1. Please note that in general, when the authors discuss words in the original biblical languages, the series uses a general rather than a scholarly method of transliteration.
1. This, of course, assumes that the attribution lišlomoh (“to Solomon”) in the heading of Ps. 72 does not mean that Solomon is the author of the psalm but that the psalm is written in his behalf (“for/to Solomon”).
2. It is true that many lament psalms conclude with an expression of confidence or praise for anticipated deliverance. That may be the result of a later reworking of an earlier lament after deliverance was experienced.
3. A poem by Gelett Burgess.
4. From a sonnet by Sir Philip Sidney.
5. From Evangeline by W. W. Longfellow.
6. Traditionally, this form of parallelism has been called synonymous parallelism. That description is not very apt, and confusion arises especially with the addition of the other terms to be introduced later, antithetical and synthetical parallelism—terms that are often associated with a particular form of philosophical reasoning. For this reason I prefer the more accurately descriptive terms employed here.
7. The contrasting discussions of Alter and Kugel are helpful in this case, especially to highlight the fact that affirming parallelism is not mere repetition but actually “seconds” or heightens the force of the initial sentence. Kugel expresses the relationship between two affirming lines as “A, and what’s more, B.” Note that in all the following examples, I will be using my own translation of the biblical text to bring out the points under discussion.
8. The traditional terminology is in this case antithetical parallelism. The confusion that arises with the Hegelian philosophical method of “thesis-antithesis-synthesis” renders this term less than useful or helpful.
9. The expansion preserves the relative balance in length between the two lines of the couplet—an indication that, while we know no universally accepted system of meter in Hebrew poetry, relative line length was still a matter of sufficient significance as to require some compensation in this circumstance.
10. James Kugel, The Idea of Biblical Poetry: Parallelism and Its History (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1981).
11. See Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Poetry (New York: Basic Books, 1985), 12–14, 28. James Kugel also offers an extended discussion of the phenomenon in The Idea of Biblical Poetry, 27–40. P. B. Yoder, in his “A-B Pairs and Oral Composition in Hebrew Poetry,” in Poetry in the Hebrew Bible, ed. David E. Orton (Leiden: Brill, 2000), 90–109, understands the presence of such fixed word pairs in Hebrew poetry as indicating an extended period of oral transmission and composition. See also Wilfred G. E. Watson, Traditional Techniques in Classical Hebrew Verse (JSOTSup 170; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 28–30.
12. For just a few examples of Auffret’s extensive work on the psalms, see P. Auffret, The Literary Structure of Psalm 2 (JSOTSup 3; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1977), 1–41, and “Note sur la structure littéraire di Psaumes CXXXVI,” VT 27 (1977): 1–13.
13. Watson, Traditional Techniques in Classical Hebrew Verse, 262–312.
14. Translations of the Krt Epic can be found in: H. L. Ginsberg, The Legend of King Keret: A Canaanite Epic of the Bronze Age (BASORSup 2–3; New Haven, Conn.: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1946), and J. C. L. Gibson, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 2d ed. (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1977).
15. See the discussion of this and other acrostics in P. Skehan and A. Di Lella, The Wisdom of Ben Sira (AB 39; New York: Doubleday, 1987), 74.
16. It may be that in the case of acrostic psalms adding a final verse, the waw line is also omitted. See the comments of Peter C. Craigie, Psalms 1–50 (WBC; Waco, Tex . . . : Word, 1983), 128–31, 216–17 (on Ps. 25:5a and Excursus III).
17. The LXX actually combines these two psalms into a single composition.
18. A brief introduction in English to the essentials of Gunkel’s approach is available in: Hermann Gunkel, The Psalms, trans. Thomas M. Horner (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967). A recent translation of Gunkel’s original Einleitung in den Psalmen is now available in Hermann Gunkel and Joachim Begrich, An Introduction to the Psalms: The Genres of the Religious Lyric of Israel, trans. James D. Nogalski (Macon, Ga.: Mercer Univ. Press, 1998).
19. A good introduction to Mowinckel’s thought in relation to the psalms can be found in Sigmund Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 2 vols., trans. D. R. Ap-Thomas (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1962).
