Mazmur 51:1

Psalm 51 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ² 

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of ³  your loyal love!

Because of ⁴  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ⁵ 

Mazmur 9:2

9:2 I will be happy and rejoice in you!

I will sing praises to you, O sovereign One! ⁶ 

Mazmur 21:13

21:13 Rise up, O Lord, in strength! ⁷ 

We will sing and praise ⁸  your power!

Mazmur 31:18

31:18 May lying lips be silenced –

lips ⁹  that speak defiantly against the innocent ¹⁰ 

with arrogance and contempt!

Mazmur 58:10

58:10 The godly ¹¹  will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out;

they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

Mazmur 68:21

68:21 Indeed God strikes the heads of his enemies,

the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion. ¹² 

Mazmur 84:6

84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, ¹³ 

he provides a spring for them. ¹⁴ 

The rain ¹⁵  even covers it with pools of water. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 89:11

89:11 The heavens belong to you, as does the earth.

You made the world and all it contains. ¹⁷ 

[51:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.

[51:1]  ² tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”

[51:1]  ³ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ⁴ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ⁵ tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”

[9:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “[to] your name, O Most High.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyo/) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Ps 47:2.

[21:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “in your strength,” but English idiom does not require the pronoun.

[21:13]  sn The psalm concludes with a petition to the Lord, asking him to continue to intervene in strength for the king and nation.

[21:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “sing praise.”

[31:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “the [ones which].”

[31:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “godly.”

[58:10]  ¹¹ tn The singular is representative here, as is the singular from “wicked” in the next line.

[68:21]  ¹² tn Heb “the hairy forehead of the one who walks about in his guilt.” The singular is representative.

[84:6]  ¹³ tn The translation assumes that the Hebrew phrase עֵמֶק הַבָּכָא (’emeq habbakha’) is the name of an otherwise unknown arid valley through which pilgrims to Jerusalem passed. The term בָּכָא (bakha’) may be the name of a particular type of plant or shrub that grew in this valley. O. Borowski (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 130) suggests it is the black mulberry. Some take the phrase as purely metaphorical and relate בָּכָא to the root בָּכָה (bakhah, “to weep”). In this case one might translate, “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.”

[84:6]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads “a spring they make it,” but this makes little sense. Many medieval Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, understand God to be the subject and the valley to be the object, “he [God] makes it [the valley] [into] a spring.”

[84:6]  ¹⁵ tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).

[84:6]  ¹⁶ tc The MT reads בְּרָכוֹת (bÿrakhot, “blessings”) but the preceding reference to a “spring” favors an emendation to בְּרֵכוֹת (bÿrekhot, “pools”).

[84:6]  sn Pools of water. Because water is so necessary for life, it makes an apt symbol for divine favor and blessing. As the pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem, God provided for their physical needs and gave them a token of his favor and of the blessings awaiting them at the temple.

[89:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the world and its fullness, you established them.”