Mazmur 74:20

74:20 Remember your covenant promises, ¹ 

for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules. ² 

Mazmur 81:8

81:8 I said, ³  ‘Listen, my people!

I will warn ⁴  you!

O Israel, if only you would obey me! ⁵ 

Mazmur 137:6

137:6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

and do not give Jerusalem priority

over whatever gives me the most joy. ⁶ 

[74:20]  ¹ 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]  ² 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).

[81:8]  ³ tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Verses 8-10 appear to recall what the Lord commanded the generation of Israelites that experienced the events described in v. 7. Note the statement in v. 11, “my people did not listen to me.”

[81:8]  ⁴ tn Or perhaps “command.”

[81:8]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew particle אִם (“if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (GKC 321 §109.b). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[137:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “if I do not lift up Jerusalem over the top of my joy.”