Mazmur 27:9

27:9 Do not reject me! ¹ 

Do not push your servant away in anger!

You are my deliverer! ² 

Do not forsake or abandon me,

O God who vindicates me!

Mazmur 46:3

46:3 when its waves ³  crash ⁴  and foam,

and the mountains shake ⁵  before the surging sea. ⁶  (Selah)

Mazmur 47:9

47:9 The nobles of the nations assemble,

along with the people of the God of Abraham, ⁷ 

for God has authority over the rulers ⁸  of the earth.

He is highly exalted! ⁹ 

Mazmur 84:11

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ¹⁰ 

The Lord bestows favor ¹¹  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ¹² 

Mazmur 102:1

Psalm 102 ¹³ 

The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord.

102:1 O Lord, hear my prayer!

Pay attention to my cry for help! ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 137:7

137:7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did

on the day Jerusalem fell. ¹⁵ 

They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, ¹⁶ 

right to its very foundation!”

[27:9]  ¹ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[27:9]  ² tn Or “[source of] help.”

[46:3]  ³ tn Heb “its waters.”

[46:3]  ⁴ tn Or “roar.”

[46:3]  ⁵ tn The three imperfect verbal forms in v. 3 draw attention to the characteristic nature of the activity described.

[46:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “at its swelling.” The Hebrew word often means “pride.” If the sea is symbolic of hostile nations, then this may be a case of double entendre. The surging, swelling sea symbolizes the proud, hostile nations. On the surface the psalmist appears to be depicting a major natural catastrophe, perhaps a tidal wave. If so, then the situation would be hypothetical. However, the repetition of the verbs הָמָה (hamah, “crash; roar,” v. 3) and מוֹט (mot, “shake,” v. 2) in v. 6, where nations/kingdoms “roar” and “shake,” suggests that the language of vv. 2-3 is symbolic and depicts the upheaval that characterizes relationships between the nations of the earth. As some nations (symbolized by the surging, chaotic waters) show hostility, others (symbolized by the mountains) come crashing down to destruction. The surging waters are symbolic of chaotic forces in other poetic texts (see, for example, Isa 17:12; Jer 51:42) and mountains can symbolize strong kingdoms (see, for example, Jer 51:25).

[47:9]  ⁷ tc The words “along with” do not appear in the MT. However, the LXX has “with,” suggesting that the original text may have read עִם עַם (’im ’am, “along with the people”). In this case the MT is haplographic (the consonantal sequence ayin-mem [עם] being written once instead of twice). Another option is that the LXX is simply and correctly interpreting “people” as an adverbial accusative and supplying the appropriate preposition.

[47:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “for to God [belong] the shields of the earth.” Perhaps the rulers are called “shields” because they are responsible for protecting their people. See Ps 84:9, where the Davidic king is called “our shield,” and perhaps also Hos 4:18.

[47:9]  ⁹ tn The verb עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”) appears once more (see v. 5), though now in the Niphal stem.

[84:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ¹² tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

[102:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 102. The psalmist laments his oppressed state, but longs for a day when the Lord will restore Jerusalem and vindicate his suffering people.

[102:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and may my cry for help come to you.”

[137:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem.”

[137:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lay [it] bare, lay [it] bare.”