Mazmur 95:7

95:7 For he is our God;

we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep he owns. ¹ 

Today, if only you would obey him! ² 

Mazmur 95:10

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ³  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ⁴ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ⁵ 

[95:7]  ¹ tn Heb “of his hand.”

[95:7]  ² tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[95:10]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.