Mazmur 76:1-11
KonteksFor the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of Asaph, a song.
76:1 God has revealed himself in Judah; 2
in Israel his reputation 3 is great.
he dwells in Zion. 5
76:3 There he shattered the arrows, 6
the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. 7 (Selah)
76:4 You shine brightly and reveal your majesty,
as you descend from the hills where you killed your prey. 8
76:5 The bravehearted 9 were plundered; 10
they “fell asleep.” 11
All the warriors were helpless. 12
76:6 At the sound of your battle cry, 13 O God of Jacob,
both rider 14 and horse “fell asleep.” 15
76:7 You are awesome! Yes, you!
Who can withstand your intense anger? 16
76:8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be. 17
The earth 18 was afraid and silent
76:9 when God arose to execute judgment,
and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)
76:10 Certainly 19 your angry judgment upon men will bring you praise; 20
you reveal your anger in full measure. 21
76:11 Make vows to the Lord your God and repay them!
Let all those who surround him 22 bring tribute to the awesome one!
Mazmur 116:1-19
Konteks116:1 I love the Lord
because he heard my plea for mercy, 24
As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. 26
116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, 27
the snares 28 of Sheol confronted me.
I was confronted 29 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 30 the untrained; 31
I was in serious trouble 32 and he delivered me.
116:7 Rest once more, my soul, 33
for the Lord has vindicated you. 34
116:8 Yes, 35 Lord, 36 you rescued my life from death,
and kept my feet from stumbling.
116:9 I will serve 37 the Lord
in the land 38 of the living.
116:10 I had faith when I said,
“I am severely oppressed.”
“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, 40
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. 41
116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;
I am your lowest slave. 42
You saved me from death. 43
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!
[76:1] 1 sn Psalm 76. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior who destroys Israel’s enemies.
[76:1] 2 tn Or “God is known in Judah.”
[76:1] 3 tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.
[76:2] 4 sn Salem is a shorter name for Jerusalem (see Gen 14:18).
[76:2] 5 tn Heb “and his place of refuge is in Salem, and his lair in Zion.” God may be likened here to a lion (see v. 4).
[76:3] 6 tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.
[76:3] 7 tn Heb “shield and sword and battle.” “Battle” probably here stands by metonymy for the weapons of war in general.
[76:3] sn This verse may allude to the miraculous defeat of the Assyrians in 701
[76:4] 8 tn Heb “radiant [are] you, majestic from the hills of prey.” God is depicted as a victorious king and as a lion that has killed its victims.
[76:5] 9 tn Heb “strong of heart.” In Isa 46:12, the only other text where this phrase appears, it refers to those who are stubborn, but here it seems to describe brave warriors (see the next line).
[76:5] 10 tn The verb is a rare Aramaized form of the Hitpolel (see GKC 149 §54.a, n. 2); the root is שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder”).
[76:5] 11 tn Heb “they slept [in] their sleep.” “Sleep” here refers to the “sleep” of death. A number of modern translations take the phrase to refer to something less than death, however: NASB “cast into a deep sleep”; NEB “fall senseless”; NIV “lie still”; NRSV “lay stunned.”
[76:5] 12 tn Heb “and all the men of strength did not find their hands.”
[76:6] 13 tn Heb “from your shout.” The noun is derived from the Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar), which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 18:15; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.
[76:6] 14 tn Or “chariot,” but even so the term is metonymic for the charioteer.
[76:6] 15 tn Heb “he fell asleep, and [the] chariot and [the] horse.” Once again (see v. 5) “sleep” refers here to the “sleep” of death.
[76:7] 16 tc Heb “and who can stand before you from the time of your anger?” The Hebrew expression מֵאָז (me’az, “from the time of”) is better emended to מֵאֹז (me’oz, “from [i.e., “because of”] the strength of your anger”; see Ps 90:11).
[76:8] 17 tn Heb “a [legal] decision,” or “sentence.”
[76:8] 18 tn “The earth” stands here by metonymy for its inhabitants.
[76:10] 20 tn Heb “the anger of men will praise you.” This could mean that men’s anger (subjective genitive), when punished by God, will bring him praise, but this interpretation does not harmonize well with the next line. The translation assumes that God’s anger is in view here (see v. 7) and that “men” is an objective genitive. God’s angry judgment against men brings him praise because it reveals his power and majesty (see vv. 1-4).
[76:10] 21 tn Heb “the rest of anger you put on.” The meaning of the statement is not entirely clear. Perhaps the idea is that God, as he prepares for battle, girds himself with every last ounce of his anger, as if it were a weapon.
[76:11] 22 tn The phrase “all those who surround him” may refer to the surrounding nations (v. 12 may favor this), but in Ps 89:7 the phrase refers to God’s heavenly assembly.
[116:1] 23 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] 24 tn Heb “I love because the
[116:2] 25 tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”
[116:2] 26 tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”
[116:3] 27 tn Heb “surrounded me.”
[116:3] 28 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] 29 tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.
[116:6] 30 tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the
[116:6] 31 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] 32 tn Heb “I was low.”
[116:7] 33 tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”
[116:7] 34 tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).
[116:8] 36 tn “
[116:9] 37 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] 38 tn Heb “lands, regions.”
[116:11] 39 tn Heb “I said in my haste.”
[116:13] 40 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
[116:15] 41 tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the
[116:16] 42 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
[116:16] 43 tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).
