Mazmur 6:10

6:10 May all my enemies be humiliated ¹  and absolutely terrified! ² 

May they turn back and be suddenly humiliated!

Mazmur 11:7

11:7 Certainly ³  the Lord is just; ⁴ 

he rewards godly deeds; ⁵ 

the upright will experience his favor. ⁶ 

Mazmur 21:3

21:3 For you bring him ⁷  rich ⁸  blessings; ⁹ 

you place a golden crown on his head.

Mazmur 23:5

23:5 You prepare a feast before me ¹⁰ 

in plain sight of my enemies.

You refresh ¹¹  my head with oil;

my cup is completely full. ¹² 

Mazmur 27:8

27:8 My heart tells me to pray to you, ¹³ 

and I do pray to you, O Lord. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 34:5

34:5 Those who look to him for help are happy;

their faces are not ashamed. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 36:9

36:9 For you are the one who gives

and sustains life. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 42:1

Book 2
(Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42 ¹⁷ 

For the music director; a well-written song ¹⁸  by the Korahites.

42:1 As a deer ¹⁹  longs ²⁰  for streams of water,

so I long ²¹  for you, O God!

Mazmur 62:1

Psalm 62 ²² 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

62:1 For God alone I patiently wait; ²³ 

he is the one who delivers me. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 62:5

62:5 Patiently wait for God alone, my soul! ²⁵ 

For he is the one who gives me confidence. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 62:7

62:7 God delivers me and exalts me;

God is my strong protector and my shelter. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 75:6

75:6 For victory does not come from the east or west,

or from the wilderness. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 78:15

78:15 He broke open rocks in the wilderness,

and gave them enough water to fill the depths of the sea. ²⁹ 

Mazmur 80:16

80:16 It is burned ³⁰  and cut down.

They die because you are displeased with them. ³¹ 

Mazmur 89:33

89:33 But I will not remove ³²  my loyal love from him,

nor be unfaithful to my promise. ³³ 

Mazmur 92:15

92:15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my protector,

is just and never unfair. ³⁴ 

Mazmur 104:24

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! ³⁵ 

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; ³⁶ 

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

Mazmur 126:6

126:6 The one who weeps as he walks along, carrying his bag ³⁷  of seed,

will certainly come in with a shout of joy, carrying his sheaves of grain. ³⁸ 

[6:10]  ¹ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling judgment down on his enemies.

[6:10]  ² tn Heb “and may they be very terrified.” The psalmist uses the same expression in v. 3 to describe the terror he was experiencing. Now he asks the Lord to turn the tables and cause his enemies to know what absolute terror feels like.

[11:7]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[11:7]  ⁴ tn Or “righteous.”

[11:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “he loves righteous deeds.” The “righteous deeds” are probably those done by godly people (see v. 5). The Lord “loves” such deeds in the sense that he rewards them. Another option is to take צְדָקוֹת (tsÿdaqot) as referring to God’s acts of justice (see Ps 103:6). In this case one could translate, “he loves to do just deeds.”

[11:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “the upright will see his face.” The singular subject (“upright”) does not agree with the plural verb. However, collective singular nouns can be construed with a plural predicate (see GKC 462 §145.b). Another possibility is that the plural verb יֶחֱזוּ (yekhezu) is a corruption of an original singular form. To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 17:15 and Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזָה (khazah), is used]). On the form פָנֵימוֹ (fanemo, “his face”) see GKC 300-301 §103.b, n. 3.

[21:3]  ⁷ tn Or “meet him [with].”

[21:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “good.”

[21:3]  ⁹ sn You bring him rich blessings. The following context indicates that God’s “blessings” include deliverance/protection, vindication, sustained life, and a long, stable reign (see also Pss 3:8; 24:5).

[23:5]  ¹⁰ sn In v. 5 the metaphor switches. (It would be very odd for a sheep to have its head anointed and be served wine.) The background for the imagery is probably the royal banquet. Ancient Near Eastern texts describe such banquets in similar terms to those employed by the psalmist. (See M. L. Barre and J. S. Kselman, “New Exodus, Covenant, and Restoration in Psalm 23,” The Word of the Lord Shall Go Forth, 97-127.) The reality behind the imagery is the Lord’s favor. Through his blessings and protection he demonstrates to everyone, including dangerous enemies, that the psalmist has a special relationship with him.

