Mazmur 60:4

60:4 You have given your loyal followers ¹  a rallying flag,

so that they might seek safety from the bow. ²  (Selah)

Mazmur 65:5

65:5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,

O God, our savior. ³ 

All the ends of the earth trust in you, ⁴ 

as well as those living across the wide seas. ⁵ 

Mazmur 81:5

81:5 He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,

when he attacked the land of Egypt. ⁶ 

I heard a voice I did not recognize. ⁷ 

Mazmur 84:3

84:3 Even the birds find a home there,

and the swallow ⁸  builds a nest,

where she can protect her young ⁹ 

near your altars, O Lord who rules over all,

my king and my God.

Mazmur 84:11

84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. ¹⁰ 

The Lord bestows favor ¹¹  and honor;

he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. ¹² 

Mazmur 87:4

87:4 I mention Rahab ¹³  and Babylon to my followers. ¹⁴ 

Here are ¹⁵  Philistia and Tyre, ¹⁶  along with Ethiopia. ¹⁷ 

It is said of them, “This one was born there.” ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 137:3

137:3 for there our captors ask us to compose songs; ¹⁹ 

those who mock us demand that we be happy, saying: ²⁰ 

“Sing for us a song about Zion!” ²¹ 

[60:4]  ¹ tn Heb “those who fear you.”

[60:4]  ² tn There is a ray of hope in that God has allowed his loyal followers to rally under a battle flag. The translation assumes the verb is from the root נוּס (nus, “flee”) used here in the Hitpolel in the sense of “find safety for oneself” (HALOT 681 s.v. נוס) or “take flight for oneself” (BDB 630-31 s.v. נוּס). Another option is to take the verb as a denominative from נֵס (nes, “flag”) and translate “that it may be displayed” (BDB 651 s.v. II נסס) or “that they may assemble under the banner” (HALOT 704 s.v. II נסס). Here קֹשֶׁט (qoshet) is taken as an Aramaized form of קֶשֶׁת (qeshet, “bow”; BDB 905-6 s.v. קֶשֶׁת), though some understand the homonymic קֹשְׁטְ (qosht, “truth”) here (see Prov 22:21; cf. NASB). If one follows the latter interpretation, the line may be translated, “so that they might assemble under the banner for the sake of truth.”

[65:5]  ³ tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”

[65:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “a source of confidence [for] all the ends of the earth.”

[65:5]  sn All the ends of the earth trust in you. This idealistic portrayal of universal worship is typical hymnic hyperbole, though it does anticipate eschatological reality.

[65:5]  ⁵ tc Heb “and [the] distant sea.” The plural adjective is problematic after the singular form “sea.” One could emend יָם (yam, “sea”) to יָמִים (yamim, “seas”), or emend the plural form רְחֹקִים (rÿkhoqim, “far”) to the singular רָחֹק (rakhoq). In this case the final mem (ם) could be treated as dittographic; note the mem on the beginning of the first word in v. 6.

[81:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “in his going out against the land of Egypt.” This apparently refers to the general time period of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The LXX reads, “from Egypt,” in which case “Joseph” (see the preceding line) would be the subject of the verb, “when he [Joseph = Israel] left Egypt.”

[81:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip” probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalmist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is recorded in the following verses.

[84:3]  ⁸ tn The word translated “swallow” occurs only here and in Prov 26:2.

[84:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “even a bird finds a home, and a swallow a nest for herself, [in] which she places her young.”

[84:3]  sn The psalmist here romanticizes the temple as a place of refuge and safety. As he thinks of the birds nesting near its roof, he envisions them finding protection in God’s presence.

[84:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.

[84:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “grace.”

[84:11]  ¹² tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”

[87:4]  ¹³ sn “Rahab,” which means “proud one,” is used here as a title for Egypt (see Isa 30:7).

[87:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to those who know me” (see Ps 36:10). Apparently the Lord speaks here. The verbal construction (the Hiphil of זָכַר, zakhar, “remember” followed by the preposition -לְ [le] with a substantive) is rare, but the prepositional phrase is best understood as indicating the recipient of the announcement (see Jer 4:16). Some take the preposition in the sense of “among” and translate, “among those who know me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). In this case these foreigners are viewed as the Lord’s people and the psalm is interpreted as anticipating a time when all nations will worship the Lord (see Ps 86:9) and be considered citizens of Zion.

[87:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Look.”

[87:4]  ¹⁶ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[87:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Cush.”

[87:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and this one was born there.” The words “It is said of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarification and stylistic purposes (see v. 5). Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand “there” as referring to Zion, but it seems more likely that the adverb refers to the nations just mentioned. The foreigners are identified by their native lands.

[137:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “ask us [for] the words of a song.”

[137:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “our [?] joy.” The derivation and meaning of the Hebrew phrase תוֹלָלֵינוּ (tolalenu, “our [?]”) are uncertain. A derivation from תָּלַל (talal, “to mock”) fits contextually, but this root occurs only in the Hiphil stem. For a discussion of various proposals, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 236.

[137:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “from a song of Zion.” Most modern translations read, “one of the songs of Zion,” taking the preposition מִן (min, “from”) as partitive and “song” as collective. The present translation assumes the mem (ם) is enclitic, being misunderstood later as the prefixed preposition.