Mazmur 42:2

42:2 I thirst ¹  for God,

for the living God.

I say, ²  “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” ³ 

Mazmur 46:5

46:5 God lives within it, ⁴  it cannot be moved. ⁵ 

God rescues it ⁶  at the break of dawn. ⁷ 

Mazmur 47:8

47:8 God reigns ⁸  over the nations!

God sits on his holy throne!

Mazmur 48:14

48:14 For God, our God, is our defender forever! ⁹ 

He guides ¹⁰  us! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 50:7

50:7 He says: ¹² 

“Listen my people! I am speaking!

Listen Israel! I am accusing you! ¹³ 

I am God, your God!

Mazmur 51:14

51:14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder, ¹⁴  O God, the God who delivers me!

Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your deliverance. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 51:17

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit ¹⁶  –

O God, a humble and repentant heart ¹⁷  you will not reject. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 52:8

52:8 But I ¹⁹  am like a flourishing ²⁰  olive tree in the house of God;

I continually ²¹  trust in God’s loyal love.

Mazmur 56:4

56:4 In God – I boast in his promise ²²  –

in God I trust, I am not afraid.

What can mere men ²³  do to me? ²⁴ 

Mazmur 59:17

59:17 You are my source of strength! I will sing praises to you! ²⁵ 

For God is my refuge, ²⁶  the God who loves me. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 60:10

60:10 Have you not rejected us, O God?

O God, you do not go into battle with our armies.

Mazmur 62:7

62:7 God delivers me and exalts me;

God is my strong protector and my shelter. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 62:11

62:11 God has declared one principle;

two principles I have heard: ²⁹ 

God is strong, ³⁰ 

Mazmur 68:28

68:28 God has decreed that you will be powerful. ³¹ 

O God, you who have acted on our behalf, demonstrate your power,

Mazmur 71:19

71:19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; ³² 

you have done great things. ³³ 

O God, who can compare to you? ³⁴ 

Mazmur 81:1

Psalm 81 ³⁵ 

For the music director; according to the gittith style; ³⁶  by Asaph.

81:1 Shout for joy to God, our source of strength!

Shout out to the God of Jacob!

Mazmur 82:1

Psalm 82 ³⁷ 

A psalm of Asaph.

82:1 God stands in ³⁸  the assembly of El; ³⁹ 

in the midst of the gods ⁴⁰  he renders judgment. ⁴¹ 

Mazmur 84:8

84:8 O Lord, sovereign God, ⁴² 

hear my prayer!

Listen, O God of Jacob! (Selah)

Mazmur 99:9

99:9 Praise ⁴³  the Lord our God!

Worship on his holy hill,

for the Lord our God is holy!

[42:2]  ¹ tn Or “my soul thirsts.”

[42:2]  ² tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.

[42:2]  ³ tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (’era’eh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (’er’eh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (’et) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).

[46:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “God [is] within her.” The feminine singular pronoun refers to the city mentioned in v. 4.

[46:5]  ⁵ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “it will not be upended.” Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense. The verb מוֹט (mot), translated “upended” here, is used in v. 2 of the mountains “tumbling” into the seas and in v. 6 of nations being “upended.” By way of contrast, Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, is secure and immune from such turmoil and destruction.

[46:5]  ⁶ tn Or “helps her.” The imperfect draws attention to the generalizing character of the statement.

[46:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “at the turning of morning.” (For other uses of the expression see Exod 14:27 and Judg 19:26).

[46:5]  sn At the break of dawn. The “morning” is viewed metaphorically as a time of deliverance and vindication after the dark “night” of trouble (see Ps 30:5; Isa 17:14). There may be an allusion here to Exod 14:27 (where the Lord destroyed the Egyptians at the “break of dawn”) or, more likely, to the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege, when the people discovered the dead bodies of the Assyrian army in the morning (Isa 37:36).

[47:8]  ⁸ tn When a new king was enthroned, his followers would acclaim him king using this enthronement formula (Qal perfect 3ms מָלַךְ, malakh, “to reign,” followed by the name of the king). See 2 Sam 15:10; 1 Kgs 1:11, 13, 18; 2 Kgs 9:13, as well as Isa 52:7. In this context the perfect verbal form is generalizing, but the declaration logically follows the historical reference in v. 5 to the Lord’s having ascended his throne.

[48:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “for this is God, our God, forever and ever.” “This” might be paraphrased, “this protector described and praised in the preceding verses.”

[48:14]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.

[48:14]  ¹¹ tn In the Hebrew text the psalm ends with the words עַל־מוּת (’al-mut, “upon [unto?] dying”), which make little, if any, sense. M. Dahood (Psalms [AB], 1:293) proposes an otherwise unattested plural form עֹלָמוֹת (’olamot; from עוֹלָם, ’olam, “eternity”). This would provide a nice parallel to עוֹלָם וָעֶד (’olam va’ed, “forever”) in the preceding line, but elsewhere the plural of עוֹלָם appears as עֹלָמִים (’olamim). It is preferable to understand the phrase as a musical direction of some sort (see עַל־מוּת [’al-mut] in the superscription of Ps 9) or to emend the text to עַל־עֲלָמוֹת (’al-’alamot, “according to the alamoth style”; see the heading of Ps 46). In either case it should be understood as belonging with the superscription of the following psalm.

[50:7]  ¹² tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s charges against his people follow.

[50:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “Israel, and I will testify against you.” The imperative “listen” is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[51:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “from bloodshed.” “Bloodshed” here stands by metonymy for the guilt which it produces.

[51:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my tongue will shout for joy your deliverance.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may my tongue shout for joy.” However, the pattern in vv. 12-15 appears to be prayer/request (see vv. 12, 14a, 15a) followed by promise/vow (see vv. 13, 14b, 15b).

