Mazmur 116:1-19

Psalm 116 ¹ 

116:1 I love the Lord

because he heard my plea for mercy, ² 

116:2 and listened to me. ³ 

As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. ⁴ 

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ⁵ 

the snares ⁶  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ⁷  with trouble and sorrow.

116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,

“Please Lord, rescue my life!”

116:5 The Lord is merciful and fair;

our God is compassionate.

116:6 The Lord protects ⁸  the untrained; ⁹ 

I was in serious trouble ¹⁰  and he delivered me.

116:7 Rest once more, my soul, ¹¹ 

for the Lord has vindicated you. ¹² 

116:8 Yes, ¹³  Lord, ¹⁴  you rescued my life from death,

and kept my feet from stumbling.

116:9 I will serve ¹⁵  the Lord

in the land ¹⁶  of the living.

116:10 I had faith when I said,

“I am severely oppressed.”

116:11 I rashly declared, ¹⁷ 

“All men are liars.”

116:12 How can I repay the Lord

for all his acts of kindness to me?

116:13 I will celebrate my deliverance, ¹⁸ 

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people.

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers. ¹⁹ 

116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;

I am your lowest slave. ²⁰ 

You saved me from death. ²¹ 

116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people,

116:19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Mazmur 147:1-20

Psalm 147 ²² 

147:1 Praise the Lord,

for it is good to sing praises to our God!

Yes, ²³  praise is pleasant and appropriate!

147:2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, ²⁴ 

and gathers the exiles of Israel.

147:3 He heals ²⁵  the brokenhearted,

and bandages their wounds.

147:4 He counts the number of the stars;

he names all of them.

147:5 Our Lord is great and has awesome power; ²⁶ 

there is no limit to his wisdom. ²⁷ 

147:6 The Lord lifts up the oppressed,

but knocks ²⁸  the wicked to the ground.

147:7 Offer to the Lord a song of thanks! ²⁹ 

Sing praises to our God to the accompaniment of a harp!

147:8 He covers ³⁰  the sky with clouds,

provides the earth with rain,

and causes grass to grow on the hillsides. ³¹ 

147:9 He gives food to the animals,

and to the young ravens when they chirp. ³² 

147:10 He is not enamored with the strength of a horse,

nor is he impressed by the warrior’s strong legs. ³³ 

147:11 The Lord takes delight in his faithful followers, ³⁴ 

and in those who wait for his loyal love.

147:12 Extol the Lord, O Jerusalem!

Praise your God, O Zion!

147:13 For he makes the bars of your gates strong.

He blesses your children ³⁵  within you.

147:14 He ³⁶  brings peace to your territory. ³⁷ 

He abundantly provides for you ³⁸  the best grain.

147:15 He ³⁹  sends his command through the earth; ⁴⁰ 

swiftly his order reaches its destination. ⁴¹ 

147:16 He sends the snow that is white like wool;

he spreads the frost that is white like ashes. ⁴² 

147:17 He throws his hailstones ⁴³  like crumbs.

Who can withstand the cold wind he sends? ⁴⁴ 

147:18 He then orders it all to melt; ⁴⁵ 

he breathes on it, ⁴⁶  and the water flows.

147:19 He proclaims his word to Jacob,

his statutes and regulations to Israel.

147:20 He has not done so with any other nation;

they are not aware of his regulations.

Praise the Lord!

[116:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 116. The psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him from a life threatening crisis and promises to tell the entire covenant community what God has done for him.

[116:1]  ² tn Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3-4).

[116:2]  ³ tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”

[116:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”

[116:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.

[116:3]  ⁷ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.

[116:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.

[116:6]  ⁹ tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.

[116:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I was low.”

[116:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”

[116:7]  ¹² tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).

[116:8]  ¹³ tn Or “for.”

[116:8]  ¹⁴ tn “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.

[116:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “walk before” (see Ps 56:13). On the meaning of the Hebrew idiom, see the notes at 2 Kgs 20:3/Isa 38:3.

[116:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lands, regions.”

[116:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I said in my haste.”

[116:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a cup of deliverance I will lift up.” Perhaps this alludes to a drink offering the psalmist will present as he thanks the Lord for his deliverance. See v. 17.

[116:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.

[116:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.

[116:16]  ²¹ tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).

[147:1]  ²² sn Psalm 147. The psalmist praises the Lord for he is the sovereign ruler of the world who cares for the needs of his covenant people.

[147:1]  ²³ tn Or “for.”

[147:2]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[147:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the one who heals.”

[147:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and great of strength.”

[147:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “to his wisdom there is no counting.”

[147:6]  ²⁸ tn Heb “brings down.”

[147:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “sing to the Lord with thanksgiving.”

[147:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the one who covers.”

[147:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “hills.”

[147:9]  ³² tn Heb “which cry out.”

[147:10]  ³³ tn Heb “he does not desire the strength of the horse, he does not take delight in the legs of the man.” Here “the horse” refers to the war horse used by ancient Near Eastern chariot forces, and “the man” refers to the warrior whose muscular legs epitomize his strength.

[147:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[147:13]  ³⁵ tn Heb “your sons.”

[147:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “the one who.”

[147:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “he makes your boundary peace.”

[147:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “satisfies you with.”

[147:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “the one who.”

[147:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the one who sends his word, the earth.” The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) is an adverbial accusative; one must supply a preposition before it (such as “through” or “to”) in the English translation.

[147:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “swiftly his word runs.”

[147:16]  ⁴² tn Heb “the one who gives snow like wool, frost like ashes he scatters.”

[147:17]  ⁴³ tn Heb “his ice.”

[147:17]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “Before his cold, who can stand?”

[147:18]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he sends his word and melts them.”

[147:18]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “he blows his breath.”