20. For an English version of Weiser’s own discussion of his views on the covenant-renewal festival, see Artur Weiser, The Psalms: A Commentary, trans. Herbert Hartwell (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), esp. 23–51.
21. See the section “Praise and Thanksgiving” in the materials preceding the commentary to Pss. 90–106.
22. For further discussion, see “The Laments” at the end of the comments on Ps. 3.
23. See “Praise and Thanksgiving” in the materials preceding the commentary on Pss. 90–106.
24. This phrase (or its near surrogate malak ʾelohim) is also found in Pss. 47:8; 96:10.
25. This is, of course, a double merism, indicating Yahweh’s authority over the whole earth.
26. Ps. 47 is part of a Psalter subcollection known as the Elohistic Psalter. The chief characteristic of this subunit is that it employs more frequently the more generic term for God (ʾelohim), often in place of the more particular Yahweh.
27. The wisdom books of the Hebrew Bible are Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. The Apocrypha contains additional wisdom books, including the Wisdom of Ben Sira (Sirach) and the Wisdom of Solomon. Outside the Bible, wisdom was an international phenomenon known in Egypt and Mesopotamia, producing its own literature that is similar but not identical to biblical wisdom literature.
28. See esp. Proverbs, but also the discussions in Job and Ecclesiastes. Jesus’ conclusion to the Sermon on the Mount follows in the wisdom tradition with his illustration of the contrasting fates of those who enter the wide or narrow gates and the two houses built on rock and sand.
29. Pss. 9–10; 25; 37; 111; 112; 119; 145.
30. See esp. Sir. 24 and 39 for this complete identification. The process of identification may already be seen in its earlier stages in Prov. 1–9, where the commandments of the sages and wisdom are spoken of in terms similar to those normally reserved for the commandments of Yahweh. See Gerald H. Wilson, “The Words of the Wise: The Intent and Significance of Qohelet 12:9–14,” JBL 103 (1984): 175–92.
31. See Wilson, The Shape and Shaping of the Psalter, 72–82.
32. For further discussion of this wisdom shaping of the whole Psalter, see “The Shape of the Psalter” in volume 2 of this commentary.
33. Haim M. I. Gevaryahu thinks that the psalm headings were originally colophons appended to the end of their psalm. He notes the psalm in Hab. 3, which has material normally included in psalm headings both at the beginning and the end (Hab. 3:1, 19) as evidence in this regard. For an English version of Gevaryahu’s theory see H. M. I. Gevaryahu, “Biblical Colophons: A Source for the ‘Biography’ of Authors, Texts, Books,” in Congress Volume: Edinburgh 1974 (VTSup 28; Leiden: Brill, 1975), 42–59. For a more complete discussion of the function of superscripts and postscripts in Israel and the ancient Near East, see Gerald H. Wilson The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (SBLDS; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1985), 139–55.
34. It is of note that these Davidic psalms in Book 2 exhibit the greatest concentration of historical notices linking psalms to specific events in the life of David found anywhere in the Psalter. This certainly has the effect of heightening the Davidic character of the collection they conclude. Note also that Ps. 71, which separates the last Davidic psalm in Book 2 from Ps. 72 and its superscript, has considerable manuscript evidence of having been combined with Ps. 70.
35. It is interesting to speculate that the strong reference to the conclusion of the prayers of “David son of Jesse” that ties this collection closely to the specific human king David may suggest that later attributions of psalms to David in the succeeding books are increasingly intended to be taken as eschatologically focused references to the messianic David.
36. “As Moses gave five books of laws to Israel, so David gave five Books of Psalms to Israel,” in William G. Braude, The Midrash on Psalms (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1954), line 5.
37. For further discussion of the relationship of the Psalter books and the synagogal lectionary cycle see: Anton Arens, “Hat die Psalter seine ‘Sitz im Leben’ in der Synagogalen Leseordnung des Pentateuch?” in Le Psautier, ses origines, ses problemes litteraires, son influence, ed. Robert de Langhe (Orientalia et Biblica Lovaniensia 4; Louvain: Louvain Univ. Press, 1962); idem, Die Psalmen in Gottesdienst des Altes Bundes (Trier: Paulinus-Verlag, 1968); N. H. Snaith, “The Triennial Cycle and the Psalter,” ZAW 10 (1933): 302–7; Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 199–203.
