Mazmur 41:1

Psalm 41 ¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

41:1 How blessed ²  is the one who treats the poor properly! ³ 

When trouble comes, ⁴  the Lord delivers him. ⁵ 

Mazmur 39:8

39:8 Deliver me from all my sins of rebellion!

Do not make me the object of fools’ insults!

Mazmur 94:2-8

94:2 Rise up, O judge of the earth!

Pay back the proud!

94:3 O Lord, how long will the wicked,

how long will the wicked celebrate? ⁶ 

94:4 They spew out threats ⁷  and speak defiantly;

all the evildoers boast. ⁸ 

94:5 O Lord, they crush your people;

they oppress the nation that belongs to you. ⁹ 

94:6 They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land,

and they murder the fatherless. ¹⁰ 

94:7 Then they say, “The Lord does not see this;

the God of Jacob does not take notice of it.” ¹¹ 

94:8 Take notice of this, ¹²  you ignorant people! ¹³ 

You fools, when will you ever understand?

Ulangan 32:27

32:27 But I fear the reaction ¹⁴  of their enemies,

for ¹⁵  their adversaries would misunderstand

and say, “Our power is great, ¹⁶ 

and the Lord has not done all this!”’

Yesaya 37:23-24

37:23 Whom have you taunted and hurled insults at?

At whom have you shouted

and looked so arrogantly? ¹⁷ 

At the Holy One of Israel! ¹⁸ 

37:24 Through your messengers you taunted the sovereign master, ¹⁹ 

‘With my many chariots I climbed up

the high mountains,

the slopes of Lebanon.

I cut down its tall cedars

and its best evergreens.

I invaded its most remote regions, ²⁰ 

its thickest woods.

Yehezkiel 20:14

20:14 I acted for the sake of my reputation, so that I would not be profaned before the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.

[41:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 41. The psalmist is confident (vv. 11-12) that the Lord has heard his request to be healed (vv. 4-10), and he anticipates the joy he will experience when the Lord intervenes (vv. 1-3). One must assume that the psalmist is responding to a divine oracle of assurance (see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 319-20). The final verse is a fitting conclusion to this psalm, but it is also serves as a fitting conclusion to the first “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the second, third, and fourth “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 72:19, 89:52, and 106:48 respectively).

[41:1]  ² tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[41:1]  ³ sn One who treats the poor properly. The psalmist is characterizing himself as such an individual and supplying a reason why God has responded favorably to his prayer. The Lord’s attitude toward the merciful mirrors their treatment of the poor.

[41:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “in the day of trouble” (see Ps 27:5).

[41:1]  ⁵ tn That is, the one who has been kind to the poor. The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive of prayer (“may the Lord deliver,” see v. 2), but the preceding parallel line is a declaration of fact, not a prayer per se. The imperfect can be taken here as future (“will deliver,” cf. NEB, NASB) or as generalizing (“delivers,” cf. NIV, NRSV). The parallel line, which has a generalizing tone, favors the latter. At the same time, though the psalmist uses a generalizing style here, he clearly has himself primarily in view.

[94:3]  ⁶ tn Or “exult.”

[94:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “they gush forth [words].”

[94:4]  ⁸ tn The Hitpael of אָמַר (’amar) occurs only here (and perhaps in Isa 61:6).

[94:5]  ⁹ tn Or “your inheritance.”

[94:6]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).

[94:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “does not understand.”

[94:8]  ¹² tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.

[94:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”

[32:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “anger.”

[32:27]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “lest.”

[32:27]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Our hand is high.” Cf. NAB “Our own hand won the victory.”

[37:23]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and lifted your eyes on high?” Cf. NIV “lifted your eyes in pride”; NRSV “haughtily lifted your eyes.”

[37:23]  ¹⁸ sn See the note on the phrase “the Holy One of Israel” in 1:4.

[37:24]  ¹⁹ tn The Hebrew term translated “sovereign master” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).

[37:24]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the height of its extremity”; ASV “its farthest height.”