Mazmur 27:1--29:11
KonteksBy David.
27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! 2
I fear no one! 3
The Lord protects my life!
I am afraid of no one! 4
27:2 When evil men attack me 5
to devour my flesh, 6
when my adversaries and enemies attack me, 7
they stumble and fall. 8
27:3 Even when an army is deployed against me,
I do not fear. 9
Even when war is imminent, 10
I remain confident. 11
27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –
this is what I desire!
I want to live 12 in the Lord’s house 13 all the days of my life,
so I can gaze at the splendor 14 of the Lord
and contemplate in his temple.
27:5 He will surely 15 give me shelter 16 in the day of danger; 17
he will hide me in his home; 18
he will place me 19 on an inaccessible rocky summit. 20
27:6 Now I will triumph
over my enemies who surround me! 21
I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! 22
I will sing praises to the Lord!
27:7 Hear me, 23 O Lord, when I cry out!
Have mercy on me and answer me!
27:8 My heart tells me to pray to you, 24
and I do pray to you, O Lord. 25
Do not push your servant away in anger!
You are my deliverer! 27
Do not forsake or abandon me,
O God who vindicates me!
27:10 Even if my father and mother abandoned me, 28
the Lord would take me in. 29
27:11 Teach me how you want me to live; 30
lead me along a level path 31 because of those who wait to ambush me! 32
27:12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, 33
for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. 34
27:13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience
the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? 35
Be strong and confident! 37
Rely on the Lord!
By David.
28:1 To you, O Lord, I cry out!
My protector, 39 do not ignore me! 40
If you do not respond to me, 41
I will join 42 those who are descending into the grave. 43
28:2 Hear my plea for mercy when I cry out to you for help,
when I lift my hands 44 toward your holy temple! 45
28:3 Do not drag me away with evil men,
with those who behave wickedly, 46
who talk so friendly to their neighbors, 47
while they plan to harm them! 48
28:4 Pay them back for their evil deeds!
Pay them back for what they do!
Punish them! 49
28:5 For they do not understand the Lord’s actions,
or the way he carries out justice. 50
The Lord 51 will permanently demolish them. 52
28:6 The Lord deserves praise, 53
for he has heard my plea for mercy! 54
28:7 The Lord strengthens and protects me; 55
I trust in him with all my heart. 56
I am rescued 57 and my heart is full of joy; 58
I will sing to him in gratitude. 59
28:8 The Lord strengthens his people; 60
he protects and delivers his chosen king. 61
28:9 Deliver your people!
Empower 62 the nation that belongs to you! 63
Care for them like a shepherd and carry them in your arms 64 at all times! 65
A psalm of David.
29:1 Acknowledge the Lord, you heavenly beings, 67
acknowledge the Lord’s majesty and power! 68
29:2 Acknowledge the majesty of the Lord’s reputation! 69
Worship the Lord in holy attire! 70
29:3 The Lord’s shout is heard over the water; 71
the majestic God thunders, 72
the Lord appears over the surging water. 73
29:4 The Lord’s shout is powerful, 74
the Lord’s shout is majestic. 75
29:5 The Lord’s shout breaks 76 the cedars,
the Lord shatters 77 the cedars of Lebanon. 78
29:6 He makes Lebanon skip like a calf
and Sirion 79 like a young ox. 80
29:7 The Lord’s shout strikes 81 with flaming fire. 82
29:8 The Lord’s shout shakes 83 the wilderness,
the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 84
29:9 The Lord’s shout bends 85 the large trees 86
and strips 87 the leaves from the forests. 88
Everyone in his temple says, “Majestic!” 89
29:10 The Lord sits enthroned over the engulfing waters, 90
the Lord sits enthroned 91 as the eternal king.
29:11 The Lord gives 92 his people strength; 93
the Lord grants his people security. 94
[27:1] 1 sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.
[27:1] 2 tn Heb “the
[27:1] 3 tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
[27:1] 4 tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”
[27:2] 5 tn Heb “draw near to me.”
[27:2] 6 sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).
[27:2] 7 tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.
[27:2] 8 tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”
[27:3] 9 tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”
[27:3] 10 tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”
[27:3] 11 tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”
[27:4] 13 sn The
[27:5] 15 tn Or “for he will.” The translation assumes the כִּי (ki) is asseverative here, rather than causal.
[27:5] 16 tn Heb “he will hide me in his hut.”
[27:5] 19 tn The three imperfect verb forms in v. 5 anticipate a positive response to the prayer offered in vv. 7-12.
[27:5] 20 tn Heb “on a rocky summit he lifts me up.” The
[27:6] 21 tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”
[27:6] sn In vv. 1-3 the psalmist generalizes, but here we discover that he is facing a crisis and is under attack from enemies (see vv. 11-12).
[27:6] 22 tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).
