[51:7] 1 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
[51:7] 2 tn Heb “cleanse me with hyssop.” “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water (or blood) in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18. The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.
[51:7] 3 tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.
[51:7] 4 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
[51:7] 5 sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).
[71:6] 6 tn Heb “from the womb.”
[71:6] 7 tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).