38. See Åke Sjöberg, The Collection of Sumerian Temple Hymns (Texts from Cuneiform Sources 3; Locust Valley, N.Y.: J. J. Augustin, 1960). My own comments on the Sumerian Temple Hymn Collection are included in Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 13–24.
39. For a more detailed discussion of why the doxologies in the Psalter ought to be considered purposeful indicators of division, see Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 182–86.
40. Pss. 1; 2; 10; 32; 42; 71; 91; 93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 99; 104; 105; 107; 114; 115; 116; 117; 118; 119; 136; 137.
41. Hallelujah introduces Pss. 106; 111; 112; 113; 135; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150. Hallelujah concludes Pss. 104; 105; 106; 115; 116; 117; 135; 146; 147; 148; 149; 150. This distinctive phrase functions like neither superscript or postscript. It is rather a liturgical shout within worship.
42. The debate has found its way into the modern translations of the psalm headings. Compare, e.g., the NIV translation of the heading of Ps. 50 (“A psalm of Asaph”) with that of the REB (“A psalm: for Asaph”). The NIV’s use of the translation “of” allows more ambiguity, since it can be understood both in the sense “psalm written by David” or “psalm written in the style of the Davidic psalm type.” The REB, however, has eliminated the possibility of a reference to authorship by its use of “for.” The ancient Greek translation of the LXX has chosen to render the Heb. preposition le- with the dative case (tō rather than tou).
43. BHS suggests the halleluyah postscript at the end of Ps. 113 should instead be taken as the superscript of the following Ps. 114—the only psalm in the sequence of Pss. 111–117 not to bear either a halleluyah superscript or postscript. If this shift were made alone, the total number of halleluyah psalms would be 16. However, BHS (following the Greek and Syriac versions) also recommends that Ps. 115 should be read together with 114 as a single psalm and that the postscripts of Pss. 115–117 should all be shifted to superscripts of the following psalms (Pss. 116–118). In this reconstruction the number of halleluyah psalms would remain 15, but would be expanded to include Ps. 118.
44. One of the better and more consistent discussions of the terminology of the psalm headings is found in J. F. A. Sawyer, “An Analysis of the Context and Meaning of the Psalm-Headings,” in Transactions of the Glasgow University Oriental Society 1967/1968 (Leiden: Brill, 1970), 26–38. Also useful and insightful is the extended treatment of the psalm titles in the commentary by H.-J. Kraus, Psalms 1–59: A Commentary (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1988), 21–23.
45. The thirteen psalms with historical notices are: Pss. 3; 7; 18; 34; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63; and 142.
46. See Gevaryahu, “Biblical Colophons,” 42–59; idem, “Notes on Authors and Books in the Bible,” Beth Mikra 43 (1970): 368; Jesús Encisco Viana, “¿Como se formo la primera Parte del libro de los Saomos?” Bib 44 (1963): 129–58; idem, “Los titulos de los Salmos Y la historia de la formacion del Salterio,” Estudios Biblicos 13 (1954): 135–66; Brevard S. Childs, “Psalm Titles and Midrashic Exegesis” JSS 16 (1971): 137–50; Shemaryahu Talmon, “Pisqah beʿeṃsaʾ pasuq and 11 Q Psa,” Textus 5 (1966): 11–21.
47. Viana, “Los titulos de los Salmos,” 135–66.
48. The LXX includes references to Jeremiah and Ezekiel in the heading of Ps. 65 (LXX 64) and mentions Haggai and Zechariah in the headings of four psalms (LXX 145 = MT 146; LXX 146 = MT 147:1–11; LXX 147 = MT 147:12–20; LXX 148 = MT 148). The LXX includes Davidic references in LXX 70 = MT 71 and LXX 90 = MT 91, which the Heb. text leaves completely untitled. A historical reference to the “Assyrian” appears in the heading to LXX 79 = MT 80. Pss. 93–95, which are untitled in the Heb., receive liturgical headings in the LXX (92–94). A historical reference in LXX 143 = MT 144 mentions Goliath.
