Mazmur 35:1-3

Psalm 35 ¹ 

By David.

35:1 O Lord, fight ²  those who fight with me!

Attack those who attack me!

35:2 Grab your small shield and large shield, ³ 

and rise up to help me!

35:3 Use your spear and lance ⁴  against ⁵  those who chase me!

Assure me with these words: ⁶  “I am your deliverer!”

Mazmur 54:1

Psalm 54 ⁷ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a well-written song ⁸  by David. It was written when the Ziphites came and informed Saul: “David is hiding with us.” ⁹ 

54:1 O God, deliver me by your name! ¹⁰ 

Vindicate me ¹¹  by your power!

Mazmur 98:1-2

Psalm 98 ¹² 

A psalm.

98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, ¹³ 

for he performs ¹⁴  amazing deeds!

His right hand and his mighty arm

accomplish deliverance. ¹⁵ 

98:2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver; ¹⁶ 

in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.

Mazmur 144:5-7

144:5 O Lord, make the sky sink ¹⁷  and come down! ¹⁸ 

Touch the mountains and make them smolder! ¹⁹ 

144:6 Hurl lightning bolts and scatter them!

Shoot your arrows and rout them! ²⁰ 

144:7 Reach down ²¹  from above!

Grab me and rescue me from the surging water, ²² 

from the power of foreigners, ²³ 

Keluaran 15:6

15:6 Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic ²⁴  in power,

your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.

Yesaya 51:2-11

51:2 Look at Abraham, your father,

and Sarah, who gave you birth. ²⁵ 

When I summoned him, he was a lone individual, ²⁶ 

but I blessed him ²⁷  and gave him numerous descendants. ²⁸ 

51:3 Certainly the Lord will console Zion;

he will console all her ruins.

He will make her wilderness like Eden,

her desert like the Garden of the Lord.

Happiness and joy will be restored to ²⁹  her,

thanksgiving and the sound of music.

51:4 Pay attention to me, my people!

Listen to me, my people!

For ³⁰  I will issue a decree, ³¹ 

I will make my justice a light to the nations. ³² 

51:5 I am ready to vindicate, ³³ 

I am ready to deliver, ³⁴ 

I will establish justice among the nations. ³⁵ 

The coastlands ³⁶  wait patiently for me;

they wait in anticipation for the revelation of my power. ³⁷ 

51:6 Look up at the sky!

Look at the earth below!

For the sky will dissipate ³⁸  like smoke,

and the earth will wear out like clothes;

its residents will die like gnats.

But the deliverance I give ³⁹  is permanent;

the vindication I provide ⁴⁰  will not disappear. ⁴¹ 

51:7 Listen to me, you who know what is right,

you people who are aware of my law! ⁴² 

Don’t be afraid of the insults of men;

don’t be discouraged because of their abuse!

51:8 For a moth will eat away at them like clothes;

a clothes moth will devour them like wool.

But the vindication I provide ⁴³  will be permanent;

the deliverance I give will last.”

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ⁴⁴ 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ⁴⁵  the Proud One? ⁴⁶ 

Did you not ⁴⁷  wound the sea monster? ⁴⁸ 

51:10 Did you not dry up the sea,

the waters of the great deep?

Did you not make ⁴⁹  a path through the depths of the sea,

so those delivered from bondage ⁵⁰  could cross over?

51:11 Those whom the Lord has ransomed will return;

they will enter Zion with a happy shout.

Unending joy will crown them, ⁵¹ 

happiness and joy will overwhelm ⁵²  them;

grief and suffering will disappear. ⁵³ 

[35:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 35. The author, who faces ruthless enemies who seek his life for no reason, begs the Lord to fight his battles for him and to vindicate him by annihilating his adversaries.

[35:1]  ² tn Or “contend.”

[35:2]  ³ tn Two different types of shields are mentioned here. See also Ezek 38:4. Many modern translations render the first term (translated here “small shield”) as “buckler” (cf. NASB “buckler and shield”; the order is often reversed in the translation, apparently for stylistic reasons: cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV “shield and buckler”). The English term “buckler,” referring to a small round shield held on the arm to protect the upper body, is unfamiliar to many modern readers, so the term “small shield” was used in the present translation for clarity.

[35:3]  ⁴ tn Or “javelin.” On the meaning of this word, which occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, see M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:210-11.

[35:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “draw out spear and lance to meet.”

[35:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “say to me,” or “say to my soul.”

[54:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 54. The psalmist asks God for protection against his enemies, confidently affirms that God will vindicate him, and promises to give thanks to God for his saving intervention.

