Mazmur 90:1--93:5
KonteksBook 4
(Psalms 90-106)
A prayer of Moses, the man of God.
90:1 O Lord, you have been our protector 2 through all generations!
90:2 Even before the mountains came into existence, 3
or you brought the world into being, 4
you were the eternal God. 5
90:3 You make mankind return 6 to the dust, 7
and say, “Return, O people!”
90:4 Yes, 8 in your eyes a thousand years
are like yesterday that quickly passes,
or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. 9
90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” 10
In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;
90:6 in the morning it glistens 11 and sprouts up;
at evening time it withers 12 and dries up.
90:7 Yes, 13 we are consumed by your anger;
we are terrified by your wrath.
90:8 You are aware of our sins; 14
you even know about our hidden sins. 15
90:9 Yes, 16 throughout all our days we experience your raging fury; 17
the years of our lives pass quickly, like a sigh. 18
90:10 The days of our lives add up to seventy years, 19
or eighty, if one is especially strong. 20
But even one’s best years are marred by trouble and oppression. 21
Yes, 22 they pass quickly 23 and we fly away. 24
90:11 Who can really fathom the intensity of your anger? 25
Your raging fury causes people to fear you. 26
90:12 So teach us to consider our mortality, 27
so that we might live wisely. 28
90:13 Turn back toward us, O Lord!
How long must this suffering last? 29
Have pity on your servants! 30
90:14 Satisfy us in the morning 31 with your loyal love!
Then we will shout for joy and be happy 32 all our days!
90:15 Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us,
in proportion to the years we have experienced 33 trouble!
90:16 May your servants see your work! 34
May their sons see your majesty! 35
90:17 May our sovereign God extend his favor to us! 36
Make our endeavors successful!
Yes, make them successful! 37
91:1 As for you, the one who lives 39 in the shelter of the sovereign One, 40
and resides in the protective shadow 41 of the mighty king 42 –
91:2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,
my God in whom I trust –
91:3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter 43
and from the destructive plague.
91:4 He will shelter you 44 with his wings; 45
you will find safety under his wings.
His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall. 46
91:5 You need not fear the terrors of the night, 47
the arrow that flies by day,
91:6 the plague that comes in the darkness,
or the disease that comes at noon. 48
91:7 Though a thousand may fall beside you,
and a multitude on your right side,
it 49 will not reach you.
91:8 Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes –
you will see the wicked paid back. 50
91:9 For you have taken refuge in the Lord,
my shelter, the sovereign One. 51
91:10 No harm will overtake 52 you;
no illness 53 will come near your home. 54
91:11 For he will order his angels 55
to protect you in all you do. 56
91:12 They will lift you up in their hands,
so you will not slip and fall on a stone. 57
91:13 You will subdue 58 a lion and a snake; 59
you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.
“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;
I will protect him 61 because he is loyal to me. 62
91:15 When he calls out to me, I will answer him.
I will be with him when he is in trouble;
I will rescue him and bring him honor.
91:16 I will satisfy him with long life, 63
and will let him see my salvation.
A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.
92:1 It is fitting 65 to thank the Lord,
and to sing praises to your name, O sovereign One! 66
92:2 It is fitting 67 to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,
and your faithfulness during the night,
92:3 to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
to the accompaniment of the meditative tone of the harp.
92:4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.
I will sing for joy because of what you have done. 68
92:5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your plans are very intricate! 69
92:6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;
the fool does not understand this. 70
92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,
and all the evildoers glisten, 71
it is so that they may be annihilated. 72
92:8 But you, O Lord, reign 73 forever!
92:9 Indeed, 74 look at your enemies, O Lord!
Indeed, 75 look at how your enemies perish!
All the evildoers are scattered!
92:10 You exalt my horn like that of a wild ox. 76
I am covered 77 with fresh oil.
92:11 I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me; 78
I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me. 79
92:12 The godly 80 grow like a palm tree;
they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon. 81
92:13 Planted in the Lord’s house,
they grow in the courts of our God.
92:14 They bear fruit even when they are old;
they are filled with vitality and have many leaves. 82
92:15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my protector,
is just and never unfair. 83
93:1 The Lord reigns!
He is robed in majesty,
the Lord is robed,
he wears strength around his waist. 85
Indeed, the world is established, it cannot be moved.
