Mazmur 68:9-13

68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall ¹  on your chosen people. ² 

When they ³  are tired, you sustain them, ⁴ 

68:10 for you live among them. ⁵ 

You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.

68:11 The Lord speaks; ⁶ 

many, many women spread the good news. ⁷ 

68:12 Kings leading armies run away – they run away! ⁸ 

The lovely lady ⁹  of the house divides up the loot.

68:13 When ¹⁰  you lie down among the sheepfolds, ¹¹ 

the wings of the dove are covered with silver

and with glittering gold. ¹² 

[68:9]  ¹ tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).

[68:9]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:10]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.

[68:11]  ⁷ 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).

[68:12]  ⁸ tn The verbal repetition draws attention to the statement.

[68:12]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew form appears to be the construct of נוּה (nuh, “pasture”) but the phrase “pasture of the house” makes no sense here. The translation assumes that the form is an alternative or corruption of נצוה (“beautiful woman”). A reference to a woman would be appropriate in light of v. 11b.

[68:13]  ¹⁰ tn Or “if.”

[68:13]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “sheepfolds” is uncertain. There may be an echo of Judg 5:16 here.

[68:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and her pinions with the yellow of gold.”

[68:13]  sn The point of the imagery of v. 13 is not certain, though the reference to silver and gold appears to be positive. Both would be part of the loot carried away from battle (see v. 12b).