Mazmur 73:19-22

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ¹ 

73:20 They are like a dream after one wakes up. ² 

O Lord, when you awake ³  you will despise them. ⁴ 

73:21 Yes, ⁵  my spirit was bitter, ⁶ 

and my insides felt sharp pain. ⁷ 

73:22 I was ignorant ⁸  and lacked insight; ⁹ 

I was as senseless as an animal before you. ¹⁰ 

[73:19]  ¹ tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

[73:20]  ² tn Heb “like a dream from awakening.” They lack any real substance; their prosperity will last for only a brief time.

[73:20]  ³ sn When you awake. The psalmist compares God’s inactivity to sleep and the time of God’s judgment to his awakening from sleep.

[73:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will despise their form.” The Hebrew term צֶלֶם (tselem, “form; image”) also suggests their short-lived nature. Rather than having real substance, they are like the mere images that populate one’s dreams. Note the similar use of the term in Ps 39:6.

[73:21]  ⁵ tn Or perhaps “when.”

[73:21]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing attitude in a past time frame.

[73:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [in] my kidneys I was pierced.” The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing condition in a past time frame.

[73:22]  ⁸ tn Or “brutish, stupid.”

[73:22]  ⁹ tn Heb “and I was not knowing.”

[73:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “an animal I was with you.”