Mazmur 89:16-17

89:16 They rejoice in your name all day long,

and are vindicated ¹  by your justice.

89:17 For you give them splendor and strength. ² 

By your favor we are victorious. ³ 

Mazmur 20:1

Psalm 20 ⁴ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

20:1 May the Lord answer ⁵  you ⁶  when you are in trouble; ⁷ 

may the God of Jacob ⁸  make you secure!

Mazmur 20:5

20:5 Then we will shout for joy over your ⁹  victory;

we will rejoice ¹⁰  in the name of our God!

May the Lord grant all your requests!

Mazmur 91:14

91:14 The Lord says, ¹¹ 

“Because he is devoted to me, I will deliver him;

I will protect him ¹²  because he is loyal to me. ¹³ 

[89:16]  ¹ tn Heb “are lifted up.”

[89:17]  ² tn Heb “for the splendor of their strength [is] you.”

[89:17]  ³ tn Heb “you lift up our horn,” or if one follows the marginal reading (Qere), “our horn is lifted up.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:24; 92:10; Lam 2:17).

[20:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 20. The people pray for the king’s success in battle. When the king declares his assurance that the Lord will answer the people’s prayer, they affirm their confidence in God’s enablement.

[20:1]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in vv. 1b-5 are interpreted as jussives of prayer (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). Another option is to understand them as imperfects, “the Lord will answer,” etc. In this case the people declare their confidence that the Lord will intervene on behalf of the king and extend to him his favor.

[20:1]  ⁶ sn May the Lord answer you. The people address the king as they pray to the Lord.

[20:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “in a day of trouble.”

[20:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “the name of the God of Jacob.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his very person and to the divine characteristics suggested by his name, in this case “God of Jacob,” which highlights his relationship to Israel.

[20:5]  ⁹ sn Your victory. Here the king is addressed (see v. 1).

[20:5]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew verb דָּגַל (dagal) occurs only here in the Qal. If accepted as original, it may carry the nuance “raise a banner,” but it is preferable to emend the form to נגיל (“we will rejoice”) which provides better parallelism with “shout for joy” and fits well with the prepositional phrase “in the name of our God” (see Ps 89:16).

[91:14]  ¹¹ tn The words “the Lord says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the words which follow are the Lord’s oracle of assurance.

[91:14]  ¹² tn Or “make him secure” (Heb “set him on high”).

[91:14]  ¹³ tn Heb “because he knows my name” (see Ps 9:10).