108:6 Deliver by your power 1 and answer me,
so that the ones you love may be safe. 2
108:7 God has spoken in his sanctuary: 3
“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem,
the valley of Succoth I will measure off. 4
108:8 Gilead belongs to me,
as does Manasseh! 5
Ephraim is my helmet, 6
Judah my royal scepter. 7
1 tn Heb “right hand.”
2 tn Or “may be rescued.” The lines are actually reversed in the Hebrew text: “So that the ones you love may be rescued, deliver by your power and answer me.”
3 tn Heb “in his holy place.”
4 sn Shechem stands for the territory west of the Jordan River; the valley of Succoth represents the region east of the Jordan.
5 tn Gilead was located east of the Jordan River. Half of the tribe of Manasseh lived east of the Jordan in the region of Bashan.
6 tn Heb “the protection of my head.”
sn Ephraim, one of Joseph’s sons, was one of two major tribes located west of the Jordan River. By comparing Ephraim to a helmet, the Lord suggests that the Ephraimites played a primary role in the defense of his land.
7 sn Judah, like Ephraim, was the other major tribe west of the Jordan River. The Davidic king, symbolized here by the royal scepter, came from this tribe.