49. For an interesting consideration of how the psalm headings can bring light to the arrangement of psalms and the shaping of the whole Psalter, see “The Shape of the Psalter” in the second volume of this commentary.
1. For further discussion of the ambiguity of the Heb. construction (preposition le- + personal name) that is generally assumed to indicate authorship, see the section “Psalm Headings” in the Introduction.
2. The references in the English Psalter are often one verse different from the Hebrew Psalter, since the latter often considers the title as verse 1. This commentary will follow English versification.
3. To say a psalm is “individual” is not to say that it could not have been performed as part of the communal worship of Israel. This may often have been the case, esp. when the individual was the king, who exercised a representative role within temple worship.
4. Pss. 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 12; 13; 17; 20; 22; 25; 26; 28; 31; 38; 39; 40; 41.
5. From Ps. 8 to Ps. 34, there are eighteen psalms categorized as plea, thanksgiving, or instruction, as compared to only nine psalms in the categories of praise, reliance, or entrance liturgy.
6. Gerald H. Wilson, “The Use of Royal Psalms at the ‘Seams’ of the Hebrew Psalter,” JSOT 35 (1986): 85–94; idem, “The Shape of the Book of Psalms,” Int 46 (1992): 129–42.
7. Ps. 8: “What is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?” (8:4). Ps. 19: “Who can discern his errors? Forgive my hidden faults. Keep your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then will I be blameless, innocent of great transgression” (19:12–13). Ps. 33: “No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance; despite all its great strength it cannot save” (33:16–17).
8. The two great collators of manuscripts of the Heb. Old Testament and their numerous variations, Benjamin Kennicott and Johannes Bernhardus de Rossi—both of whom did their work in the mid to late eighteenth century—each list a number of manuscripts in which Ps. 1 is left unnumbered as a preface to the whole Psalter. Cf. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 204–5.
9. We must always remember that while the psalms are now part of Scripture and accessed primarily through the act of reading and meditation, in their origin they were performance pieces, spoken out loud and thus available to the ear. It is important to consider how hearing the psalms in the context of public, corporate worship is a decidedly different experience from reading them in the course of private study and devotion.
10. The final fixation of the Psalter arrangement may have taken place as late as the end of the first century A.D. (cf. Gerald H. Wilson, “A First Century C.E. Date for the Closing for the Hebrew Psalter,” Jewish Bible Quarterly 28 [2000]: 102–10). An alternative solution is that Pss. 1 and 2 were read together as a single psalm and introduction to the Psalter. Kennicott also mentions seven Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament that do not separate between Pss. 1 and 2. The joining of untitled psalms with adjacent compositions that do have titles is relatively common in ancient manuscripts of the Psalter (cf. the chart in Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 134–35). Others suggest that these originally independent compositions have been purposefully placed together at the beginning of the Psalter to introduce the whole collection (cf. Craig C. Broyles, Psalms [NIBC; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1999], 41–42).
11. See the discussion of the Torah psalms in James L. Mays, The Lord Reigns (Louisville, Ky.: Westminster John Knox, 1994), 128–35.
12. Cf. James L. Mays, “The Question of Context in Psalm Interpretation,” in The Shape and Shaping of the Psalter, ed. J. C. McCann (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993), 14–20; idem, “The Place of the Torah-Psalms in the Psalter,” JBL 106 (1987): 3–12.
13. Outside the Psalms, the term ʾašre is found at Deut. 33:29; 1 Kings 10:8; 2 Chron. 9:7; Job 5:17; Prov. 3:13; 8:32, 34; 14:21; 16:20; 20:7; 28:14; 29:18; Eccl. 10:17; Isa. 30:18; 32:20; 56:2; Dan. 12:12. Within the Psalms ʾašre is found at Pss. 1:1; 2:12; 32:1, 2; 33:12; 34:8; 40:4; 41:1; 65:4; 84:4, 5, 1–6; 89:15; 94:12; 106:3; 112:1; 119:1, 2; 127:5; 128:1, 2; 137:8, 9; 144:15; 146:5.
14. “Blessed” in the Beatitudes is a translation of the Greek makarios. This same Greek word is used to translate ʾašre in the LXX version of Ps. 1.
