Mazmur 2:12

2:12 Give sincere homage! ¹ 

Otherwise he ²  will be angry, ³ 

and you will die because of your behavior, ⁴ 

when his anger quickly ignites. ⁵ 

How blessed ⁶  are all who take shelter in him! ⁷ 

Mazmur 22:9

22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out ⁸  from the womb

and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.

Mazmur 28:7

28:7 The Lord strengthens and protects me; ⁹ 

I trust in him with all my heart. ¹⁰ 

I am rescued ¹¹  and my heart is full of joy; ¹² 

I will sing to him in gratitude. ¹³ 

Mazmur 35:27

35:27 May those who desire my vindication shout for joy and rejoice!

May they continually say, ¹⁴  “May the Lord be praised, ¹⁵  for he wants his servant to be secure.” ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 40:3

40:3 He gave me reason to sing a new song, ¹⁷ 

praising our God. ¹⁸ 

May many see what God has done,

so that they might swear allegiance to him and trust in the Lord! ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 42:6

42:6 I am depressed, ²⁰ 

so I will pray to you while I am trapped here in the region of the upper Jordan, ²¹ 

from Hermon, ²²  from Mount Mizar. ²³ 

Mazmur 52:8-9

52:8 But I ²⁴  am like a flourishing ²⁵  olive tree in the house of God;

I continually ²⁶  trust in God’s loyal love.

52:9 I will continually ²⁷  thank you when ²⁸  you execute judgment; ²⁹ 

I will rely ³⁰  on you, ³¹  for your loyal followers know you are good. ³² 

Mazmur 73:28

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ³³ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ³⁴  I declare all the things you have done.

Mazmur 144:2

144:2 who loves me ³⁵  and is my stronghold,

my refuge ³⁶  and my deliverer,

my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,

who makes nations submit to me. ³⁷ 

[2:12]  ¹ tn Traditionally, “kiss the son” (KJV). But בַּר (bar) is the Aramaic word for “son,” not the Hebrew. For this reason many regard the reading as suspect. Some propose emendations of vv. 11b-12a. One of the more popular proposals is to read בִּרְעָדָה נַשְּׁקוּ לְרַגְלָיו (bir’adah nashÿqu lÿraslayv, “in trembling kiss his feet”). It makes better sense to understand בַּר (bar) as an adjective meaning “pure” (see Pss 24:4; 73:1 and BDB 141 s.v. בַּר 3) functioning here in an adverbial sense. If read this way, then the syntactical structure of exhortation (imperative followed by adverbial modifier) corresponds to the two preceding lines (see v. 11). The verb נָשַׁק (nashaq, “kiss”) refers metonymically to showing homage (see 1 Sam 10:1; Hos 13:2). The exhortation in v. 12a advocates a genuine expression of allegiance and warns against insincerity. When swearing allegiance, vassal kings would sometimes do so insincerely, with the intent of rebelling when the time was right. The so-called “Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon” also warn against such an attitude. In this treaty the vassal is told: “If you, as you stand on the soil where this oath [is sworn], swear the oath with your words and lips [only], do not swear with your entire heart, do not transmit it to your sons who will live after this treaty, if you take this curse upon yourselves but do not plan to keep the treaty of Esarhaddon…may your sons and grandsons because of this fear in the future” (see J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East, 2:62).

[2:12]  ² tn Throughout the translation of this verse the third person masculine pronouns refer to the Lord (cf. v. 11).

[2:12]  ³ tn The implied subject of the verb is the Lord, mentioned in v. 11. Elsewhere the subject of this verb is consistently the Lord, suggesting it may be a technical term for divine anger. Anger is here used metonymically for judgment, as the following statement makes clear. A Moabite cognate occurs in the Mesha inscription, where it is used of the Moabite god Chemosh’s anger at his people (see J. B. Pritchard, ed., The Ancient Near East, 1:209).

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you will perish [in the] way.” The Hebrew word דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) here refers to their rebellious behavior (not to a pathway, as often understood). It functions syntactically as an adverbial accusative in relation to the verb “perish.”

[2:12]  ⁵ tn Or “burns.” The Lord’s anger is compared here to fire, the most destructive force known in ancient Israel.

[2:12]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[2:12]  ⁷ sn Who take shelter in him. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[22:9]  ⁸ tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”

[28:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “The Lord [is] my strength and my shield.”

[28:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in him my heart trusts.”

[28:7]  ¹¹ tn Or “I am helped.”

[28:7]  ¹² tn Heb “and my heart exults.”

[28:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “and from my song I will thank him.” As pointed in the Hebrew text, מִשִּׁירִי (mishiri) appears to be “from my song,” but the preposition “from” never occurs elsewhere with the verb “to thank” (Hiphil of יָדָה, yadah). Perhaps משׁיר is a noun form meaning “song.” If so, it can be taken as an adverbial accusative, “and [with] my song I will thank him.” See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 236.

[35:27]  ¹⁴ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 27a are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-26).

[35:27]  ¹⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great.”

[35:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the one who desires the peace of his servant.”

[40:3]  ¹⁷ sn A new song was appropriate because the Lord had intervened in the psalmist’s experience in a fresh and exciting way.

[40:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he placed in my mouth a new song, praise to our God.”

[40:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “may many see and fear and trust in the Lord.” The translation assumes that the initial prefixed verbal form is a jussive (“may many see”), rather than an imperfect (“many will see”). The following prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) conjunctive are taken as indicating purpose or result (“so that they might swear allegiance…and trust”) after the introductory jussive.

[42:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my God, upon me my soul bows down.” As noted earlier, “my God” belongs with the end of v. 6.

[42:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan.” “Remember” is here used metonymically for prayer (see vv. 8-9). As the next line indicates, the region of the upper Jordan, where the river originates, is in view.

[42:6]  ²² tc Heb “Hermons.” The plural form of the name occurs only here in the OT. Some suggest the plural refers to multiple mountain peaks (cf. NASB) or simply retain the plural in the translation (cf. NEB), but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note that the next form in the text begins with the letter mem) or enclitic. At a later time it was misinterpreted as a plural marker and vocalized accordingly.

[42:6]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term מִצְעָר (mits’ar) is probably a proper name (“Mizar”), designating a particular mountain in the Hermon region. The name appears only here in the OT.

[52:8]  ²⁴ tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.

[52:8]  ²⁵ tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”

[52:8]  ²⁶ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”

[52:9]  ²⁷ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[52:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “for.”

[52:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.

[52:9]  ³⁰ tn Or “wait.”

[52:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.

[52:9]  ³² tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”

[73:28]  ³³ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ³⁴ tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).

[144:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).

[144:2]  ³⁶ tn Or “my elevated place.”

[144:2]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”