Mazmur 5:7

5:7 But as for me, ¹  because of your great faithfulness I will enter your house; ² 

I will bow down toward your holy temple as I worship you. ³ 

Mazmur 27:4

27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –

this is what I desire!

I want to live ⁴  in the Lord’s house ⁵  all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the splendor ⁶  of the Lord

and contemplate in his temple.

Mazmur 31:23

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers ⁷  of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. ⁸ 

Mazmur 37:28

37:28 For the Lord promotes ⁹  justice,

and never abandons ¹⁰  his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure, ¹¹ 

but the children ¹²  of evil men are wiped out. ¹³ 

Mazmur 52:9

52:9 I will continually ¹⁴  thank you when ¹⁵  you execute judgment; ¹⁶ 

I will rely ¹⁷  on you, ¹⁸  for your loyal followers know you are good. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 79:6

79:6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you, ²⁰ 

on the kingdoms that do not pray to you! ²¹ 

Mazmur 89:19

89:19 Then you ²²  spoke through a vision to your faithful followers ²³  and said:

“I have energized a warrior; ²⁴ 

I have raised up a young man ²⁵  from the people.

Mazmur 97:10

97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!

He protects ²⁶  the lives of his faithful followers;

he delivers them from the power ²⁷  of the wicked.

Mazmur 148:14

148:14 He has made his people victorious, ²⁸ 

and given all his loyal followers reason to praise –

the Israelites, the people who are close to him. ²⁹ 

Praise the Lord!

[5:7]  ¹ sn But as for me. By placing the first person pronoun at the beginning of the verse, the psalmist highlights the contrast between the evildoers’ actions and destiny, outlined in the preceding verses, with his own.

[5:7]  ² sn I will enter your house. The psalmist is confident that God will accept him into his presence, in contrast to the evildoers (see v. 5).

[5:7]  ³ tn Heb “in fear [of] you.” The Hebrew noun יִרְאָה (yir’ah, “fear”), when used of fearing God, is sometimes used metonymically for what it ideally produces: “worship, reverence, piety.”

[27:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “my living.”

[27:4]  ⁵ sn The Lord’s house. This probably refers to the tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).

[27:4]  ⁶ tn Or “beauty.”

[31:23]  ⁷ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[31:23]  ⁸ tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.

[37:28]  ⁹ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.

[37:28]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.

[37:28]  ¹¹ tn Or “protected forever.”

[37:28]  ¹² tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:28]  ¹³ tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.

[52:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[52:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

[52:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.

[52:9]  ¹⁷ tn Or “wait.”

[52:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.

[52:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”

[79:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “which do not know you.” Here the Hebrew term “know” means “acknowledge the authority of.”

[79:6]  ²¹ sn The kingdoms that do not pray to you. The people of these kingdoms pray to other gods, not the Lord, because they do not recognize his authority over them.

[89:19]  ²² tn The pronoun “you” refers to the Lord, who is addressed here. The quotation that follows further develops the announcement of vv. 3-4.

[89:19]  ²³ tc Many medieval mss read the singular here, “your faithful follower.” In this case the statement refers directly to Nathan’s oracle to David (see 2 Sam 7:17).

[89:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “I have placed help upon a warrior.”

[89:19]  ²⁵ tn Or perhaps “a chosen one.”

[97:10]  ²⁶ tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the Lord.” In this case one could translate, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, the one who protects the lives…and delivers them.”

[97:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “hand.”

[148:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and he lifted up a horn for his people.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). Another option is to take the “horn” as a symbol for the Davidic king, through whom the Lord gives his people military victory.

[148:14]  ²⁹ tn “[there is] praise for all his loyal followers, to the sons of Israel, the people near him.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the victory that prompts it.