Mazmur 30:12

30:12 So now ¹  my heart ²  will sing to you and not be silent;

O Lord my God, I will always ³  give thanks to you.

Mazmur 34:1

Psalm 34 ⁴ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ⁵ 

34:1 I will praise ⁶  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ⁷ 

Mazmur 104:33

104:33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist! ⁸ 

Mazmur 138:1

Psalm 138 ⁹ 

By David.

138:1 I will give you thanks with all my heart;

before the heavenly assembly ¹⁰  I will sing praises to you.

Mazmur 145:1-2

Psalm 145 ¹¹ 

A psalm of praise, by David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God, O king!

I will praise your name continually! ¹² 

145:2 Every day I will praise you!

I will praise your name continually! ¹³ 

Mazmur 146:1-2

Psalm 146 ¹⁴ 

146:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

146:2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live!

I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist!

[30:12]  ¹ tn Heb “so that”; or “in order that.”

[30:12]  ² tn Heb “glory.” Some view כָבוֹד (khavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.” “Heart” is used in the translation above for the sake of English idiom; the expression “my liver sings” would seem odd indeed to the modern reader.

[30:12]  ³ tn Or “forever.”

[34:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.

[34:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”

[34:1]  sn Pretended to be insane. The psalm heading appears to refer to the account in 1 Sam 21:10-15 which tells how David, fearful that King Achish of Gath might kill him, pretended to be insane in hopes that the king would simply send him away. The psalm heading names the king Abimelech, not Achish, suggesting that the tradition is confused on this point. However, perhaps “Abimelech” was a royal title, rather than a proper name. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 278.

[34:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[104:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “in my duration.”

[138:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 138. The psalmist vows to thank the Lord for his deliverance and protection.

[138:1]  ¹⁰ tn The referent of the Hebrew term אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is unclear. It refers either to the angelic assembly (see Gen 3:5; Ps 8:5) or to the pagan gods (see Pss 82:1, 6; 86:8; 97:7), in which case the psalmist’s praise takes on a polemical tone.

[145:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ¹² tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[145:2]  ¹³ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[146:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 146. The psalmist urges his audience not to trust in men, but in the Lord, the just king of the world who cares for the needy.