who fear him.” When asking the Lord for help, the psalmists would typically promise to praise the Lord publicly if he intervened and delivered them.

[22:26]  ⁵ sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.

[22:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “may your heart[s].”

[63:11]  ⁷ sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.

[63:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”

[63:11]  ⁹ tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.

[74:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).

[74:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”

[74:9]  ¹² tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”

[87:4]  ¹³ sn “Rahab,” which means “proud one,” is used here as a title for Egypt (see Isa 30:7).

[87:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to those who know me” (see Ps 36:10). Apparently the Lord speaks here. The verbal construction (the Hiphil of זָכַר, zakhar, “remember” followed by the preposition -לְ [le] with a substantive) is rare, but the prepositional phrase is best understood as indicating the recipient of the announcement (see Jer 4:16). Some take the preposition in the sense of “among” and translate, “among those who know me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). In this case these foreigners are viewed as the Lord’s people and the psalm is interpreted as anticipating a time when all nations will worship the Lord (see Ps 86:9) and be considered citizens of Zion.

[87:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Look.”

[87:4]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[87:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Cush.”

[87:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and this one was born there.” The words “It is said of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarification and stylistic purposes (see v. 5). Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand “there” as referring to Zion, but it seems more likely that the adverb refers to the nations just mentioned. The foreigners are identified by their native lands.