Ayub 21:11

21:11 They allow their children to run ¹  like a flock;

their little ones dance about.

Mazmur 28:9

28:9 Deliver your people!

Empower ²  the nation that belongs to you! ³ 

Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms ⁴  at all times! ⁵ 

Mazmur 77:1

Psalm 77 ⁶ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of Asaph.

77:1 I will cry out to God ⁷  and call for help!

I will cry out to God and he will pay attention ⁸  to me.

[21:11]  ¹ tn The verb שָׁלַח (shalakh) means “to send forth,” but in the Piel “to release; to allow to run free.” The picture of children frolicking in the fields and singing and dancing is symbolic of peaceful, prosperous times.

[28:9]  ² tn Or “bless.”

[28:9]  ³ tn Heb “your inheritance.” The parallelism (note “your people”) indicates that Israel is in view.

[28:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “shepherd them and lift them up.”

[28:9]  sn The shepherd metaphor is sometimes associated with royal responsibility. See 2 Sam 5:2; 7:7; Mic 5:2-4).

[28:9]  ⁵ tn Or “forever.”

[77:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 77. The psalmist recalls how he suffered through a time of doubt, but tells how he found encouragement and hope as he recalled the way in which God delivered Israel at the Red Sea.

[77:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “my voice to God.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call out; to cry out”) should probably be understood by ellipsis (see Ps 3:4) both here and in the following (parallel) line.

[77:1]  ⁸ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive is best taken as future here (although some translations render this as a past tense; cf. NEB, NIV). The psalmist expresses his confidence that God will respond to his prayer. This mood of confidence seems premature (see vv. 3-4), but v. 1 probably reflects the psalmist’s attitude at the end of the prayer (see vv. 13-20). Having opened with an affirmation of confidence, he then retraces how he gained confidence during his trial (see vv. 2-12).