93:2 Your throne has been secure from ancient times;
you have always been king. 86
93:3 The waves 87 roar, O Lord,
the waves roar,
the waves roar and crash. 88
93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, 89
and the mighty waves of the sea,
the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. 90
[90:1] 1 sn Psalm 90. In this communal lament the worship leader affirms that the eternal God and creator of the world has always been Israel’s protector. But God also causes men, who are as transient as grass, to die, and in his fierce anger he decimates his covenant community, whose brief lives are filled with suffering and end in weakness. The community asks for wisdom, the restoration of God’s favor, a fresh revelation of his power, and his blessing upon their labors.
[90:1] 2 tn Or “place of safety.” See Ps 71:3.
[90:2] 4 tn Heb “and you gave birth to the earth and world.” The Polel verbal form in the Hebrew text pictures God giving birth to the world. The LXX and some other ancient textual witnesses assume a polal (passive) verbal form here. In this case the earth becomes the subject of the verb and the verb is understood as third feminine singular rather than second masculine singular.
[90:2] 5 tn Heb “and from everlasting to everlasting you [are] God.” Instead of אֵל (’el, “God”) the LXX reads אַל (’al, “not”) and joins the negative particle to the following verse, making the verb תָּשֵׁב (tashev) a jussive. In this case v. 3a reads as a prayer, “do not turn man back to a low place.” However, taking תָּשֵׁב as a jussive is problematic in light of the following following wayyiqtol form וַתֹּאמֶר (vato’mer, “and you said/say”).
[90:3] 6 tn In this context the shortened prefix form does not function as a preterite, but indicates what is typical of the world.
[90:3] 7 tn The Hebrew term דַּכָּא (daka’) carries the basic sense of “crushed.” Elsewhere it refers to those who are “crushed” in spirit or contrite of heart (see Ps 34:18; Isa 57:15). If one understands this nuance here, then v. 3 is observing that God leads mankind to repentance (the term שׁוּב, shuv, “return,” which appears twice in this verse, is sometimes used of repentance.) However, the following context laments mankind’s mortality and the brevity of life, so it is doubtful if v. 3 should be understood so positively. It is more likely that דַּכָּא here refers to “crushed matter,” that is, the dust that fills the grave (see HALOT 221 s.v. s.v. I דַּכָּא; BDB 194 s.v. דַּכָּא). In this case one may hear an echo of Gen 3:19.
[90:4] 9 sn The divisions of the nighttime. The ancient Israelites divided the night into distinct periods, or “watches.”
[90:5] 10 tn Heb “you bring them to an end [with] sleep.” The Hebrew verb זָרַם (zaram) has traditionally been taken to mean “flood” or “overwhelm” (note the Polel form of a root זרם in Ps 77:17, where the verb is used of the clouds pouring down rain). However, the verb form here is Qal, not Polel, and is better understood as a homonym meaning “to make an end [of life].” The term שֵׁנָה (shenah, “sleep”) can be taken as an adverbial accusative; it is a euphemism here for death (see Ps 76:5-6).
[90:6] 11 tn Or “flourishes.” The verb is used of a crown shining in Ps 132:18. Perhaps here in Ps 90:6 it refers to the glistening of the grass in the morning dew.
[90:6] 12 tn The Polel form of this verb occurs only here. Perhaps the form should be emended to a Qal (which necessitates eliminating the final lamed [ל] as dittographic). See Ps 37:2.
[90:8] 14 tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”
[90:8] 15 tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.
[90:9] 17 tn Heb “all our days pass by in your anger.”
[90:9] 18 tn Heb “we finish our years like a sigh.” In Ezek 2:10 the word הֶגֶה (hegeh) elsewhere refers to a grumbling or moaning sound. Here a brief sigh or moan is probably in view. If so, the simile pictures one’s lifetime as transient. Another option is that the simile alludes to the weakness that characteristically overtakes a person at the end of one’s lifetime. In this case the phrase could be translated, “we end our lives with a painful moan.”
[90:10] 19 tn Heb “the days of our years, in them [are] seventy years.”
[90:10] 20 tn Heb “or if [there is] strength, eighty years.”
