Psalms 68:31

68:31 They come with red cloth ¹  from Egypt,

Ethiopia ²  voluntarily offers tribute ³  to God.

Psalms 68:1

Psalm 68 ⁴ 

For the music director; by David, a psalm, a song.

68:1 God springs into action! ⁵ 

His enemies scatter;

his adversaries ⁶  run from him. ⁷ 

1 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Goliath ⁸  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ⁹  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ¹⁰  for yourselves a man so he may come down ¹¹  to me!

1 Samuel 17:2

17:2 Saul and the Israelite army ¹²  assembled and camped in the valley of Elah, where they arranged their battle lines to fight against ¹³  the Philistines.

1 Samuel 21:1

21:1 (21:2) David went to Ahimelech the priest in Nob. Ahimelech was shaking with fear when he met ¹⁴  David, and said to him, “Why are you by yourself with no one accompanying you?”

Isaiah 19:11

19:11 The officials of Zoan are nothing but fools; ¹⁵ 

Pharaoh’s wise advisers give stupid advice.

How dare you say to Pharaoh,

“I am one of the sages,

one well-versed in the writings of the ancient kings?” ¹⁶ 

Isaiah 19:23-25

19:23 At that time there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will visit Egypt, and the Egyptians will visit Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. ¹⁷  19:24 At that time Israel will be the third member of the group, along with Egypt and Assyria, and will be a recipient of blessing ¹⁸  in the earth. ¹⁹  19:25 The Lord who commands armies will pronounce a blessing over the earth, saying, ²⁰  “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, Assyria, and my special possession, ²¹  Israel!”

Ezekiel 28:2

28:2 “Son of man, say to the prince ²²  of Tyre, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

“‘Your heart is proud ²³  and you said, “I am a god; ²⁴ 

I sit in the seat of gods, in the heart of the seas” –

yet you are a man and not a god,

though you think you are godlike. ²⁵ 

[68:31]  ¹ tn This noun, which occurs only here in the OT, apparently means “red cloth” or “bronze articles” (see HALOT 362 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NEB “tribute”). Traditionally the word has been taken to refer to “nobles” (see BDB 365 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NIV “envoys”). Another option would be to emend the text to הַשְׁמַנִּים (hashmannim, “the robust ones,” i.e., leaders).

[68:31]  ² tn Heb “Cush.”

[68:31]  ³ tn Heb “causes its hands to run,” which must mean “quickly stretches out its hands” (to present tribute).

[68:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 68. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior and celebrates the fact that God exerts his power on behalf of his people.

[68:1]  ⁵ tn Or “rises up.” The verb form is an imperfect, not a jussive. The psalmist is describing God’s appearance in battle in a dramatic fashion.

[68:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “those who hate him.”

[68:1]  ⁷ sn The wording of v. 1 echoes the prayer in Num 10:35: “Spring into action, Lord! Then your enemies will be scattered and your adversaries will run from you.”

[17:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:8]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

[17:8]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.

[17:8]  ¹⁰ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

[17:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the men of Israel” (so KJV, NASB); NAB, NIV, NRSV “the Israelites.”

[17:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to meet.”

[21:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “trembled to meet.”

[19:11]  ¹⁶ tn Or “certainly the officials of Zoan are fools.” אַךְ (’akh) can carry the sense, “only, nothing but,” or “certainly, surely.”

[19:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “A son of wise men am I, a son of ancient kings.” The term בֶּן (ben, “son of”) could refer to literal descent, but many understand the word, at least in the first line, in its idiomatic sense of “member [of a guild].” See HALOT 138 s.v. בֶּן and J. N. Oswalt, Isaiah (NICOT), 1:371. If this is the case, then one can take the word in a figurative sense in the second line as well, the “son of ancient kings” being one devoted to their memory as preserved in their literature.

[19:23]  ¹⁹ tn The text could be translated, “and Egypt will serve Assyria” (cf. NAB), but subjugation of one nation to the other does not seem to be a theme in vv. 23-25. Rather the nations are viewed as equals before the Lord (v. 25). Therefore it is better to take אֶת (’et) in v. 23b as a preposition, “together with,” rather than the accusative sign. The names of the two countries are understood to refer by metonymy to their respective inhabitants.

[19:24]  ²² tn Heb “will be a blessing” (so NCV).

[19:24]  ²³ tn Or “land” (KJV, NAB).

[19:25]  ²⁵ tn Heb “which the Lord who commands armies [traditionally, the Lord of hosts] will bless [it], saying.” The third masculine singular suffix on the form בֵּרֲכוֹ (berakho) should probably be emended to a third feminine singular suffix בֵּרֲכָהּ (berakhah), for its antecedent would appear to be the feminine noun אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) at the end of v. 24.

[19:25]  ²⁶ tn Or “my inheritance” (NAB, NASB, NIV).

[28:2]  ²⁸ tn Or “ruler” (NIV, NCV).

[28:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[28:2]  ³⁰ tn Or “I am divine.”

[28:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “and you made your heart (mind) like the heart (mind) of gods.”