68:7 O God, when you lead your people into battle, 1
when you march through the desert, 2 (Selah)
49:9 You will say 3 to the prisoners, ‘Come out,’
and to those who are in dark dungeons, 4 ‘Emerge.’ 5
They will graze beside the roads;
on all the slopes they will find pasture.
1 tn Heb “when you go out before your people.” The Hebrew idiom “go out before” is used here in a militaristic sense of leading troops into battle (see Judg 4:14; 9:39; 2 Sam 5:24).
2 sn When you march through the desert. Some interpreters think that v. 7 alludes to Israel’s exodus from Egypt and its subsequent travels in the desert. Another option is that v. 7, like v. 8, echoes Judg 5:4, which describes how the God of Sinai marched across the desert regions to do battle with Sisera and his Canaanite army.
3 tn Heb “to say.” In the Hebrew text the infinitive construct is subordinated to what precedes.
4 tn Heb “in darkness” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV); NLT “the prisoners of darkness.”
5 tn Heb “show yourselves” (so ASV, NAB, NASB).