[90:10] 21 tn Heb “and their pride [is] destruction and wickedness.” The Hebrew noun רֹהַב (rohav) occurs only here. BDB 923 s.v. assigns the meaning “pride,” deriving the noun from the verbal root רהב (“to act stormily [boisterously, arrogantly]”). Here the “pride” of one’s days (see v. 9) probably refers to one’s most productive years in the prime of life. The words translated “destruction and wickedness” are also paired in Ps 10:7. They also appear in proximity in Pss 7:14 and 55:10. The oppressive and abusive actions of evil men are probably in view (see Job 4:8; 5:6; 15:35; Isa 10:1; 59:4).
[90:10] 23 tn Heb “it passes quickly.” The subject of the verb is probably “their pride” (see the preceding line). The verb גּוּז (guz) means “to pass” here; it occurs only here and in Num 11:31.
[90:10] 24 sn We fly away. The psalmist compares life to a bird that quickly flies off (see Job 20:8).
[90:11] 25 tn Heb “Who knows the strength of your anger?”
[90:11] 26 tn Heb “and like your fear [is] your raging fury.” Perhaps one should emend וּכְיִרְאָתְךְ (ukhyir’otekh, “and like your fear”) to יִרְאָתְךְ (yir’otkh, “your fear”), understanding a virtual dittography (אַפֶּךָ וּכְיִרְאָתְךְ, ’apekha ukhyir’otekh) to have occurred. In this case the psalmist asserts “your fear [is] your raging fury,” that is, your raging fury is what causes others to fear you. The suffix on “fear” is understood as objective.
[90:12] 27 tn Heb “to number our days,” that is, to be aware of how few they really are.
[90:12] 28 tn Heb “and we will bring a heart of wisdom.” After the imperative of the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form with the conjunction indicates purpose/result. The Hebrew term “heart” here refers to the center of one’s thoughts, volition, and moral character.
[90:13] 29 tn Heb “Return, O
[90:13] 30 tn Elsewhere the Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) + the preposition עַל (’al) + a personal object has the nuance “be comforted concerning [the personal object’s death]” (see 2 Sam 13:39; Jer 31:15). However, here the context seems to demand “feel sorrow for,” “have pity on.” In Deut 32:36 and Ps 135:14, where “servants” is also the object of the preposition, this idea is expressed with the Hitpael form of the verb.
[90:14] 31 sn Morning is used metaphorically for a time of renewed joy after affliction (see Pss 30:5; 46:5; 49:14; 59:16; 143:8).
[90:14] 32 tn After the imperative (see the preceding line) the cohortatives with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose/result.
[90:15] 33 tn Heb “have seen.”
[90:16] 34 tn Heb “may your work be revealed to your servants.” In this context (note v. 17) the verb form יֵרָאֶה (yera’eh) is best understood as an unshortened jussive (see Gen 1:9; Isa 47:3).
[90:16] 35 tn Heb “and your majesty to their sons.” The verb “be revealed” is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
[90:17] 36 tn Heb “and may the delight of the Master, our God, be on us.” The Hebrew term נֹעַם (no’am, “delight”) is used in Ps 27:4 of the
[90:17] 37 tn Heb “and the work of our hands establish over us, and the work of our hands, establish it.”
[91:1] 38 sn Psalm 91. In this psalm an individual (perhaps a priest) addresses one who has sought shelter in the Lord and assures him that God will protect him from danger (vv. 1-13). In vv. 14-16 God himself promises to keep his loyal follower safe.
[91:1] 39 tn Heb “[O] one who lives.”
[91:1] 40 tn Traditionally “the Most High.”
[91:1] 41 sn The Lord is compared here to a bird who protects its young under the shadow of its wings (see v. 4).
[91:1] 42 sn The divine name used here is “Shaddai” (שַׁדַּי, shadday; see also Ps 68:14). Shaddai (or El Shaddai) is the mighty king (sovereign judge) of the world who grants life/blesses and kills/judges. In Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness.
[91:3] 43 tn The word refers specifically to a fowler (or hunter of birds).
[91:4] 44 tn Heb “put a cover over you” (see Ps 5:11).
[91:4] 45 tc The Hebrew text has the singular, but the plural should be read. The final yod (י) of the suffix, which indicates the plural, has dropped off by haplography (note the yod [י] at the beginning of the next word).
[91:4] 46 tn Traditionally the Hebrew term סֹחֵרָה (sokherah), which occurs only here in the OT, has been understood to refer to a buckler or small shield (see BDB 695 s.v.). But HALOT 750 s.v., on the basis of evidence from the cognate languages, proposes the meaning “wall.”
[91:5] 47 tn This probably alludes to a sneak attack by enemies in the darkness of night (see Song 3:8).