[27:8] 24 tc Heb “concerning you my heart says, ‘Seek my face.’” The verb form “seek” is plural, but this makes no sense here, for the psalmist is addressed. The verb should be emended to a singular form. The first person pronominal suffix on “face” also makes little sense, unless it is the voice of the
[27:8] 25 tn Heb “your face, O
[27:9] 26 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
[27:9] 27 tn Or “[source of] help.”
[27:10] 28 tn Or “though my father and mother have abandoned me.”
[27:10] 29 tn Heb “gather me in”; or “receive me.”
[27:11] 30 tn Heb “teach me your way.” The
[27:11] 31 sn The level path refers to God’s moral principles (see the parallel line), which, if followed, will keep the psalmist blameless before his accusers (see v. 12).
[27:11] 32 tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 54:5; 56:2.
[27:12] 33 tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”
[27:12] 34 tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.
[27:13] 35 tn In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the
[27:14] 37 tn Heb “be strong and let your heart be confident.”
[28:1] 38 sn Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.
[28:1] 39 tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.
[28:1] 40 tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”
[28:1] 41 tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”
[28:1] 42 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
[28:1] 43 tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.
[28:2] 44 sn I lift my hands. Lifting one’s hands toward God was a gesture of prayer.
[28:2] 45 tn The Hebrew term דְּבִיר (dÿvir, “temple”) actually refers to the most holy place within the sanctuary.
[28:3] 46 tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”
[28:3] 47 tn Heb “speakers of peace with their neighbors.”
[28:3] 48 tn Heb “and evil [is] in their heart[s].”
[28:4] 49 tn Heb “Give to them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds. According to the work of their hands give to them. Return their due to them.” The highly repetitive style reflects the psalmist’s agitated emotional state and draws attention to his yearning for justice.
[28:5] 50 tn Heb “or the work of his hands.” In this context “the
[28:5] 51 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
[28:5] 52 tn Heb “will tear them down and not rebuild them.” The ungodly are compared to a structure that is permanently demolished.
[28:6] 53 tn Heb “blessed [be] the
[28:6] 54 sn He has heard my plea for mercy. The psalmist’s mood abruptly changes at this point, because the Lord responded positively to his petition and assured him that he would deliver him.
[28:7] 55 tn Heb “The
[28:7] 56 tn Heb “in him my heart trusts.”
[28:7] 57 tn Or “I am helped.”
[28:7] 58 tn Heb “and my heart exults.”
[28:7] 59 tn Heb “and from my song I will thank him.” As pointed in the Hebrew text, מִשִּׁירִי (mishiri) appears to be “from my song,” but the preposition “from” never occurs elsewhere with the verb “to thank” (Hiphil of יָדָה, yadah). Perhaps משׁיר is a noun form meaning “song.” If so, it can be taken as an adverbial accusative, “and [with] my song I will thank him.” See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 236.
[28:8] 60 tn Heb “the
[28:8] 61 tn Heb “he [is] a refuge of help for his anointed one.” The noun מָשִׁיחַ (mashiakh, “anointed one”) refers to the Davidic king, who perhaps speaks as representative of the nation in this psalm. See Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 84:9; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17.
[28:9] 63 tn Heb “your inheritance.” The parallelism (note “your people”) indicates that Israel is in view.
[28:9] 64 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).
[29:1] 66 sn Psalm 29. In this hymn of praise the psalmist calls upon the heavenly assembly to acknowledge the royal splendor of the Lord. He describes the Lord’s devastating power as revealed in the thunderstorm and affirms that the Lord exerts this awesome might on behalf of his people. In its original context the psalm was a bold polemic against the Canaanite storm god Baal, for it affirms that the Lord is the real king who controls the elements of the storm, contrary to pagan belief. See R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “The Polemic against Baalism in Israel’s Early History and Literature,” BSac 150 (1994): 280-82.
[29:1] 67 tc Heb “sons of gods,” or “sons of God.” Though אֵלִים (’elim) is vocalized as a plural form (“gods”) in the MT, it is likely that the final mem is actually enclitic, rather than a plural marker. In this case one may read “God.” Some, following a Qumran text and the LXX, also propose the phrase occurred in the original text of Deut 32:8.
[29:1] tn The phrase בְּנֵי אֵלִים (bÿney ’elim, “sons of gods” or “sons of God”) occurs only here and in Ps 89:6 (89:7 HT). In Ps 89 the “sons of gods/God” are also called “the assembly of the holy ones” and “council of the holy ones.” The heavenly assembly, comprised of so-called “angels” and other supernatural beings, appears to be in view. See Job 5:1; 15:15 and Zech 14:5, where these supernatural beings are referred to as “holy ones.” In Canaanite mythological texts the divine council of the high god El is referred to as “the sons of El.” The OT apparently borrows the Canaanite phrase and applies it to the supernatural beings that surround the heavenly throne.
