Mazmur 17:14-15
Konteks17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, 1
from the murderers of this world! 2
They enjoy prosperity; 3
you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. 4
They have many children,
and leave their wealth to their offspring. 5
17:15 As for me, because I am innocent I will see your face; 6
when I awake you will reveal yourself to me. 7
Mazmur 22:9
Konteks22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out 8 from the womb
and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.
Mazmur 31:17
Konteks31:17 O Lord, do not let me be humiliated,
for I call out to you!
May evil men be humiliated!
May they go wailing to the grave! 9
Mazmur 39:5
Konteks39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, 10
and my life span is nothing from your perspective. 11
Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. 12
Mazmur 44:2
Konteks44:2 You, by your power, 13 defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; 14
you crushed 15 the people living there 16 and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. 17
Mazmur 45:7
Konteks45:7 You love 18 justice and hate evil. 19
For this reason God, your God 20 has anointed you 21
with the oil of joy, 22 elevating you above your companions. 23
Mazmur 74:9
Konteks74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; 24
there are no longer any prophets 25
and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. 26
Mazmur 78:38
Konteks78:38 Yet he is compassionate.
He forgives sin and does not destroy.
He often holds back his anger,
and does not stir up his fury. 27
Mazmur 79:1
KonteksA psalm of Asaph.
79:1 O God, foreigners 29 have invaded your chosen land; 30
they have polluted your holy temple
and turned Jerusalem 31 into a heap of ruins.
Mazmur 131:1
KonteksA song of ascents, 33 by David.
131:1 O Lord, my heart is not proud,
nor do I have a haughty look. 34
I do not have great aspirations,
or concern myself with things that are beyond me. 35
Mazmur 143:7
Konteks143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!
My strength is fading. 36
Do not reject me, 37
[17:14] 1 tc Heb “from men [by] your hand,
[17:14] 2 tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”
[17:14] 3 tn Heb “their portion, in life.”
[17:14] 4 tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”
[17:14] sn You overwhelm them with the riches they desire. The psalmist is not accusing God of being unjust; he is simply observing that the wicked often prosper and that God is the ultimate source of all blessings that human beings enjoy (see Matt 5:45). When the wicked are ungrateful for God’s blessings, they become even more culpable and deserving of judgment. So this description of the wicked actually supports the psalmist’s appeal for deliverance. God should rescue him because he is innocent (see vv. 3-5) and because the wicked, though blessed abundantly by God, still have the audacity to attack God’s people.
[17:14] 5 tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”
[17:15] 6 tn Heb “I, in innocence, I will see your face.” To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 11:7; see also Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזַה (khazah), is used]). Here, however, the psalmist may be anticipating a mystical experience. See the following note on the word “me.”
[17:15] 7 tn Heb “I will be satisfied, when I awake, [with] your form.” The noun תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) normally carries the nuance “likeness” or “form.” In Job 4:16 it refers to a ghostlike spiritual entity (see v. 15) that revealed itself to Eliphaz during the night. The psalmist may anticipate a mystical encounter with God in which he expects to see a manifestation of God’s presence (i.e., a theophany), perhaps in conjunction with an oracle of deliverance. During the quiet darkness of the night, God examines the psalmist’s inner motives and finds them to be pure (see v. 3). The psalmist is confident that when he awakens, perhaps sometime during the night or in the morning, he will be visited by God and assured of vindication.
[17:15] sn When I awake you will reveal yourself to me. Some see in this verse an allusion to resurrection. According to this view, when the psalmist awakens from the sleep of death, he will see God. It is unlikely that the psalmist had such a highly developed personal eschatology. As noted above, it is more likely that he is anticipating a divine visitation and mystical encounter as a prelude to his deliverance from his enemies.
[22:9] 8 tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”
[31:17] 9 tn The verb יִדְּמוּ (yiddÿmu) is understood as a form of דָּמַם (damam, “wail, lament”). Another option is to take the verb from דָּמַם (“be quiet”; see BDB 198-99 s.v. I דָּמַם), in which case one might translate, “May they lie silent in the grave.”
[39:5] 10 tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 309.
[39:5] 11 tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”
[39:5] 12 tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”
[44:2] 13 tn Heb “you, your hand.”
[44:2] 14 tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.
[44:2] 15 tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).
[44:2] 17 tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.
[45:7] 18 sn To love justice means to actively promote it.
[45:7] 19 sn To hate evil means to actively oppose it.
[45:7] 20 tn For other examples of the repetition of Elohim, “God,” see Pss 43:4; 48:8, 14; 50:7; 51:14; 67:7. Because the name Yahweh (“
[45:7] 21 sn Anointed you. When read in the light of the preceding context, the anointing is most naturally taken as referring to the king’s coronation. However, the following context (vv. 8-9) focuses on the wedding ceremony, so some prefer to see this anointing as part of the king’s preparations for the wedding celebration. Perhaps the reference to his anointing at his coronation facilitates the transition to the description of the wedding, for the king was also anointed on this occasion.
[45:7] 22 sn The phrase oil of joy alludes to the fact that the coronation of the king, which was ritually accomplished by anointing his head with olive oil, was a time of great celebration and renewed hope. (If one understands the anointing in conjunction with the wedding ceremony, the “joy” would be that associated with the marriage.) The phrase “oil of joy” also appears in Isa 61:3, where mourners are granted “oil of joy” in conjunction with their deliverance from oppression.
[45:7] 23 tn Heb “from your companions.” The “companions” are most naturally understood as others in the royal family or, more generally, as the king’s countrymen.
[45:7] sn Verses 6-7 are quoted in Heb 1:8-9, where they are applied to Jesus.
[74:9] 24 tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).
[74:9] 25 tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”
[74:9] 26 tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”
[78:38] 27 tn One could translate v. 38 in the past tense (“he was compassionate…forgave sin and did not destroy…held back his anger, and did not stir up his fury”), but the imperfect verbal forms are probably best understood as generalizing. Verse 38 steps back briefly from the narrational summary of Israel’s history and lays the theological basis for v. 39, which focuses on God’s mercy toward sinful Israel.
[79:1] 28 sn Psalm 79. The author laments how the invading nations have destroyed the temple and city of Jerusalem. He asks God to forgive his people and to pour out his vengeance on those who have mistreated them.
[79:1] 30 tn Heb “have come into your inheritance.”
[79:1] 31 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[131:1] 32 sn Psalm 131. The psalmist affirms his humble dependence on the Lord and urges Israel to place its trust in God.
[131:1] 33 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
[131:1] 34 tn Heb “and my eyes are not lifted up.”
[131:1] 35 tn Heb “I do not walk in great things, and in things too marvelous for me.”
[143:7] 36 tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”
[143:7] 37 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
[143:7] 38 tn Heb “I will be equal with.”
[143:7] 39 tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.