15. The verb ʿmd has more the sense of “take a stand” than simply “stand still.” There is volition (and therefore responsibility) assumed in this action.
16. The verb yšb can mean “sit down” or often “dwell, take up permanent residence” in a place.
17. This exhortation to Israel also occurs at Deut. 11:19 in almost exactly the same language—an indication that this idea of the need to keep God’s guiding instruction constantly present and in mind was an important and formative part of Israel’s religious identity.
18. This is the only occurrence of leṣ/leṣim (a Qal participle of lyṣ) in the psalms. Outside the Psalter the term occurs only once in Isa. 29:20 and fourteen times in Proverbs (1:22; 3:34; 9:7, 8; 13:1; 14:6; 15:12; 19:25, 29; 20:1; 21:11, 24; 22:10; 24:9).
19. This is not to suggest that these books were simply created wholesale during the Exile, but that the ancient traditions about Israel’s formative circumstances were given their final shaping at that time and in response to the needs of the exilic community. This final shaping is most often associated with the work of the scribe Ezra, who returned from Babylonian exile (ca. 450 B.C.) with a copy of the “Book of the Law” with which to guide the life of the fledgling religious community of returnees in Jerusalem. This Torah became the primary understanding of Jewish faith and practice.
20. James L. Mays, “The Place of the Torah Psalms in the Psalter,” JBL 106 (1987): 3–12.
21. This identification of wisdom and torah is seen in subtle ways within the canonical literature, such as when Prov. 1–9 subtly speaks of wisdom in terms normally reserved for the Torah or when Deuteronomy speaks of Israel’s obedience to the Torah as her wisdom (Deut. 4:1–6; cf. Gerald H. Wilson, “The Words of the Wise: The Intent and Significance of Qohelet 12:9–14,” JBL 103 [1984]: 175–92.) The identification of torah and wisdom is more completely and explicitly mentioned in the later apocryphal wisdom books (cf. Sir. 24; 39).
22. Brevard S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 513–14.
23. The reference in found in the sixth column of the Community Rule (1QSerek), lines 7–8.
24. See the discussion of parallelism in the introduction, “The Art of Hebrew Poetry.”
25. Kathleen Norris, The Cloister Walk (New York: Macmillan, 1997), esp. the chapter on “The Paradox of the Psalms.”
26. Cf. T. R. Hobbs and P. K. Jackson, “The Enemy in the Psalms,” BTB 21 (1991): 22–29; Erhard S. Gerstenberger, “Enemies and Evildoers in the Psalms: A Challenge for Christian Preaching,” HBT 4 (1982–1983): 61–77.
27. Cf. Matt. 5–7; John 13–17.
28. Matt. 9:11; Mark 2:16; Luke 5:30.
1. For a discussion of the interpretation of royal psalms, see the Bridging Contexts section of the commentary on Ps. 20.
2. The word “Messiah” is taken from the Hebrew root mšḥ (“anoint”) and means the “anointed one.”
3. See the section on “The Messianic Reading of the Psalms” in “Theology of the Psalms,” in the second volume of this commentary.
4. While it is true that four additional psalms in this segment of the Psalter evidence no headings (Pss. 10; 33; 43; 71), there is strong evidence of a tradition of combining each of these psalms with its predecessor (Pss. 9; 32; 42; 70). See Gerald H. Wilson, “The Use of ‘Untitled’ Psalms in the Hebrew Psalter,” ZAW 97 (1985): 405–13.
5. See comments on Ps. 1.
6. See the discussion in Gerald H. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 204–6. An alternative explanation for the reading in Acts would be that Pss. 1 and 2 were in that tradition being read as a single introductory psalm.
7. Broyles, Psalms, 41–42; but cf. John T. Willis, “Psalm 1—An Entity,” ZAW 9 (1979): 381–401.
8. See the essays on “The Shape of Book 1” and “The Shape of Book 2” in this volume, as well as the sections on “The Shape of Book 3” and “The Shape of the Psalter,” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
9. The goyim are “nations”—political entities with recognizable boundaries, while leʾummim (“peoples”) is a reference to ethnically related people groups within these national boundaries. See the discussion of these and other terms for “peoples” and “nations” in the commentary and notes to Ps. 47.
