Mazmur 44:1-26
KonteksFor the music director; by the Korahites, a well-written song. 2
44:1 O God, we have clearly heard; 3
our ancestors 4 have told us
what you did 5 in their days,
in ancient times. 6
44:2 You, by your power, 7 defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; 8
you crushed 9 the people living there 10 and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. 11
44:3 For they did not conquer 12 the land by their swords,
and they did not prevail by their strength, 13
but rather by your power, 14 strength 15 and good favor, 16
for you were partial to 17 them.
44:4 You are my 18 king, O God!
Decree 19 Jacob’s 20 deliverance!
44:5 By your power 21 we will drive back 22 our enemies;
by your strength 23 we will trample down 24 our foes! 25
44:6 For I do not trust in my bow,
and I do not prevail by my sword.
44:7 For you deliver 26 us from our enemies;
you humiliate 27 those who hate us.
44:8 In God I boast all day long,
and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)
44:9 But 28 you rejected and embarrassed us!
You did not go into battle with our armies. 29
44:10 You made us retreat 30 from the enemy.
Those who hate us take whatever they want from us. 31
44:11 You handed us 32 over like sheep to be eaten;
you scattered us among the nations.
44:12 You sold 33 your people for a pittance; 34
you did not ask a high price for them. 35
44:13 You made us 36 an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. 37
44:14 You made us 38 an object of ridicule 39 among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt. 40
44:15 All day long I feel humiliated 41
and am overwhelmed with shame, 42
44:16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me. 43
44:17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you 44
or violated your covenant with us. 45
44:18 We have not been unfaithful, 46
nor have we disobeyed your commands. 47
44:19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; 48
you have covered us with darkness. 49
44:20 If we had rejected our God, 50
and spread out our hands in prayer to another god, 51
44:21 would not God discover it,
for he knows 52 one’s thoughts? 53
44:22 Yet because of you 54 we are killed all day long;
we are treated like 55 sheep at the slaughtering block. 56
44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up! 57 Do not reject us forever!
44:24 Why do you look the other way, 58
and ignore 59 the way we are oppressed and mistreated? 60
44:25 For we lie in the dirt,
with our bellies pressed to the ground. 61
44:26 Rise up and help us!
Rescue us 62 because of your loyal love!
Mazmur 74:1-23
KonteksA well-written song 64 by Asaph.
74:1 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us? 65
Why does your anger burn 66 against the sheep of your pasture?
74:2 Remember your people 67 whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued 68 so they could be your very own nation, 69
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!
74:3 Hurry and look 70 at the permanent ruins,
and all the damage the enemy has done to the temple! 71
74:4 Your enemies roar 72 in the middle of your sanctuary; 73
they set up their battle flags. 74
74:5 They invade like lumberjacks
swinging their axes in a thick forest. 75
74:6 And now 76 they are tearing down 77 all its engravings 78
74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire;
they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground. 81
74:8 They say to themselves, 82
“We will oppress all of them.” 83
They burn down all the places where people worship God in the land. 84
74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; 85
there are no longer any prophets 86
and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. 87
74:10 How long, O God, will the adversary hurl insults?
Will the enemy blaspheme your name forever?
74:11 Why do you remain inactive?
Intervene and destroy him! 88
74:12 But God has been my 89 king from ancient times,
performing acts of deliverance on the earth. 90
74:13 You destroyed 91 the sea by your strength;
you shattered the heads of the sea monster 92 in the water.
74:14 You crushed the heads of Leviathan; 93
you fed 94 him to the people who live along the coast. 95
74:15 You broke open the spring and the stream; 96
you dried up perpetually flowing rivers. 97
74:16 You established the cycle of day and night; 98
you put the moon 99 and sun in place. 100
74:17 You set up all the boundaries 101 of the earth;
you created the cycle of summer and winter. 102
74:18 Remember how 103 the enemy hurls insults, O Lord, 104
and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name!
74:19 Do not hand the life of your dove 105 over to a wild animal!
Do not continue to disregard 106 the lives of your oppressed people!
74:20 Remember your covenant promises, 107
for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules. 108
74:21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame!
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name! 109
74:22 Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! 110
Remember how fools insult you all day long! 111
74:23 Do not disregard 112 what your enemies say, 113
or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you. 114
Mazmur 83:1-18
KonteksA song, a psalm of Asaph.
83:1 O God, do not be silent!
Do not ignore us! 116 Do not be inactive, O God!
