Mazmur 51:18-19

51:18 Because you favor Zion, do what is good for her! ¹ 

Fortify ²  the walls of Jerusalem! ³ 

51:19 Then you will accept ⁴  the proper sacrifices, burnt sacrifices and whole offerings;

then bulls will be sacrificed ⁵  on your altar. ⁶ 

Mikha 7:18-19

7:18 There is no other God like you! ⁷ 

You ⁸  forgive sin

and pardon ⁹  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ¹⁰ 

You do not remain angry forever, ¹¹ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

7:19 You will once again ¹²  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ¹³  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ¹⁴  sins into the depths of the sea. ¹⁵ 

[51:18]  ¹ tn Heb “do what is good for Zion in your favor.”

[51:18]  ² tn Or “Build.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:18]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[51:19]  ⁴ tn Or “desire, take delight in.”

[51:19]  ⁵ tn Heb “then they will offer up bulls.” The third plural subject is indefinite.

[51:19]  ⁶ sn Verses 18-19 appear to reflect the exilic period, when the city’s walls lay in ruins and the sacrificial system had been disrupted.

[7:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:19]  ¹² tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.

[7:19]  ¹³ tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.

[7:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.

[7:19]  ¹⁵ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).