[91:6] 48 sn As in Deut 32:23-24, vv. 5-6 closely associate military attack and deadly disease. Perhaps the latter alludes to one of the effects of siege warfare on the population of an entrapped city, which was especially vulnerable to the outbreak of epidemics.
[91:7] 49 tn Apparently the deadly disease mentioned in v. 6b is the understood subject here.
[91:8] 50 tn Heb “retribution on the wicked.”
[91:9] 51 tn Heb “for you, the
[91:10] 53 tn For this sense of the Hebrew term נגע see Ps 38:11.
[91:10] 54 tn Heb “your tent.”
[91:11] 55 tn Heb “for his angels he will command concerning you.”
[91:11] 56 tn Heb “in all your ways.”
[91:12] 57 tn Heb “so your foot will not strike a stone.”
[91:13] 58 tn Heb “walk upon.”
[91:13] 59 tn Or perhaps “cobra” (see Ps 58:4).
[91:14] 60 tn The words “the
[91:14] 61 tn Or “make him secure” (Heb “set him on high”).
[91:14] 62 tn Heb “because he knows my name” (see Ps 9:10).
[91:16] 63 tn Heb “length of days.”
[92:1] 64 sn Psalm 92. The psalmist praises God because he defeats the wicked and vindicates his loyal followers.
[92:1] 66 tn Traditionally “O Most High.”
[92:2] 67 tn The words “it is fitting” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Verses 1-3 are actually one long sentence in the Hebrew text, but this has been divided up into two shorter sentences in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.
[92:4] 68 tn Heb “the works of your hands.”
[92:5] 69 tn Heb “very deep [are] your thoughts.” God’s “thoughts” refer here to his moral design of the world, as outlined in vv. 6-15.
[92:6] 70 tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8).
[92:7] 72 tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”
[92:7] sn God allows the wicked to prosper temporarily so that he might reveal his justice. When the wicked are annihilated, God demonstrates that wickedness does not pay off.
[92:8] 73 tn Heb “[are elevated] on high.”
[92:10] 76 sn The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “to exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:24; Lam 2:17).
[92:10] 77 tn The Hebrew verb בָּלַל (balal) usually has the nuance “to mix.” Here it seems to mean “to smear” or “to anoint.” Some emend the form to בַּלֹּתַנִי (ballotaniy; a second person form of the verb with a first person suffix) and read, “you anoint me.”
[92:11] 78 tn Heb “my eye gazes upon those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2. The form שׁוּרָי (shuray) should be emended to שׁוֹרְרָי (shorÿray).
[92:11] 79 tn Heb “those who rise up against me, evil [foes], my ears hear.”
[92:12] 80 tn The singular is used in a representative sense, with the typical godly person being in view.
[92:12] 81 sn The cedars of the Lebanon forest were well-known in ancient Israel for their immense size.
[92:14] 82 tn Heb “they are juicy and fresh.”
[92:15] 83 tn Heb “so that [they] proclaim that upright [is] the
[93:1] 84 sn Psalm 93. The psalmist affirms that the
[93:1] 85 sn Strength is compared here to a belt that one wears for support. The Lord’s power undergirds his rule.
[93:2] 86 tn Heb “from antiquity [are] you.” As the context suggests, this refers specifically to God’s royal position, not his personal existence.
[93:3] 87 tn The Hebrew noun translated “waves” often refers to rivers or streams, but here it appears to refer to the surging waves of the sea (see v. 4, Ps 24:2).
[93:3] 88 tn Heb “the waves lift up, O
[93:4] 89 tn Heb “mighty waters.”
[93:4] sn The surging waters here symbolizes the hostile enemies of God who seek to destroy the order he has established in the world (see Pss 18:17; 29:3; 32:6; 77:20; 144:7; Isa 17:13; Jer 51:55; Ezek 26:19; Hab 3:15). But the Lord is depicted as elevated above and sovereign over these raging waters.
[93:4] 90 tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the
[93:5] 91 tn Traditionally “your testimonies.” The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to the demands of God’s covenant law. See Ps 19:7.
[93:5] 92 sn The rules you set down. God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.
[93:5] 93 sn Holiness refers here to God’s royal transcendence (see vv. 1-4), as well as his moral authority and perfection (see v. 5a).
[93:5] 94 tn Heb “for your house holiness is fitting, O
