Mazmur 18:28

18:28 Indeed, ¹  you are my lamp, Lord. ² 

My God ³  illuminates the darkness around me. ⁴ 

Mazmur 21:2

21:2 You grant ⁵  him his heart’s desire;

you do not refuse his request. ⁶  (Selah)

Mazmur 30:2

30:2 O Lord my God,

I cried out to you and you healed me. ⁷ 

Mazmur 52:2

52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; ⁸ 

it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. ⁹ 

Mazmur 61:3

61:3 Indeed, ¹⁰  you are ¹¹  my shelter,

a strong tower that protects me from the enemy. ¹² 

Mazmur 63:3

63:3 Because ¹³  experiencing ¹⁴  your loyal love is better than life itself,

my lips will praise you.

Mazmur 85:2

85:2 You pardoned ¹⁵  the wrongdoing of your people;

you forgave ¹⁶  all their sin. (Selah)

Mazmur 89:26

89:26 He will call out to me,

‘You are my father, ¹⁷  my God, and the protector who delivers me.’ ¹⁸ 

[18:28]  ¹ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.

[18:28]  ² tn Ps 18:28 reads literally, “you light my lamp, Lord.” 2 Sam 22:29 has, “you are my lamp, Lord.” The Ps 18 reading may preserve two variants, נֵרִי (neriy, “my lamp”) and אוֹרִי (’oriy, “my light”), cf. Ps 27:1. The verb תָּאִיר (ta’ir, “you light”) in Ps 18:28 would, in this case, be a corruption of the latter. See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 150, n. 64. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.

[18:28]  ³ tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”

[18:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “my darkness.”

[21:2]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes the perfect verbal forms in v. 2 are generalizing, stating factually what God typically does for the king. Another option is to take them as present perfects, “you have granted…you have not refused.” See v. 4, which mentions a specific request for a long reign.

[21:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the request of his lips you do not refuse.”

[30:2]  ⁷ sn You healed me. Apparently the psalmist was plagued by a serious illness that threatened his life. See Ps 41.

[52:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”

[52:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (’asah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.

[61:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for.”

[61:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “have been.”

[61:3]  ¹² tn Heb “a strong tower from the face of an enemy.”

[63:3]  ¹³ tn This line is understood as giving the basis for the praise promised in the following line. Another option is to take the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) as asseverative/emphasizing, “Indeed, your loyal love is better” (cf. NEB, which leaves the particle untranslated).

[63:3]  ¹⁴ tn The word “experiencing” is supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist does not speak here of divine loyal love in some abstract sense, but of loyal love revealed and experienced.

[85:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[85:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “covered over.”

[89:26]  ¹⁷ sn You are my father. The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 2:7). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[89:26]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the rocky summit of my deliverance.”