[23:5]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect verbal form in v. 5a carries on the generalizing mood of vv. 1-4. However, in v. 5b the psalmist switches to a perfect (דִּשַּׁנְתָּ, dishanta), which may have a generalizing force as well. But then again the perfect is conspicuous here and may be present perfect in sense, indicating that the divine host typically pours oil on his head prior to seating him at the banquet table. The verb דָשַׁן (dashan; the Piel is factitive) is often translated “anoint,” but this is misleading, for it might suggest a symbolic act of initiation into royal status. One would expect the verb מָשָׁח (mashan) in this case; דָשַׁן here describes an act of hospitality extended to guests and carries the nuance “refresh.” In Prov 15:30 it stands parallel to “make happy” and refers to the effect that good news has on the inner being of its recipient.

[23:5]  ¹² tn The rare noun רְַָויָה (rÿvayah) is derived from the well-attested verb רָוָה (ravah, “be saturated, drink one’s fill”). In this context, where it describes a cup, it must mean “filled up,” but not necessarily to overflowing.

[27:8]  ¹³ tc Heb “concerning you my heart says, ‘Seek my face.’” The verb form “seek” is plural, but this makes no sense here, for the psalmist is addressed. The verb should be emended to a singular form. The first person pronominal suffix on “face” also makes little sense, unless it is the voice of the Lord he hears. His “heart” is viewed as speaking, however, so it is better to emend the form to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”).

[27:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your face, O Lord, I seek.” To “seek the Lord’s face” means to seek his favor through prayer (see 2 Sam 21:1; Pss 24:6; 105:4).

[34:5]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “they look to him and are radiant and their faces are not ashamed.” The third person plural subject (“they”) is unidentified; there is no antecedent in the Hebrew text. For this reason some prefer to take the perfect verbal forms in the first line as imperatives, “look to him and be radiant” (cf. NEB, NRSV). Some medieval Hebrew mss and other ancient witnesses (Aquila, the Syriac, and Jerome) support an imperatival reading for the first verb. In the second line some (with support from the LXX and Syriac) change “their faces” to “your faces,” which allows one to retain more easily the jussive force of the verb (suggested by the preceding אַל [’al]): “do not let your faces be ashamed.” It is probable that the verbal construction in the second line is rhetorical, expressing the conviction that the action in view cannot or should not happen. See GKC 322 §109.e.

[36:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.” Water (note “fountain”) and light are here metaphors for life.

[42:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalms 42 and 43 into a single psalm.

[42:1]  ¹⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[42:1]  ¹⁹ tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (’ayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (’ayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.

[42:1]  ²⁰ tn Or “pants [with thirst].”

[42:1]  ²¹ tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[62:1]  ²² sn Psalm 62. The psalmist expresses his unwavering confidence in God’s justice and in his ability to protect his people.

[62:1]  ²³ tn Heb “only for God [is] there silence [to] my soul.”

[62:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “from him [is] my deliverance.”

[62:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “only for God be silent, my soul.” The wording is similar to that of v. 1a. Here an imperatival form, דּוֹמִּי (dommiy, “be silent”), appears instead of the noun דּוּמִיָּה (dumiyyah, “silence”). The psalmist is encouraging himself to maintain his trust in God.

[62:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for from him [is] my hope.”

[62:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “upon God [is] my deliverance and my glory, the high rocky summit of my strength, my shelter [is] in God.”

[75:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “for not from the east or from the west, and not from the wilderness of the mountains.” If one follows this reading the sentence is elliptical. One must supply “does help come,” or some comparable statement. However, it is possible to take הָרִים (harim) as a Hiphil infinitive from רוּם (rum), the same verb used in vv. 4-5 of “lifting up” a horn. In this case one may translate the form as “victory.” In this case the point is that victory does not come from alliances with other nations.

[78:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and caused them to drink, like the depths, abundantly.”

[80:16]  ³⁰ tn Heb “burned with fire.”

[80:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “because of the rebuke of your face they perish.”

[89:33]  ³² tn Heb “break”; “make ineffectual.” Some prefer to emend אָפִיר (’afir; the Hiphil of פָּרַר, parar, “to break”) to אָסִיר (’asir; the Hiphil of סוּר, sur, “to turn aside”), a verb that appears in 2 Sam 7:15.

[89:33]  ³³ tn Heb “and I will not deal falsely with my faithfulness.”

[92:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “so that [they] proclaim that upright [is] the Lord, my rocky summit, and there is no injustice in him.”

[104:24]  ³⁵ tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.

[104:24]  ³⁶ tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

[126:6]  ³⁷ tn The noun occurs only here and in Job 28:18 in the OT. See HALOT 646 s.v. I מֶשֶׁךְ which gives “leather pouch” as the meaning.

[126:6]  ³⁸ tn The Hebrew noun אֲלֻמָּה (’alummah, “sheaf”) occurs only here and in Gen 37:7 in the OT.

[126:6]  sn Verse 6 expands the image of v. 5. See the note on the word “harvest” there.