Mazmur 57:3

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ¹ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ²  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

Mazmur 60:6

60:6 God has spoken in his sanctuary: ³ 

“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem;

the Valley of Succoth I will measure off. ⁴ 

Mazmur 98:1

Psalm 98 ⁵ 

A psalm.

98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, ⁶ 

for he performs ⁷  amazing deeds!

His right hand and his mighty arm

accomplish deliverance. ⁸ 

[57:3]  ¹ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ² tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”

[60:6]  ³ tn Heb “in his holy place.”

[60:6]  ⁴ sn Shechem stands for the territory west of the Jordan, the Valley of Succoth for the region east of the Jordan.

[98:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 98. The psalmist summons the whole earth to praise God because he reveals his justice and delivers Israel.

[98:1]  ⁶ sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See Ps 96:1.

[98:1]  ⁷ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 1-3 are understood here as describing characteristic divine activities. Another option is to translate them as present perfects, “has performed…has accomplished deliverance, etc.” referring to completed actions that have continuing results.

[98:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “his right hand delivers for him and his holy arm.” The right hand and arm symbolize his power as a warrior-king (see Isa 52:10). His arm is “holy” in the sense that it is in a category of its own; God’s power is incomparable.