Mazmur 43:4

43:4 Then I will go ¹  to the altar of God,

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ² 

so that I express my thanks to you, ³  O God, my God, with a harp.

Mazmur 106:23

106:23 He threatened ⁴  to destroy them,

but ⁵  Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him ⁶ 

and turned back his destructive anger. ⁷ 

[43:4]  ¹ tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”

[43:4]  ² tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[43:4]  ³ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.

[106:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “and he said.”

[106:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

[106:23]  ⁶ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

[106:23]  ⁷ tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”

[106:23]  sn Verses 19-23 describe the events of Exod 32:1-35.