[29:1] 68 tn Or “ascribe to the
[29:2] 69 tn Heb “ascribe to the
[29:2] 70 tn That is, properly dressed for the occasion.
[29:3] 71 tn Heb “the voice of the
[29:3] 72 tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form is probably descriptive. In dramatic fashion the psalmist portrays the
[29:3] 73 tn Traditionally “many waters.” The geographical references in the psalm (Lebanon, Sirion, Kadesh) suggest this is a reference to the Mediterranean Sea (see Ezek 26:19; 27:26). The psalmist describes a powerful storm moving in from the sea and sweeping over the mountainous areas north of Israel. The “surging waters” may symbolize the hostile enemies of God who seek to destroy his people (see Pss 18:17; 32:6; 77:20; 93:4; 144:7; Isa 17:13; Jer 51:55; Ezek 26:19; Hab 3:15). In this case the
[29:4] 74 tn Heb “the voice of the
[29:4] 75 tn Heb “the voice of the
[29:5] 76 tn The Hebrew participial form draws attention to the durative nature of the action being described.
[29:5] 77 tn The prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) consecutive here and in v. 6a carry on the descriptive function of the preceding participle (see GKC 329 §111.u). The verb שָׁבַר (shavar) appears in the Qal in the first line of the verse, and in the Piel in the second line. The verb, which means “break” in the Qal, appears thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3).
[29:5] 78 sn The cedars of the Lebanon forest were well-known in ancient Israel for their immense size. Here they may symbolize the arrogant enemies of God (see Isa 2:12-13).
[29:6] 79 sn Sirion is another name for Mount Hermon (Deut 3:9).
[29:6] 80 sn Lebanon and Sirion are compared to frisky young animals (a calf…a young ox) who skip and jump. The thunderous shout of the Lord is so powerful, one can see the very mountains shake on the horizon.
[29:7] 81 tn The verb normally means “to hew [stone or wood],” or “to hew out.” In Hos 6:5 it seems to mean “cut in pieces,” “knock down,” or perhaps “hack” (see F. I. Andersen and D. N. Freedman, Hosea [AB], 428). The Ugaritic cognate can mean “assault.” In v. 7 the verb seems to have a similar meaning, perhaps “attack, strike.” The phrase “flames of fire” is an adverbial accusative; the
[29:7] 82 sn The
[29:8] 83 tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms are descriptive in function; the psalmist depicts the action as underway.
[29:8] 84 sn Kadesh. The references to Lebanon and Sirion in v. 6 suggest this is a reference to the northern Kadesh, located north of Damascus, not the southern Kadesh mentioned so often in the OT. See M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:178.
[29:9] 85 tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form is descriptive in function; the psalmist depicts the action as underway.
[29:9] 86 tc Heb “the deer.” Preserving this reading, some translate the preceding verb, “causes [the deer] to give premature birth” (cf. NEB, NASB). But the Polel of חוּל/חִיל (khul/khil) means “give birth,” not “cause to give birth,” and the statement “the
[29:9] 87 tn The verb is used in Joel 1:7 of locusts stripping the leaves from a tree. The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the descriptive function of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.
[29:9] 88 tn The usual form of the plural of יַעַר (ya’ar, “forest”) is יְעָרִים (yÿ’arim). For this reason some propose an emendation to יְעָלוֹת (yÿ’alot, “female mountain goats”) which would fit nicely in the parallelism with “deer” (cf. NEB “brings kids early to birth”). In this case one would have to understand the verb חָשַׂף (khasaf) to mean “cause premature birth,” an otherwise unattested homonym of the more common חָשַׂף (“strip bare”).
[29:9] sn The Lord’s thunderous shout is accompanied by high winds which damage the trees of the forest.
[29:9] 89 tn Heb “In his temple, all of it says, ‘Glory.’”
[29:10] 90 tn The noun מַּבּוּל (mabbul, “flood”) appears only here and in Gen 6-11, where it refers to the Noahic flood. Some see a reference to that event here. The presence of the article (perhaps indicating uniqueness) and the switch to the perfect verbal form (which could be taken as describing a past situation) might support this. However, the immediate context indicates that the referent of מַּבּוּל is the “surging waters” mentioned in v. 3. The article indicates waters that are definite in the mind of the speaker and the perfect is probably descriptive in function, like “thunders” in v. 3. However, even though the historical flood is not the primary referent here, there may be a literary allusion involved. The psalmist views the threatening chaotic sea as a contemporary manifestation of the destructive waters of old.
[29:10] 91 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the descriptive function of the preceding perfect.
[29:11] 92 tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 11 are either descriptive or generalizing.
[29:11] 93 sn Strength. This probably refers to military power; see the use of the noun in 1 Sam 2:10 and Ps 86:16.
[29:11] 94 tn Heb “blesses his people with peace.” The Hebrew term שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) probably refers here to the protection and prosperity experienced by God’s people after the