83:2 For look, your enemies are making a commotion;
those who hate you are hostile. 117
83:3 They carefully plot 118 against your people,
and make plans to harm 119 the ones you cherish. 120
83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! 121
Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”
83:5 Yes, 122 they devise a unified strategy; 123
they form an alliance 124 against you.
83:6 It includes 125 the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,
Moab and the Hagrites, 126
83:7 Gebal, 127 Ammon, and Amalek,
Philistia and the inhabitants of Tyre. 128
83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,
lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. 129 (Selah)
83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian 130 –
as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River! 131
83:10 They were destroyed at Endor; 132
their corpses were like manure 133 on the ground.
83:11 Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb, 134
and all their rulers like Zebah and Zalmunna, 135
83:12 who said, 136 “Let’s take over 137 the pastures of God!”
83:13 O my God, make them like dead thistles, 138
like dead weeds blown away by 139 the wind!
83:14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,
or the flames that consume the mountainsides, 140
83:15 chase them with your gale winds,
and terrify 141 them with your windstorm.
83:16 Cover 142 their faces with shame,
so they might seek 143 you, 144 O Lord.
83:17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified! 145
May they die in shame! 146
83:18 Then they will know 147 that you alone are the Lord, 148
the sovereign king 149 over all the earth.
[44:1] 1 sn Psalm 44. The speakers in this psalm (the worshiping community within the nation Israel) were disappointed with God. The psalm begins on a positive note, praising God for leading Israel to past military victories. Verses 1-8 appear to be a song of confidence and petition which the people recited prior to battle. But suddenly the mood changes as the nation laments a recent defeat. The stark contrast between the present and the past only heightens the nation’s confusion. Israel trusted in God for victory, but the Lord rejected them and allowed them to be humiliated in battle. If Israel had been unfaithful to God, their defeat would make sense, but the nation was loyal to the Lord. Comparing the Lord to a careless shepherd, the nation urges God to wake up and to extend his compassion to his suffering people.
[44:1] 2 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.
[44:1] 3 tn Heb “with our ears we have heard.”
[44:1] 4 tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 2; the same Hebrew word may be translated either “fathers” or “ancestors” depending on the context.
[44:1] 5 tn Heb “the work you worked.”
[44:1] 6 tn Heb “in the days of old.” This refers specifically to the days of Joshua, during Israel’s conquest of the land, as vv. 2-3 indicate.
[44:2] 7 tn Heb “you, your hand.”
[44:2] 8 tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.
[44:2] 9 tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).
[44:2] 11 tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.
[44:3] 12 tn Or “take possession of.”
[44:3] 13 tn Heb “and their arm did not save them.” The “arm” here symbolizes military strength.
[44:3] 14 tn Heb “your right hand.” The
[44:3] 16 tn Heb “light of your face.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).
[44:3] 17 tn Or “favorable toward.”
[44:4] 18 sn The speaker changes here to an individual, perhaps the worship leader or the king. The oscillation between singular (vv. 4, 6) and plural (vv. 1-3, 5, 7-8) in vv. 1-8 may reflect an antiphonal ceremony.
[44:4] 19 tc The LXX assumes a participle here (מְצַוֶּה [mÿtsavveh], “the one who commands/decrees”) which would stand in apposition to “my God.” It is possible that the MT, which has the imperative (צַוֵּה, tsavveh) form, has suffered haplography of the letter mem (ם). Note that the preceding word (אֱלֹהִים, ’elohim) ends in mem. Another option is that the MT is divided in the wrong place; perhaps one could move the final mem from אֱלֹהִים to the beginning of the next word and read מְצַוֶּה אֱלֹהָי (’elohay mÿtsavveh, “[You are my king,] my God, the one who decrees”).
[44:4] tn Or “command.” This may be the Israelites’ petition prior to the battle. See the introductory note to the psalm.
[44:4] 20 tn That is, Israel. See Pss 14:7; 22:23.
[44:5] 22 tn Heb “gore” (like an ox). If this portion of the psalm contains the song of confidence/petition the Israelites recited prior to battle, then the imperfects here and in the next line may express their expectation of victory. Another option is that the imperfects function in an emphatic generalizing manner. In this case one might translate, “you [always] drive back…you [always] trample down.”
[44:5] sn The Hebrew verb translated “drive back” is literally “gore”; the imagery is that of a powerful wild ox that “gores” its enemies and tramples them underfoot.
