Mazmur 68:6-11
Konteks68:6 God settles those who have been deserted in their own homes; 1
he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity. 2
But sinful rebels live in the desert. 3
68:7 O God, when you lead your people into battle, 4
when you march through the desert, 5 (Selah)
68:8 the earth shakes,
yes, the heavens pour down rain
before God, the God of Sinai, 6
before God, the God of Israel. 7
68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall 8 on your chosen people. 9
When they 10 are tired, you sustain them, 11
68:10 for you live among them. 12
You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.
many, many women spread the good news. 14
[68:6] 1 tn Heb “God causes the solitary ones to dwell in a house.” The participle suggests this is what God typically does.
[68:6] 2 tn Heb “he brings out prisoners into prosperity.” Another option is to translate, “he brings out prisoners with singing” (cf. NIV). The participle suggests this is what God typically does.
[68:6] 3 tn Or “in a parched [land].”
[68:6] sn God delivers the downtrodden and oppressed, but sinful rebels who oppose his reign are treated appropriately.
[68:7] 4 tn Heb “when you go out before your people.” The Hebrew idiom “go out before” is used here in a militaristic sense of leading troops into battle (see Judg 4:14; 9:39; 2 Sam 5:24).
[68:7] 5 sn When you march through the desert. Some interpreters think that v. 7 alludes to Israel’s exodus from Egypt and its subsequent travels in the desert. Another option is that v. 7, like v. 8, echoes Judg 5:4, which describes how the God of Sinai marched across the desert regions to do battle with Sisera and his Canaanite army.
[68:8] 6 tn Heb “this one of Sinai.” The phrase is a divine title, perhaps indicating that the
[68:8] 7 sn The language of vv. 7-8 is reminiscent of Judg 5:4-5, which tells how the God of Sinai came in the storm and annihilated the Canaanite forces led by Sisera. The presence of allusion does not mean, however, that this is a purely historical reference. The psalmist is describing God’s typical appearance as a warrior in terms of his prior self-revelation as ancient events are reactualized in the psalmist’s experience. (For a similar literary technique, see Hab 3.)
[68:9] 8 tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).
[68:9] 9 tn Heb “[on] your inheritance.” This refers to Israel as God’s specially chosen people (see Pss 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 106:40). Some take “your inheritance” with what follows, but the vav (ו) prefixed to the following word (note וְנִלְאָה, vÿnil’ah) makes this syntactically unlikely.
[68:9] 10 tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”
[68:9] 11 tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”
[68:10] 12 tn The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear; it appears to read, “your animals, they live in it,” but this makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some suggest that חָיָּה (khayah) is a rare homonym here, meaning “community” (BDB 312 s.v.) or “dwelling place” (HALOT 310 s.v. III *הַיָּה). In this case one may take “your community/dwelling place” as appositional to the third feminine singular pronominal suffix at the end of v. 9, the antecedent of which is “your inheritance.” The phrase יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ (yashvu-vah, “they live in it”) may then be understood as an asyndetic relative clause modifying “your community/dwelling place.” A literal translation of vv. 9b-10a would be, “when it [your inheritance] is tired, you sustain it, your community/dwelling place in [which] they live.”
[68:11] 13 tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.
[68:11] 14 tn Heb “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army.” The participle translated “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural form. Apparently the good news here is the announcement that enemy kings have been defeated (see v. 12).
