Mazmur 25:8

25:8 The Lord is both kind and fair; ¹ 

that is why he teaches sinners the right way to live. ² 

Mazmur 37:6

37:6 He will vindicate you in broad daylight,

and publicly defend your just cause. ³ 

Mazmur 73:1

Book 3
(Psalms 73-89)

Psalm 73 ⁴ 

A psalm by Asaph.

73:1 Certainly God is good to Israel, ⁵ 

and to those whose motives are pure! ⁶ 

Mazmur 85:10-11

85:10 Loyal love and faithfulness meet; ⁷ 

deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. ⁸ 

85:11 Faithfulness grows from the ground,

and deliverance looks down from the sky. ⁹ 

[25:8]  ¹ tn Heb “good and just.”

[25:8]  ² tn Heb “teaches sinners in the way.”

[37:6]  ³ tn Heb “and he will bring out like light your vindication, and your just cause like noonday.”

[73:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 73. In this wisdom psalm the psalmist offers a personal testimony of his struggle with the age-old problem of the prosperity of the wicked. As he observed evil men prosper, he wondered if a godly lifestyle really pays off. In the midst of his discouragement, he reflected upon spiritual truths and realities. He was reminded that the prosperity of the wicked is only temporary. God will eventually vindicate his people.

[73:1]  ⁵ tn Since the psalm appears to focus on an individual’s concerns, not the situation of Israel, this introduction may be a later addition designed to apply the psalm’s message to the entire community. To provide a better parallel with the next line, some emend the Hebrew phrase לְיִשְׂרָאֵל אֱלֹהִים (lÿyisra’el ’elohim, “to Israel, God”) to אֱלֹהִים [or אֵל] לָיָּשָׁר (’elohim [or ’el] lÿyyashar, “God [is good] to the upright one”).

[73:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “to the pure of heart.”

[85:10]  ⁷ tn The psalmist probably uses the perfect verbal forms in v. 10 in a dramatic or rhetorical manner, describing what he anticipates as if it were already occurring or had already occurred.

[85:10]  ⁸ sn Deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. The psalmist personifies these abstract qualities to emphasize that God’s loyal love and faithfulness will yield deliverance and peace for his people.

[85:11]  ⁹ sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.