[44:5] 23 tn Heb “in your name.” The
[44:5] 24 sn The image of the powerful wild ox continues; see the note on the phrase “drive back” in the preceding line.
[44:5] 25 tn Heb “those who rise up [against] us.”
[44:7] 26 tn Or “have delivered,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).
[44:7] 27 tn Or “have humiliated,” if past successes are in view. Another option is to take the perfect as rhetorical, emphasizing that victory is certain (note the use of the imperfect in vv. 5-6).
[44:9] 28 tn The particle אַף (’af, “but”) is used here as a strong adversative contrasting the following statement with what precedes.
[44:9] 29 tn Heb “you did not go out with our armies.” The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
[44:10] 30 tn Heb “you caused us to turn backward.”
[44:10] 31 tn Heb “plunder for themselves.” The prepositional phrase לָמוֹ (lamo, “for themselves”) here has the nuance “at their will” or “as they please” (see Ps 80:6).
[44:11] 32 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
[44:12] 33 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
[44:12] 34 tn Heb “for what is not wealth.”
[44:12] 35 tn Heb “you did not multiply their purchase prices.”
[44:13] 36 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
[44:13] 37 tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”
[44:14] 38 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
[44:14] 39 tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”
[44:14] 40 tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).
[44:15] 41 tn Heb “all the day my humiliation [is] in front of me.”
[44:15] 42 tn Heb “and the shame of my face covers me.”
[44:16] 43 tn Heb “from the voice of one who ridicules and insults, from the face of an enemy and an avenger.” See Ps 8:2.
[44:17] 44 tn Heb “we have not forgotten you.” To “forget” God refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see v. 20, as well as Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 9:17).Thus the translation “we have not rejected you” has been used.
[44:17] 45 tn Heb “and we did not deal falsely with your covenant.”
[44:18] 46 tn Heb “our heart did not turn backward.” Cf. Ps 78:57.
[44:18] 47 tn Heb “and our steps did [not] turn aside from your path.” The negative particle is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line). God’s “path” refers to his commands, i.e., the moral pathway he has prescribed for the psalmist. See Pss 17:5; 25:4.
[44:19] 48 tn Heb “yet you have battered us in a place of jackals.”
[44:19] 49 tn The Hebrew term צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun meaning “shadow of death” (צֵל+מָוֶת [mavet + tsel]; see BDB 853 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת; cf. NASB). Other scholars prefer to vocalize the form צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root צלם) meaning “darkness” (cf. NIV, NRSV). An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. In Ps 44:19 darkness symbolizes defeat and humiliation.
[44:20] 50 tn Heb “If we had forgotten the name of our God.” To “forget the name” here refers to rejecting the
[44:20] 51 tn Heb “and spread out your hands to another god.” Spreading out the hands was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). In its most fundamental sense זר (“another; foreign; strange”) refers to something that is outside one’s circle, often making association with it inappropriate. A “strange” god is an alien deity, an “outside god” (see L. A. Snijders, TDOT 4:54-55).
[44:21] 52 tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.
[44:21] 53 tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.
[44:22] 54 tn The statement “because of you” (1) may simply indicate that God is the cause of the Israelites’ defeat (see vv. 9-14, where the nation’s situation is attributed directly to God’s activity, and cf. NEB, NRSV), or (2) it may suggest they suffer because of their allegiance to God (see Ps 69:7 and Jer 15:15). In this case one should translate, “for your sake” (cf. NASB, NIV). The citation of this verse in Rom 8:36 follows the LXX (Ps 43:23 LXX), where the Greek term ἕνεκεν (Jeneken; LXX ἕνεκα) may likewise mean “because of” or “for the sake of” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἕνεκα 1).
[44:22] 55 tn Or “regarded as.”
[44:22] 56 tn Heb “like sheep of slaughtering,” that is, sheep destined for slaughter.
[44:23] 57 sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.
[44:24] 58 tn Heb “Why do you hide your face?” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
[44:24] 60 tn Heb “our oppression and our affliction.”
[44:25] 61 tn Heb “for our being/life sinks down to the dirt, our belly clings to the earth.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.
[44:26] 62 tn Or “redeem us.” See Pss 25:22; 26:11; 69:18; 119:134.
[74:1] 63 sn Psalm 74. The psalmist, who has just experienced the devastation of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586
[74:1] 64 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.
[74:1] 65 sn The psalmist does not really believe God has permanently rejected his people or he would not pray as he does in this psalm. But this initial question reflects his emotional response to what he sees and is overstated for the sake of emphasis. The severity of divine judgment gives the appearance that God has permanently abandoned his people.
