Mazmur 5:12

5:12 Certainly ¹  you reward ²  the godly, ³  Lord.

Like a shield you protect ⁴  them ⁵  in your good favor. ⁶ 

Mazmur 21:6

21:6 For you grant him lasting blessings;

you give him great joy by allowing him into your presence. ⁷ 

Mazmur 33:18

33:18 Look, the Lord takes notice of his loyal followers, ⁸ 

those who wait for him to demonstrate his faithfulness ⁹ 

Mazmur 34:15

34:15 The Lord pays attention to the godly

and hears their cry for help. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 42:5

42:5 Why are you depressed, ¹¹  O my soul? ¹² 

Why are you upset? ¹³ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ¹⁴ 

[5:12]  ¹ tn Or “For.”

[5:12]  ² tn Or “bless.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line highlight how God characteristically rewards and protects the godly.

[5:12]  ³ tn Or “innocent.” The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense.

[5:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “surround.” In 1 Sam 23:26 the verb describes how Saul and his men hemmed David in as they chased him.

[5:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “him.” The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense and is thus translated “them.”

[5:12]  ⁶ tn Or “with favor” (cf. NRSV). There is no preposition before the noun in the Hebrew text, nor is there a pronoun attached. “Favor” here stands by metonymy for God’s defensive actions on behalf of the one whom he finds acceptable.

[21:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “you make him happy with joy with [i.e., “close by” or “in”] your face.” On the idiom “with your face” (i.e., “in your presence”) see Ps 16:11 and BDB 816 s.v. פָּנֻה II.2.a.

[33:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “look, the eye of the Lord [is] toward the ones who fear him.” The expression “the eye…[is] toward” here indicates recognition and the bestowing of favor. See Ps 34:15. The one who fears the Lord respects his sovereignty and obeys his commandments. See Ps 128:1; Prov 14:2.

[33:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “for the ones who wait for his faithfulness.”

[34:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the eyes of the Lord [are] toward the godly, and his ears [are] toward their cry for help.”

[42:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:5]  ¹² sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.

[42:5]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (’elohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (pÿney, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.