Mazmur 34:1

Psalm 34 ¹ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ² 

34:1 I will praise ³  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ⁴ 

Mazmur 50:15

50:15 Pray to me when you are in trouble! ⁵ 

I will deliver you, and you will honor me!” ⁶ 

Mazmur 51:14-15

51:14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder, ⁷  O God, the God who delivers me!

Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your deliverance. ⁸ 

51:15 O Lord, give me the words! ⁹ 

Then my mouth will praise you. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 71:24

71:24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,

for those who want to harm me ¹¹  will be embarrassed and ashamed. ¹² 

Mazmur 104:33-34

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! ¹³ 

104:34 May my thoughts ¹⁴  be pleasing to him!

I will rejoice in the Lord.

Mazmur 145:1-2

Psalm 145 ¹⁵ 

A psalm of praise, by David.

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

I will praise your name continually! ¹⁶ 

145:2 Every day I will praise you!

I will praise your name continually! ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 145:5

145:5 I will focus on your honor and majestic splendor,

and your amazing deeds! ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 145:21

145:21 My mouth will praise the Lord. ¹⁹ 

Let all who live ²⁰  praise his holy name forever!

[34:1]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[50:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”

[50:15]  ⁶ sn In vv. 7-15 the Lord makes it clear that he was not rebuking Israel because they had failed to offer sacrifices (v. 8a). On the contrary, they had been faithful in doing so (v. 8b). However, their understanding of the essence of their relationship with God was confused. Apparently they believed that he needed/desired such sacrifices and that offering them would ensure their prosperity. But the Lord owns all the animals of the world and did not need Israel’s meager sacrifices (vv. 9-13). Other aspects of the relationship were more important to the Lord. He desired Israel to be thankful for his blessings (v. 14a), to demonstrate gratitude for his intervention by repaying the vows they made to him (v. 14b), and to acknowledge their absolute dependence on him (v. 15a). Rather than viewing their sacrifices as somehow essential to God’s well-being, they needed to understand their dependence on him.

[51:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “from bloodshed.” “Bloodshed” here stands by metonymy for the guilt which it produces.

[51:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “my tongue will shout for joy your deliverance.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may my tongue shout for joy.” However, the pattern in vv. 12-15 appears to be prayer/request (see vv. 12, 14a, 15a) followed by promise/vow (see vv. 13, 14b, 15b).

[51:15]  ⁹ tn Heb “open my lips.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and my mouth will declare your praise.”

[71:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”

[71:24]  ¹² tn Heb “will have become embarrassed and ashamed.” The perfect verbal forms function here as future perfects, indicating future actions which will precede chronologically the action expressed by the main verb in the preceding line.

[104:33]  ¹³ tn Heb “in my duration.”

[104:34]  ¹⁴ tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.

[145:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[145:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[145:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the splendor of the glory of your majesty, and the matters of your amazing deeds I will ponder.”

[145:21]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the praise of the Lord my mouth will speak.”

[145:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “all flesh.”