[74:1] 66 tn Heb “smoke.” The picture is that of a fire that continues to smolder.
[74:2] 67 tn Heb “your assembly,” which pictures God’s people as an assembled community.
[74:2] 68 tn Heb “redeemed.” The verb “redeem” casts God in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).
[74:2] 69 tn Heb “the tribe of your inheritance” (see Jer 10:16; 51:19).
[74:3] 70 tn Heb “lift up your steps to,” which may mean “run, hurry.”
[74:3] 71 tn Heb “everything [the] enemy has damaged in the holy place.”
[74:4] 72 tn This verb is often used of a lion’s roar, so the psalmist may be comparing the enemy to a raging, devouring lion.
[74:4] 73 tn Heb “your meeting place.”
[74:4] 74 tn Heb “they set up their banners [as] banners.” The Hebrew noun אוֹת (’ot, “sign”) here refers to the enemy army’s battle flags and banners (see Num 2:12).
[74:5] 75 tn Heb “it is known like one bringing upwards, in a thicket of wood, axes.” The Babylonian invaders destroyed the woodwork in the temple.
[74:6] 76 tn This is the reading of the Qere (marginal reading). The Kethib (consonantal text) has “and a time.”
[74:6] 77 tn The imperfect verbal form vividly describes the act as underway.
[74:6] 78 tn Heb “its engravings together.”
[74:6] 79 tn This Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 49-50).
[74:6] 80 tn This Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. An Akkadian cognate refers to a “pickaxe” (cf. NEB “hatchet and pick”; NIV “axes and hatchets”; NRSV “hatchets and hammers”).
[74:7] 81 tn Heb “to the ground they desecrate the dwelling place of your name.”
[74:8] 82 tn Heb “in their heart.”
[74:8] 83 tc Heb “[?] altogether.” The Hebrew form נִינָם (ninam) is problematic. It could be understood as the noun נִין (nin, “offspring”) but the statement “their offspring altogether” would make no sense here. C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:159) emends יָחַד (yakhad, “altogether”) to יָחִיד (yakhid, “alone”) and translate “let their offspring be solitary” (i.e., exiled). Another option is to understand the form as a Qal imperfect first common plural from יָנָה (yanah, “to oppress”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix, “we will oppress them.” However, this verb, when used in the finite form, always appears in the Hiphil. Therefore, it is preferable to emend the form to the Hiphil נוֹנֵם (nonem, “we will oppress them”).
[74:8] 84 tn Heb “they burn down all the meeting places of God in the land.”
[74:9] 85 tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).
[74:9] 86 tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”
[74:9] 87 tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”
[74:11] 88 tn Heb “Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? From the midst of your chest, destroy!” The psalmist pictures God as having placed his right hand (symbolic of activity and strength) inside his robe against his chest. He prays that God would pull his hand out from under his robe and use it to destroy the enemy.
[74:12] 89 tn The psalmist speaks as Israel’s representative here.
[74:12] 90 tn Heb “in the midst of the earth.”
[74:13] 91 tn The derivation and meaning of the Polel verb form פּוֹרַרְתָּ (porarta) are uncertain. The form may be related to an Akkadian cognate meaning “break, shatter,” though the biblical Hebrew cognate of this verb always appears in the Hiphil or Hophal stem. BDB 830 s.v. II פָּרַר suggests a homonym here, meaning “to split; to divide.” A Hitpolel form of a root פָּרַר (parar) appears in Isa 24:19 with the meaning “to shake violently.”
[74:13] 92 tn The Hebrew text has the plural form, “sea monsters” (cf. NRSV “dragons”), but it is likely that an original enclitic mem has been misunderstood as a plural ending. The imagery of the mythological sea monster is utilized here. See the note on “Leviathan” in v. 14.