[51:17]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a broken spirit.”

[51:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a broken and crushed heart.”

[51:17]  ¹⁸ tn Or “despise.”

[52:8]  ¹⁹ tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.

[52:8]  ²⁰ tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”

[52:8]  ²¹ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”

[56:4]  ²² tn Heb “in God I boast, his word.” The syntax in the Hebrew text is difficult. (1) The line could be translated, “in God I boast, [in] his word.” Such a translation assumes that the prepositional phrase “in God” goes with the following verb “I boast” (see Ps 44:8) and that “his word” is appositional to “in God” and more specifically identifies the basis for the psalmist’s confidence. God’s “word” is here understood as an assuring promise of protection. Another option (2) is to translate, “in God I will boast [with] a word.” In this case, the “word” is a song of praise. (In this view the pronominal suffix “his” must be omitted as in v. 10.) The present translation reflects yet another option (3): In this case “I praise his word” is a parenthetical statement, with “his word” being the object of the verb. The sentence begun with the prepositional phrase “in God” is then completed in the next line, with the prepositional phrase being repeated after the parenthesis.

[56:4]  ²³ tn Heb “flesh,” which refers by metonymy to human beings (see v. 11, where “man” is used in this same question), envisioned here as mortal and powerless before God.

[56:4]  ²⁴ tn The rhetorical question assumes the answer, “Nothing!” The imperfect is used in a modal sense here, indicating capability or potential.

[59:17]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my strength, to you I will sing praises.”

[59:17]  ²⁶ tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[59:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the God of my loyal love.”

[62:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “upon God [is] my deliverance and my glory, the high rocky summit of my strength, my shelter [is] in God.”

[62:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “one God spoke, two which I heard.” This is a numerical saying utilizing the “x” followed by “x + 1” pattern to facilitate poetic parallelism. (See W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament [VTSup], 55-56.) As is typical in such sayings, a list corresponding to the second number (in this case “two”) follows. Another option is to translate, “God has spoken once, twice [he has spoken] that which I have heard.” The terms אַחַת (’akhat, “one; once”) and שְׁתַּיִם (shÿtayim, “two; twice”) are also juxtaposed in 2 Kgs 6:10 (where they refer to an action that was done more than “once or twice”) and in Job 33:14 (where they refer to God speaking “one way” and then in “another manner”).

[62:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “that strength [belongs] to God.”

[68:28]  ³¹ tn Heb “God has commanded your strength.” The statement is apparently addressed to Israel (see v. 26).

[71:19]  ³² tn Heb “your justice, O God, [is] unto the height.” The Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) is here a title for the sky/heavens.

[71:19]  sn Extends to the skies above. Similar statements are made in Pss 36:5 and 57:10.

[71:19]  ³³ tn Heb “you who have done great things.”

[71:19]  ³⁴ tn Or “Who is like you?”

[81:1]  ³⁵ sn Psalm 81. The psalmist calls God’s people to assemble for a festival and then proclaims God’s message to them. The divine speech (vv. 6-16) recalls how God delivered the people from Egypt, reminds Israel of their rebellious past, expresses God’s desire for his people to obey him, and promises divine protection in exchange for obedience.

[81:1]  ³⁶ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הַגִּתִּית (haggittit) is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or instrument. See the superscription to Ps 8.

[82:1]  ³⁷ sn Psalm 82. The psalmist pictures God standing in the “assembly of El” where he accuses the “gods” of failing to promote justice on earth. God pronounces sentence upon them, announcing that they will die like men. Having witnessed the scene, the psalmist then asks God to establish his just rule over the earth.

[82:1]  ³⁸ tn Or “presides over.”

[82:1]  ³⁹ tn The phrase עֲדַת אֵל (’adat ’el, “assembly of El”) appears only here in the OT. (1) Some understand “El” to refer to God himself. In this case he is pictured presiding over his own heavenly assembly. (2) Others take אֵל as a superlative here (“God stands in the great assembly”), as in Pss 36:6 and 80:10. (3) The present translation assumes this is a reference to the Canaanite high god El, who presided over the Canaanite divine assembly. (See Isa 14:13, where El’s assembly is called “the stars of El.”) In the Ugaritic myths the phrase ’dt ’ilm refers to the “assembly of the gods,” who congregate in King Kirtu’s house, where Baal asks El to bless Kirtu’s house (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 91). If the Canaanite divine assembly is referred to here in Ps 82:1, then the psalm must be understood as a bold polemic against Canaanite religion. Israel’s God invades El’s assembly, denounces its gods as failing to uphold justice, and announces their coming demise. For an interpretation of the psalm along these lines, see W. VanGemeren, “Psalms,” EBC 5:533-36.

[82:1]  ⁴⁰ sn The present translation assumes that the Hebrew term אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “gods”) here refers to the pagan gods who supposedly comprise El’s assembly according to Canaanite religion. Those who reject the polemical view of the psalm prefer to see the referent as human judges or rulers (אֱלֹהִים sometimes refers to officials appointed by God, see Exod 21:6; 22:8-9; Ps 45:6) or as angelic beings (אֱלֹהִים sometimes refers to angelic beings, see Gen 3:5; Ps 8:5).

[82:1]  ⁴¹ sn The picture of God rendering judgment among the gods clearly depicts his sovereign authority as universal king (see v. 8, where the psalmist boldly affirms this truth).

[84:8]  ⁴² tn Heb “Lord, God, hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”; see Ps 89:9) but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yehvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת in Pss 59:5 and 80:4, 19 as well.

[99:9]  ⁴³ tn Or “exalt.”