Mazmur 50:14

50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!

Repay your vows to the sovereign One! ¹ 

Mazmur 86:4

86:4 Make your servant ²  glad,

for to you, O Lord, I pray! ³ 

Mazmur 139:13

139:13 Certainly ⁴  you made my mind and heart; ⁵ 

you wove me together ⁶  in my mother’s womb.

[50:14]  ¹ tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.

[86:4]  ² tn Heb “the soul of your servant.”

[86:4]  ³ tn Heb “I lift up my soul.”

[139:13]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[139:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).

[139:13]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.