10. The role of world dominion described for the Davidic kings (cf. Pss. 2; 72; etc.) is essentially the role given to all humanity in the creation (cf. Gen. 1:26–28; Ps. 8). The Davidic kings seem to have adapted this creation command as part of their ideological raison d’être.
11. In Ps. 55:14, the noun from this same root describes the “restless throng” of pilgrims and other worshipers who approach the house of God.
12. This same verb that describes the murmuring plots of the nations here is used in Ps. 1:2 for the faithful student of torah murmuring meditatively over the words and meaning of God’s guiding words. The common element is the low murmuring of voices as the one reads aloud and the others hatch their plots.
13. The verb yṣb has connotations of “taking a stand against” someone in resistance.
14. The images of bondage here seem to assume binding by rope or chain to a stake that can be “pulled up” and then “thrown down” to the ground when removed from the body.
15. I am reminded in this connection of the song from Bob Dylan’s Christian period in the early 1980s—“When He Returns.” Faced by the turmoil of human existence and the violent pretensions to independent power of human nations and individuals, “he is unconcerned.”
16. The verb śḥq (cf. ṣḥq), “laugh; make sport,” is used in Judg. 16:25 to describe Samson providing “entertainment” for the gathered Philistines who saw their blinded and bound enemy as representing no threat. The root sense of lʿg is to “stammer” in someone’s face as if ridiculing their speech. Here the terms mock the murmuring plots of the nations and points up the futility of their united speech in 2:3.
17. The verb “installed” (nsk), in the Qal stem as here, normally means “to pour out” as with wine in a libation offering or molten metal into a mold. The sense here is unclear, and commentators resolve the issue by assuming a Niphal perfect form with the conjectural meaning “be consecrated, exalted” by a drink offering (cf. Holladay, CHALOT, 239. Use of the passive form would place this statement in the mouth of the king who would be reporting God’s exaltation of the human king (“I have been installed as his king . . .”). This would require further emendation of the pronominal suffixes accompanying “king” and “holy hill” from first person (“my”) to third person (“his”). Support for this emendation is found in the LXX as noted in the BHS apparatus. Regardless of the difficulty with the meaning of nsk, the traditional rendering seems preferable to me. (Cf. the comments of Craigie, Psalms 1–150, 63–64).
18. Because the New Testament narratives of Jesus’ birth connect his sonship with his possessing the same essence and being as God himself—God made flesh—we often forget how this title must have been understood by his contemporaries. The “son of God” was the king, and by the time of Jesus the Messiah.
19. The Hebrew behind the phrase “your possession” (ʾạhuzzatka) is derived from the verb ʾḥz “lay hold of; seize; hold fast” (Holladay, CHALOT, 8). Although it has assumed the meaning “property,” the origins of the word still reflect a context of taking by force that is consistent with the kind of conquest of territory associated with expanding kingdoms.
20. The NIV’s translation emends the text on the basis of the LXX and other versions to tirʿem (from rʿh [“shepherd; lead”]). The metaphor of shepherding seems inconsistent with the harsh smashing in the second half of the verse and would necessitate taking the “iron scepter” as some sort of iron-tipped shepherd’s staff. The Hebrew of the text (teroʿem) understands the verb as derived from the root rʿʿ (“break”)—a translation that seems to me more balanced with the second half of the verse. The resultant translation is offered in NIV’s note as an alternate.
21. The image of broken pottery is employed elsewhere for divine judgment on a rebellious people (cf., e.g., Isa. 30:12–14; Jer. 19:1–13; 25:34). Broken pottery was (and still is) endemic in the ancient Near East—the surfaces of ancient city mounds are littered with fragments, and the presence of pottery throughout the strata of archaeological excavations is one of the most reliable means of dating occupation layers. Fragments of broken pottery were put to secondary use as scrapers (Job 2:8), coal shuttles (Isa. 30:14), and for message writing (e.g., the Lachish Ostraca). Such fragments were so common that their presence eventually receded from awareness (cf. Ps. 31:12)—it was so ubiquitous than no one even noticed it.
