Mazmur 3:1
KonteksA psalm of David, written when he fled from his son Absalom. 2
3:1 Lord, how 3 numerous are my enemies!
Many attack me. 4
Mazmur 8:1
KonteksFor the music director, according to the gittith style; 6 a psalm of David.
how magnificent 8 is your reputation 9 throughout the earth!
You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! 10
Mazmur 9:1
KonteksFor the music director; according to the alumoth-labben style; 12 a psalm of David.
9:1 I will thank the Lord with all my heart!
I will tell about all your amazing deeds! 13
Mazmur 21:1
KonteksFor the music director; a psalm of David.
21:1 O Lord, the king rejoices in the strength you give; 15
he takes great delight in the deliverance you provide. 16
Mazmur 22:1
KonteksFor the music director; according to the tune “Morning Doe;” 18 a psalm of David.
22:1 My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? 19
I groan in prayer, but help seems far away. 20
Mazmur 30:1
KonteksA psalm – a song used at the dedication of the temple; 22 by David.
30:1 I will praise you, O Lord, for you lifted me up, 23
and did not allow my enemies to gloat 24 over me.
Mazmur 34:1
KonteksWritten by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. 26
34:1 I will praise 27 the Lord at all times;
my mouth will continually praise him. 28
Mazmur 44:2
Konteks44:2 You, by your power, 29 defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; 30
you crushed 31 the people living there 32 and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. 33
Mazmur 46:1
KonteksFor the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; 35 a song.
46:1 God is our strong refuge; 36
he is truly our helper in times of trouble. 37
Mazmur 68:16
Konteks68:16 Why do you look with envy, 38 O mountains 39 with many peaks,
at the mountain where God has decided to live? 40
[3:1] 1 sn Psalm 3. The psalmist acknowledges that he is confronted by many enemies (vv. 1-2). But, alluding to a divine oracle he has received (vv. 4-5), he affirms his confidence in God’s ability to protect him (vv. 3, 6) and requests that God make his promise a reality (vv. 7-8).
[3:1] 2 sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).
[3:1] 3 tn The Hebrew term מָה (mah, “how”) is used here as an adverbial exclamation (see BDB 553 s.v.).
[3:1] 4 tn Heb “many rise up against me.”
[8:1] 5 sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.
[8:1] 6 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.
[8:1] 7 tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the
[8:1] 8 tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”
[8:1] 9 tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
[8:1] 10 tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.
[9:1] 11 sn Psalm 9. The psalmist, probably speaking on behalf of Israel or Judah, praises God for delivering him from hostile nations. He celebrates God’s sovereignty and justice, and calls on others to join him in boasting of God’s greatness. Many Hebrew
[9:1] 12 tc The meaning of the Hebrew term עַלְמוּת (’almut) is uncertain. Some
[9:1] 13 tn The cohortative forms in vv. 1-2 express the psalmist’s resolve to praise God publicly.
[21:1] 14 sn Psalm 21. The psalmist praises the Lord for the way he protects and blesses the Davidic king.
[21:1] 15 tn Heb “in your strength.” The translation interprets the pronominal suffix as subjective, rather than merely descriptive (or attributive).
[21:1] 16 tn Heb “and in your deliverance, how greatly he rejoices.”
[22:1] 17 sn Psalm 22. The psalmist cries out to the Lord for deliverance from his dangerous enemies, who have surrounded him and threaten his life. Confident that the Lord will intervene, he then vows to thank the Lord publicly for his help and anticipates a time when all people will recognize the Lord’s greatness and worship him.
[22:1] 18 tn Heb “according to the doe of the dawn.” Apparently this refers to a particular musical tune or style.
[22:1] 19 sn From the psalmist’s perspective it seems that God has abandoned him, for he fails to answer his cry for help (vv. 1b-2).
[22:1] 20 tn Heb “far from my deliverance [are] the words of my groaning.” The Hebrew noun שְׁאָגָה (shÿ’agah) and its related verb שָׁאַג (sha’ag) are sometimes used of a lion’s roar, but they can also describe human groaning (see Job 3:24 and Pss 32:3 and 38:8.
[30:1] 21 sn Psalm 30. The author thanks the Lord for delivering him from death and urges others to join him in praise. The psalmist experienced divine discipline for a brief time, but when he cried out for help the Lord intervened and restored his favor.
[30:1] 22 tn Heb “a song of the dedication of the house.” The referent of “house” is unclear. It is possible that David wrote this psalm for the dedication ceremony of Solomon’s temple. Another possibility is that the psalm was used on the occasion of the dedication of the second temple following the return from exile, or on the occasion of the rededication of the temple in Maccabean times.
[30:1] 23 tn Elsewhere the verb דָּלָה (dalah) is used of drawing water from a well (Exod 2:16, 19; Prov 20:5). The psalmist was trapped in the pit leading to Sheol (see v. 3), but the
[34:1] 25 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] 26 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] 28 tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”
[44:2] 29 tn Heb “you, your hand.”
[44:2] 30 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] 31 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] 33 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.
[46:1] 34 sn Psalm 46. In this so-called “Song Of Zion” God’s people confidently affirm that they are secure because the great warrior-king dwells within Jerusalem and protects it from the nations that cause such chaos in the earth. A refrain (vv. 7, 11) concludes the song’s two major sections.
[46:1] 35 sn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲלָמוֹת (alamoth, which means “young women”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. Cf. 1 Chr 15:20.
[46:1] 36 tn Heb “our refuge and strength,” which is probably a hendiadys meaning “our strong refuge” (see Ps 71:7). Another option is to translate, “our refuge and source of strength.”
[46:1] 37 tn Heb “a helper in times of trouble he is found [to be] greatly.” The perfect verbal form has a generalizing function here. The adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “greatly”) has an emphasizing function.
[68:16] 38 tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb רָצַד (ratsad), translated here “look with envy,” is uncertain; it occurs only here in the OT. See BDB 952-53. A cognate verb occurs in later Aramaic with the meaning “to lie in wait; to watch” (Jastrow 1492 s.v. רְצַד).
[68:16] 39 tn Perhaps the apparent plural form should be read as a singular with enclitic mem (ם; later misinterpreted as a plural ending). The preceding verse has the singular form.
[68:16] 40 tn Heb “[at] the mountain God desires for his dwelling place.” The reference is to Mount Zion/Jerusalem.
[68:16] 41 tn The Hebrew particle אַף (’af) has an emphasizing function here.
[68:16] 42 tn The word “there” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
