Mazmur 59:1

Psalm 59 ¹ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ²  a prayer ³  of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him. ⁴ 

59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God!

Protect me ⁵  from those who attack me! ⁶ 

Mazmur 65:4

65:4 How blessed ⁷  is the one whom you choose,

and allow to live in your palace courts. ⁸ 

May we be satisfied with the good things of your house –

your holy palace. ⁹ 

Mazmur 85:8

85:8 I will listen to what God the Lord says. ¹⁰ 

For he will make ¹¹  peace with his people, his faithful followers. ¹² 

Yet they must not ¹³  return to their foolish ways.

Mazmur 144:12

144:12 Then ¹⁴  our sons will be like plants,

that quickly grow to full size. ¹⁵ 

Our daughters will be like corner pillars, ¹⁶ 

carved like those in a palace. ¹⁷ 

[59:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 59. The psalmist calls down judgment on his foreign enemies, whom he compares to ravenous wild dogs.

[59:1]  ² tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the superscription to Pss 57-58, 75.

[59:1]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-58, 60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[59:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “when Saul sent and they watched his house in order to kill him.”

[59:1]  sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm on the occasion when Saul sent assassins to surround David’s house and kill him in the morning (see 1 Sam 19:11). However, the psalm itself mentions foreign enemies (vv. 5, 8). Perhaps these references reflect a later adaptation of an original Davidic psalm.

[59:1]  ⁵ tn Or “make me secure”; Heb “set me on high.”

[59:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “from those who raise themselves up [against] me.”

[65:4]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[65:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “[whom] you bring near [so that] he might live [in] your courts.”

[65:4]  ⁹ tn Or “temple.”

[85:8]  ¹⁰ sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.

[85:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).

[85:8]  ¹² tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.

[85:8]  ¹³ tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (’el), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.

[144:12]  ¹⁴ tn Some consider אֲשֶׁר (’asher) problematic, but here it probably indicates the anticipated consequence of the preceding request. (For other examples of אֲשֶׁר indicating purpose/result, see BDB 83 s.v. and HALOT 99 s.v.) If the psalmist – who appears to be a Davidic king preparing to fight a battle (see vv. 10-11) – is victorious, the whole nation will be spared invasion and defeat (see v. 14) and can flourish. Some prefer to emend the form to אַשְׁרֵי (“how blessed [are our sons]”). A suffixed noun sometimes follows אַשְׁרֵי (’ashrey; see 1 Kgs 10:8; Prov 20:7), but the presence of a comparative element (see “like plants”) after the suffixed noun makes the proposed reading too awkward syntactically.

[144:12]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “grown up in their youth.” The translation assumes that “grown up” modifies “plants” (just as “carved” modifies “corner pillars” in the second half of the verse). Another option is to take “grown up” as a predicate in relation to “our sons,” in which case one might translate, “they will be strapping youths.”

[144:12]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here and in Zech 9:15, where it refers to the corners of an altar.

[144:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “carved [in] the pattern of a palace.”