[54:1]  ⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.

[54:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “Is not David hiding with us?”

[54:1]  sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm during the period when Saul was seeking his life. On one occasion the Ziphites informed Saul that David was hiding in their territory (see 1 Sam 23:19-20).

[54:1]  ¹⁰ tn God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character, which would instill fear in the psalmist’s enemies (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:17).

[54:1]  ¹¹ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[98:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 98. The psalmist summons the whole earth to praise God because he reveals his justice and delivers Israel.

[98:1]  ¹³ sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See Ps 96:1.

[98:1]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 1-3 are understood here as describing characteristic divine activities. Another option is to translate them as present perfects, “has performed…has accomplished deliverance, etc.” referring to completed actions that have continuing results.

[98:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his right hand delivers for him and his holy arm.” The right hand and arm symbolize his power as a warrior-king (see Isa 52:10). His arm is “holy” in the sense that it is in a category of its own; God’s power is incomparable.

[98:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”

[144:5]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew verb נָטָה (natah) can carry the sense “to [cause to] bend; to [cause to] bow down.” For example, Gen 49:15 pictures Issachar as a donkey that “bends” its shoulder or back under a burden. Here the Lord causes the sky, pictured as a dome or vault, to sink down as he descends in the storm. See Ps 18:9.

[144:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “so you might come down.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative. The same type of construction is utilized in v. 6.

[144:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “so they might smolder.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose after the preceding imperative.

[144:6]  ²⁰ sn Arrows and lightning bolts are associated in other texts (see Pss 18:14; 77:17-18; Zech 9:14), as well as in ancient Near Eastern art (see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” [Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983], 187).

[144:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “stretch out your hands.”

[144:7]  ²² tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful foreign enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see the next line and Ps 18:16-17).

[144:7]  ²³ tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”

[15:6]  ²⁴ tn The form נֶאְדָּרִי (ne’dari) may be an archaic infinitive with the old ending i, used in place of the verb and meaning “awesome.” Gesenius says that the vowel ending may be an old case ending, especially when a preposition is inserted between the word and its genitive (GKC 253 §90.l), but he suggests a reconstruction of the form.

[51:2]  ²⁵ sn Although Abraham and Sarah are distant ancestors of the people the prophet is addressing, they are spoken of as the immediate parents.

[51:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “one”; NLT “was alone”; TEV “was childless.”

[51:2]  ²⁷ tn “Bless” may here carry the sense of “endue with potency, reproductive power.” See Gen 1:28.

[51:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and I made him numerous.”

[51:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “found in” (so NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[51:4]  ³⁰ tn Or “certainly.”

[51:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “instruction [or “a law”] will go out from me.”

[51:4]  ³² tn Heb “and my justice for a light to the nations I will cause to rest.”

[51:5]  ³³ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”] is near.”

[51:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “my deliverance goes forth.”

[51:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and my arms will judge [on behalf of] nations.”

[51:5]  ³⁶ tn Or “islands” (NIV); TEV “Distant lands.”

[51:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “for my arm” (so NIV, NRSV).

[51:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “will be torn in pieces.” The perfect indicates the certitude of the event, from the Lord’s rhetorical perspective.

[51:6]  ³⁹ tn Heb “my deliverance.” The same Hebrew word can also be translated “salvation” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT); cf. CEV “victory.”

[51:6]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “my righteousness [or “vindication”].”

[51:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “will not be shattered [or “dismayed”].”

[51:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “people (who have) my law in their heart.”

[51:8]  ⁴³ tn Heb “my vindication”; many English versions “my righteousness”; NRSV, TEV “my deliverance”; CEV “my victory.”

[51:9]  ⁴⁴ tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.

[51:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”

[51:9]  ⁴⁶ tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).

[51:9]  ⁴⁷ tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”

[51:9]  ⁴⁸ tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.

[51:10]  ⁴⁹ tn The Hebrew text reads literally, “Are you not the one who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep, who made…?”

[51:10]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “the redeemed” (so ASV, NASB, NIV, NRSV); KJV “the ransomed.”

[51:11]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “[will be] on their head[s].” “Joy” may be likened here to a crown (cf. 2 Sam 1:10). The statement may also be an ironic twist on the idiom “earth/dust on the head” (cf. 2 Sam 1:2; 13:19; 15:32; Job 2:12), referring to a mourning practice.

[51:11]  ⁵² tn Heb “overtake” (so NIV); NASB “they will obtain.”

[51:11]  ⁵³ tn Heb “grief and groaning will flee.”