[74:14] 93 sn You crushed the heads of Leviathan. The imagery of vv. 13-14 originates in West Semitic mythology. The description of Leviathan should be compared with the following excerpts from Ugaritic mythological texts: (1) “Was not the dragon [Ugaritic tnn, cognate with Hebrew תַּנִין (tanin), translated “sea monster” in v. 13] vanquished and captured? I did destroy the wriggling [Ugaritic ’qltn, cognate to Hebrew עֲקַלָּתוֹן (’aqallaton), translated “squirming” in Isa 27:1] serpent, the tyrant with seven heads” (note the use of the plural “heads” here and in v. 13). (See CTA 3.iii.38-39 in G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 50.) (2) “For all that you smote Leviathan the slippery [Ugaritic brh, cognate to Hebrew בָּרִחַ (bariakh), translated “fast moving” in Isa 27:1] serpent, [and] made an end of the wriggling serpent, the tyrant with seven heads” (See CTA 5.i.1-3 in G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 68.) In the myths Leviathan is a sea creature that symbolizes the destructive water of the sea and, in turn, the forces of chaos that threaten the established order. In the OT, the battle with the sea motif is applied to Yahweh’s victories over the forces of chaos at creation and in history (see Pss 74:13-14; 77:16-20; 89:9-10; Isa 51:9-10). Yahweh’s subjugation of the waters of chaos is related to his kingship (see Pss 29:3, 10; 93:3-4). Isa 27:1 applies imagery from Canaanite mythology to Yahweh’s eschatological victory over his enemies. Apocalyptic literature employs the imagery as well. The beasts of Dan 7 emerge from the sea, while Rev 13 speaks of a seven-headed beast coming from the sea. Here in Ps 74:13-14 the primary referent is unclear. The psalmist may be describing God’s creation of the world (note vv. 16-17 and see Ps 89:9-12), when he brought order out of a watery mass, or the exodus (see Isa 51:9-10), when he created Israel by destroying the Egyptians in the waters of the sea.
[74:14] 94 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a preterite in this narrational context.
[74:14] 95 sn You fed him to the people. This pictures the fragments of Leviathan’s dead corpse washing up on shore and being devoured by those who find them. If the exodus is in view, then it may allude to the bodies of the dead Egyptians which washed up on the shore of the Red Sea (see Exod 14:30).
[74:15] 96 sn You broke open the spring and the stream. Perhaps this alludes to the way in which God provided water for the Israelites as they traveled in the wilderness following the exodus (see Ps 78:15-16, 20; 105:41).
[74:15] 97 sn Perpetually flowing rivers are rivers that contain water year round, unlike the seasonal streams that flow only during the rainy season. Perhaps the psalmist here alludes to the drying up of the Jordan River when the Israelites entered the land of Canaan under Joshua (see Josh 3-4).
[74:16] 98 tn Heb “To you [is] day, also to you [is] night.”
[74:16] 99 tn Heb “[the] light.” Following the reference to “day and night” and in combination with “sun,” it is likely that the Hebrew term מָאוֹר (ma’or, “light”) refers here to the moon.
[74:16] 100 tn Heb “you established [the] light and [the] sun.”
[74:17] 101 tn This would appear to refer to geographical boundaries, such as mountains, rivers, and seacoasts. However, since the day-night cycle has just been mentioned (v. 16) and the next line speaks of the seasons, it is possible that “boundaries” here refers to the divisions of the seasons. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 2:156.
[74:17] 102 tn Heb “summer and winter, you, you formed them.”
[74:18] 103 tn Heb “remember this.”
[74:18] 104 tn Or “[how] the enemy insults the
[74:19] 105 sn Your dove. The psalmist compares weak and vulnerable Israel to a helpless dove.
[74:19] 106 tn Heb “do not forget forever.”
[74:20] 107 tc Heb “look at the covenant.” The LXX reads “your covenant,” which seems to assume a second person pronominal suffix. The suffix may have been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word (כִּי) begins with kaf (כ).
[74:20] 108 tn Heb “for the dark places of the earth are full of dwelling places of violence.” The “dark regions” are probably the lands where the people have been exiled (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:157). In some contexts “dark regions” refers to Sheol (Ps 88:6) or to hiding places likened to Sheol (Ps 143:3; Lam 3:6).
[74:21] 109 sn Let the oppressed and poor praise your name! The statement is metonymic. The point is this: May the oppressed be delivered from their enemies! Then they will have ample reason to praise God’s name.
[74:22] 110 tn Or “defend your cause.”
[74:22] 111 tn Heb “remember your reproach from a fool all the day.”
[74:23] 113 tn Heb “the voice of your enemies.”
[74:23] 114 tn Heb “the roar of those who rise up against you, which ascends continually.”
[83:1] 115 sn Psalm 83. The psalmist asks God to deliver Israel from the attacks of foreign nations. Recalling how God defeated Israel’s enemies in the days of Deborah and Gideon, he prays that the hostile nations would be humiliated.
[83:1] 116 tn Heb “do not be deaf.”