22. This would be the only occurrence of this Aramaic word outside those portions of Daniel and Ezra that are composed in the Aramaic language. While other Aramaisms are found in a predominantly Hebrew context, bar is never found in such contexts, and the contrast with the previous term ben in 2:7 militates against its appearance here.
23. Since Jesus is the fulfillment of the messianic Son anticipated in this passage, the account in Luke 7:45 of the sinful woman who kisses Jesus’ feet while the Pharisees disdain his contact with a sinner has particular poignancy. The woman sees what the Pharisees resist—that Jesus is the anticipated messianic Son who must nevertheless suffer and die. With their rejection of Jesus’ messianic role, the Pharisees side with the rebellious nations.
24. Those who suggest that Ps. 2 functions together with Ps. 1 as an introduction to the whole Psalter note the appearance of the term ʾašre (“Blessed”) at the beginning of Ps. 1 and the end of Ps. 2 as evidence that these originally separate psalms were intended to be read together. In that case, this final line may easily have been attached to the end of Ps. 2 for the purpose of binding the two psalms together.
25. The theme of finding refuge in Yahweh is a dominant one—esp. in the first two books of the Psalter (Pss. 2–72), where nouns and verbs of the root ḥsh employed in 2:12 occur no less than twenty-five times. These same terms appear only once in Book 3 (73:28) and five additional times in each of the last two books. Cf. Jerome Creach, Yahweh as Refuge and the Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (JSOTSup 217; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1996).
26. See the discussion in “The Shape of the Psalter” in volume 2 of the commentary.
27. See the discussion of this latter option in Wilson, “A First Century C.E. Date,” 102–10.
28. On these psalms see the discussion in “Types of Psalms” in the introduction.
29. After appearing seven times in six psalms in the first three books (2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 84:9; 89:38, 51), the term mešiaḥ occurs only three times in two psalms in the last two books (105:15; 132:10, 17), a slight reduction in emphasis. The term “servant” (ʿebed) also occurs in reference to kings seven times in four psalms in the earlier segment (18:0; 36:0; 78:70; 89:3, 20, 39, 50) and only two times in two psalms (132:10; 144:10) in the latter.
30. This may even offer a partial solution for the apparent confusion between king and Yahweh in such passages as 45:2–7, where the king appears in verse 5 to be called “God.”
31. Sung by Mary Travers, written by Peter Yarrow and Larry Weiss, “I Need Me to Be for Me” (Silver Dawn/Ram’s Head/ASCAP, 1979).
32. See also Jer. 5:5, where the leaders are taken to task as well: “ ‘So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the LORD, the requirements of their God.’ But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.”
33. Cf. also Hos. 11:3–4, where Yahweh heals rebellious Israel, taking the yoke of oppression from off their neck and leading them with “cords of human kindness, with ties of love” while bending down “to feed them”—a beautiful picture of his satisfying their deepest wants and needs.
34. In addition to the priestly intercessor in Ps. 20, we hear the voice of the king himself in Ps. 72, offering intercession for his successor.
35. Cf. Pss. 21; 110; 132.
36. Cf. 1 Sam. 13:7–14; 2 Sam. 6:17–19; 24:24–25; 1 Kings 3:4, 15; 8:62.
37. For further discussion of Mowinckel’s theories, see Mowinckel, The Psalms in Israel’s Worship, 1:106–92; also see the section on “Types of Psalms” in the Introduction to this commentary.
38. Artur Weiser, The Psalms (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1962), is one of the most articulate proponents of the yearly covenant-renewal festival as the context for the psalms.
39. This could, of course, be every new king or one specific king.
40. The presence in the psalm headings of this combined collection of names of persons other than David may well be explained by the Chronicler’s affirmation that indeed it was David who established and organized the temple worship system, including the Levitical servants and singers who had responsibility for all aspects of temple ritual and practice (see esp. 1 Chron. 25:1–26:1, where the names of Asaph and the Sons of Korah are mentioned prominently among those set apart for temple service by David). It is tempting in this light to consider the postscript in 72:20 to refer not to a group of private personal prayers composed by David but to a collection of pieces authorized for use in temple worship.
