Mazmur 43:1

Psalm 43 ¹ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ²  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ³  from deceitful and evil men! ⁴ 

Mazmur 68:17

68:17 God has countless chariots;

they number in the thousands. ⁵ 

The Lord comes from Sinai in holy splendor. ⁶ 

Mazmur 74:8

74:8 They say to themselves, ⁷ 

“We will oppress all of them.” ⁸ 

They burn down all the places where people worship God in the land. ⁹ 

Mazmur 101:6

101:6 I will favor the honest people of the land, ¹⁰ 

and allow them to live with me. ¹¹ 

Those who walk in the way of integrity will attend me. ¹² 

[43:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

[43:1]  ² tn Or “argue my case.”

[43:1]  ³ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

[43:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

[68:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “thousands of [?].” The meaning of the word שִׁנְאָן (shin’an), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Perhaps the form should be emended to שַׁאֲנָן (sha’anan, “at ease”) and be translated here “held in reserve.”

[68:17]  ⁶ tc The MT reads, “the Lord [is] among them, Sinai, in holiness,” which is syntactically difficult. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֲדֹנָי בָּא מִסִּינַי (’adonay ba’ missinay; see BHS note b-b and Deut 33:2).

[74:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “in their heart.”

[74:8]  ⁸ tc Heb “[?] altogether.” The Hebrew form נִינָם (ninam) is problematic. It could be understood as the noun נִין (nin, “offspring”) but the statement “their offspring altogether” would make no sense here. C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:159) emends יָחַד (yakhad, “altogether”) to יָחִיד (yakhid, “alone”) and translate “let their offspring be solitary” (i.e., exiled). Another option is to understand the form as a Qal imperfect first common plural from יָנָה (yanah, “to oppress”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix, “we will oppress them.” However, this verb, when used in the finite form, always appears in the Hiphil. Therefore, it is preferable to emend the form to the Hiphil נוֹנֵם (nonem, “we will oppress them”).

[74:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “they burn down all the meeting places of God in the land.”

[101:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my eyes [are] on the faithful of the land.”

[101:6]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text simply reads, “in order to live with me.”

[101:6]  ¹² tn Heb “one who walks in the way of integrity, he will minister to me.”