Mazmur 59:17

59:17 You are my source of strength! I will sing praises to you! ¹ 

For God is my refuge, ²  the God who loves me. ³ 

Mazmur 139:14

139:14 I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. ⁴ 

You knew me thoroughly; ⁵ 

Mazmur 54:6

54:6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice ⁶  to you!

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good!

Mazmur 87:4

87:4 I mention Rahab ⁷  and Babylon to my followers. ⁸ 

Here are ⁹  Philistia and Tyre, ¹⁰  along with Ethiopia. ¹¹ 

It is said of them, “This one was born there.” ¹² 

Mazmur 56:10

56:10 In God – I boast in his promise ¹³  –

in the Lord – I boast in his promise ¹⁴  –

Mazmur 109:1

Psalm 109 ¹⁵ 

For the music director, a psalm of David.

109:1 O God whom I praise, do not ignore me! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 35:28

35:28 Then I will tell others about your justice, ¹⁷ 

and praise you all day long. ¹⁸ 

[59:17]  ¹ tn Heb “my strength, to you I will sing praises.”

[59:17]  ² tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[59:17]  ³ tn Heb “the God of my loyal love.”

[139:14]  ⁴ tc Heb “because awesome things, I am distinct, amazing [are] your works.” The text as it stands is syntactically problematic and makes little, if any, sense. The Niphal of פָּלָה (pala’) occurs elsewhere only in Exod 33:16. Many take the form from פָלָא (pala’; see GKC 216 §75.qq), which in the Niphal perfect means “to be amazing” (see 2 Sam 1:26; Ps 118:23; Prov 30:18). Some, following the LXX and some other ancient witnesses, also prefer to emend the verb from first to second person, “you are amazing” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 249, 251). The present translation assumes the text conflates two variants: נפלאים, the otherwise unattested masculine plural participle of פָלָא, and נִפְלָאוֹת (nifla’ot), the usual (feminine) plural form of the Niphal participle. The latter has been changed to a verb by later scribes in an attempt to accommodate it syntactically. The original text likely read, נוראות נפלאותים מעשׂיך (“your works [are] awesome [and] amazing”).

[139:14]  ⁵ tc Heb “and my being knows very much.” Better parallelism is achieved (see v. 15a) if one emends יֹדַעַת (yoda’at), a Qal active participle, feminine singular form, to יָדַעְתָּ (yada’ta), a Qal perfect second masculine singular perfect. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252.

[54:6]  ⁶ tn The cohortative verbal form expresses the psalmist’s resolve/vow to praise.

[87:4]  ⁷ sn “Rahab,” which means “proud one,” is used here as a title for Egypt (see Isa 30:7).

[87:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “to those who know me” (see Ps 36:10). Apparently the Lord speaks here. The verbal construction (the Hiphil of זָכַר, zakhar, “remember” followed by the preposition -לְ [le] with a substantive) is rare, but the prepositional phrase is best understood as indicating the recipient of the announcement (see Jer 4:16). Some take the preposition in the sense of “among” and translate, “among those who know me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). In this case these foreigners are viewed as the Lord’s people and the psalm is interpreted as anticipating a time when all nations will worship the Lord (see Ps 86:9) and be considered citizens of Zion.

[87:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “Look.”

[87:4]  ¹⁰ map For location see Map1 A2; Map2 G2; Map4 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

[87:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Cush.”

[87:4]  ¹² tn Heb “and this one was born there.” The words “It is said of them” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied for clarification and stylistic purposes (see v. 5). Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand “there” as referring to Zion, but it seems more likely that the adverb refers to the nations just mentioned. The foreigners are identified by their native lands.

[56:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “in God I praise a word.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult. The statement is similar to that of v. 4, except that the third person pronominal suffix is omitted here, where the text has simply “a word” instead of “his word.” (1) One could translate, “in God I will boast [with] a word.” In this case, the “word” refers to a song of praise. (2) If one assumes that God’s word is in view, as in v. 4, then one option is to translate, “in God I boast, [in] his word.” In this case the prepositional phrase “in God” goes with the following verb “I boast” (see Ps 44:8) and “[his] word” is appositional to “in God” and more specifically identifies the basis for the psalmist’s confidence. God’s “word” is here understood as an assuring promise of protection. (3) The present translation reflects another option: In this case “I praise [his] word” is a parenthetical statement, with “[his] word” being the object of the verb. The sentence begun with the prepositional phrase “in God” is then completed in v. 11, with the prepositional phrase being repeated after the parenthesis.

[56:10]  ¹⁴ tn The phrase “in the Lord” parallels “in God” in the first line. Once again the psalmist parenthetically remarks “I boast in [his] word” before completing the sentence in v. 11.

[109:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 109. Appealing to God’s justice, the psalmist asks God to vindicate him and to bring severe judgment down upon his enemies.

[109:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not be deaf.”

[35:28]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and my tongue will proclaim your justice.”

[35:28]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all the day your praise.” The verb “proclaim” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the previous line).