[83:2] 117 tn Heb “lift up [their] head[s].” The phrase “lift up [the] head” here means “to threaten; to be hostile,” as in Judg 8:28.
[83:3] 118 tn Heb “they make crafty a plot.”
[83:3] 119 tn Heb “and consult together against.”
[83:3] 120 tn The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”
[83:4] 121 tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”
[83:5] 123 tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”
[83:5] 124 tn Heb “cut a covenant.”
[83:6] 125 tn The words “it includes” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
[83:6] 126 sn The Hagrites are also mentioned in 1 Chr 5:10, 19-20.
[83:7] 127 sn Some identify Gebal with the Phoenician coastal city of Byblos (see Ezek 27:9, where the name is spelled differently), though others locate this site south of the Dead Sea (see BDB 148 s.v. גְּבַל; HALOT 174 s.v. גְּבַל).
[83:7] 128 map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.
[83:8] 129 tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.
[83:8] sn The descendants of Lot were the Moabites and Ammonites.
[83:9] 130 tn Heb “do to them like Midian.”
[83:9] 131 sn The psalmist alludes here to Gideon’s victory over the Midianites (see Judg 7-8) and to Barak’s victory over Jabin’s army, which was led by his general Sisera (Judg 4-5).
[83:10] 132 sn Endor is not mentioned in the accounts of Gideon’s or Barak’s victories, but both battles took place in the general vicinity of the town. (See Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, 46, 54.) Because Sisera and Jabin are mentioned in v. 9b, many understand them to be the subject of the verbs in v. 10, though they relate v. 10 to Gideon’s victory, which is referred to in v. 9a, 11. (See, for example, Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 263.)
[83:10] 133 tn Heb “they were manure.” In addition to this passage, corpses are compared to manure in 2 Kgs 9:37; Jer 8:2; 9:21; 16:4; 25:33.
[83:11] 134 sn Oreb and Zeeb were the generals of the Midianite army that was defeated by Gideon. The Ephraimites captured and executed both of them and sent their heads to Gideon (Judg 7:24-25).
[83:11] 135 sn Zebah and Zalmunna were the Midianite kings. Gideon captured them and executed them (Judg 8:1-21).
[83:12] 136 tn The translation assumes that “Zebah and Zalmunna” are the antecedents of the relative pronoun (“who [said]”). Another option is to take “their nobles…all their rulers” as the antecedent and to translate, “those who say.”
[83:12] 137 tn Heb “let’s take possession for ourselves.”
[83:13] 138 tn Or “tumbleweed.” The Hebrew noun גַּלְגַּל (galgal) refers to a “wheel” or, metaphorically, to a whirling wind (see Ps 77:18). If taken in the latter sense here, one could understand the term as a metonymical reference to dust blown by a whirlwind (cf. NRSV “like whirling dust”). However, HALOT 190 s.v. II גַּלְגַּל understands the noun as a homonym referring to a “dead thistle” here and in Isa 17:13. The parallel line, which refers to קַשׁ (qash, “chaff”), favors this interpretation.
[83:14] 140 sn The imagery of fire and flames suggests unrelenting, destructive judgment.
[83:15] 141 tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 15 express the psalmist’s wish or prayer.
[83:16] 143 tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose or result (“then they will seek”).
[83:16] 144 tn Heb “your name,” which stands here for God’s person.
[83:17] 145 tn Heb “and may they be terrified to perpetuity.” The Hebrew expression עֲדֵי־עַד (’adey-’ad, “to perpetuity”) can mean “forevermore” (see Pss 92:7; 132:12, 14), but here it may be used hyperbolically, for the psalmist asks that the experience of judgment might lead the nations to recognize (v. 18) and even to seek (v. 16) God.
[83:17] 146 tn Heb “may they be ashamed and perish.” The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling severe judgment down on his enemies. The strong language of the imprecation seems to run contrary to the positive outcome of divine judgment envisioned in v. 16b. Perhaps the language of v. 17 is overstated for effect. Another option is that v. 16b expresses an ideal, while the strong imprecation of vv. 17-18 anticipates reality. It would be nice if the defeated nations actually pursued a relationship with God, but if judgment does not bring them to that point, the psalmist asks that they be annihilated so that they might at least be forced to acknowledge God’s power.
[83:18] 147 tn After the preceding jussives (v. 17), the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose (“so that they may know”) or result.
[83:18] 148 tn Heb “that you, your name [is] the
