Mazmur 50:7

50:7 He says: ¹ 

“Listen my people! I am speaking!

Listen Israel! I am accusing you! ² 

I am God, your God!

Mazmur 81:8-9

81:8 I said, ³  ‘Listen, my people!

I will warn ⁴  you!

O Israel, if only you would obey me! ⁵ 

81:9 There must be ⁶  no other ⁷  god among you.

You must not worship a foreign god.

[50:7]  ¹ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s charges against his people follow.

[50:7]  ² tn Heb “Israel, and I will testify against you.” The imperative “listen” is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[81:8]  ³ tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Verses 8-10 appear to recall what the Lord commanded the generation of Israelites that experienced the events described in v. 7. Note the statement in v. 11, “my people did not listen to me.”

[81:8]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “command.”

[81:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew particle אִם (“if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (GKC 321 §109.b). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[81:9]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 have a modal function, expressing what is obligatory.

[81:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “different”; “illicit.”