41. Ps. 146 is surely intended to represent the praise of David invoked in the first half of 145:21: “My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD. . . .”
42. For further comments of the significance of this structure for the shape of the first book and the whole Psalter, see “The Shape of the Psalter” in the second volume of this commentary as well as the essays on the individual books (consult index).
43. See esp. Ps. 144, in its reference to the empowerment of Yahweh (vv. 1, 10), the frailty of humans (vv. 3–4), the “new song” theme of the Yahweh malak psalms (v. 9), and its dramatic depiction of the blessings of Yahweh (vv. 12–14).
44. As in the postscript in 72:20. Might it be that the inclusion of numerous Davidic psalms after this conclusion marks a shift in the interpretation of David away from a strictly historical personage toward the king as spiritual model and guide anticipated in the Messiah?
1. The term mizmor is one of two more general designations employed in the psalm headings (the other being šir [“song”]). Taken from the Hebrew verbal root zmr, the term describes “a song sung to the accompaniment of stringed instruments.”
2. Of the forty-one psalms (Pss. 1–41) that compose the first book of the Psalter, all but four (1; 2; 10; 33) are attributed to David by the presence of this phrase in their heading.
3. Of the seventy-three psalms in the Psalter bearing ledawid (“to, for, of, by David”) in their headings, thirteen (3; 7; 18; 34; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63; 142) also have historical notices highlighting specific circumstances in David’s life as the precipitating influence behind the psalm.
4. This is a Greek way of thinking. The Greeks used the term psyche to designate this ephemeral though eternal spiritual substance in humans.
5. The LXX casts this phrase in the second person (“no deliverance for you”), making the enemies’ intent to undermine and demoralize the psalmist even more clear.
6. In this case using the more ancient form yešuʿatah.
7. H.-J. Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 139) suggests this meaning for yešuaʿ. I like this nuance much better in this particular context since there seems to be little indication of “victory” as this passage is often translated. See also the article on “Salvation” in ISBE2, 4:287–95.
8. Cf. the ignorant pronouncement of the fool in 14:1 or the arrogant dismissal of the wicked in 10:4.
9. At least one scholar reads magan instead of magen and translates the whole phrase as “You are my suzerain. . . .” This seems overly speculative and unnecessary, since the normal understanding of magen as “shield” is entirely appropriate to the context.
10. See the NIV text note on 3:3.
11. The sixteen passages where qumah occurs are Judg. 18:9; 1 Sam. 9:26; and Jer. 46:16—these three do not address God—and Num. 10:35; Ps. 3:8; 7:6; 9:19; 10:12; 17:13; 35:2; 44:26; 74:22; 82:8; 132:8; Jer. 2:27; 2 Chron. 6:41 (which is identical with Ps. 132:8). Three of these psalms appear in the Elohistic Psalter and therefore refer to God (ʾelohim) rather than Yahweh.
12. The Heb. word leḥi is translated both “jaw” and “cheek,” depending on the verse translated or the modern translation being used.
13. The NIV translation of the Heb. phrase leyhwh hayšuʿah as “From the LORD comes deliverance,” while idiomatically correct, obscures the almost exact rebuttal made in this verse to the enemies’ denial in verse 2, where they declare ʾen yešuʿatah . . . beʾlohim: “There is no deliverance . . . with God.” The construction used in verse 8 is the common Hebrew way to express possession, and the most straightforward translation of the phrase is: “To the LORD deliverance belongs.”
14. Israel’s growing awareness that there is no other God but Yahweh on whom she could trust for deliverance is clearly exhibited in such passages as Ex. 20:3; Deut. 4:35, 39; 5:7; 1 Kings 8:60; Isa. 44:8; 45:5, 6, 14, 18, 22; 46:9; Dan. 3:29; Joel 2:27.
15. Cf. Isa. 45:22; Dan. 3:29.
16. There are a few other compositions of psalm-like nature that are known from other texts both within and outside the Old Testament. Within Scripture we find psalms in Jonah 2, Lam., and Hab. 3. Outside Scripture we know several additional psalms from the LXX Psalter and compositions from the Dead Sea Psalms Scroll (11QPsa).
17. Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 95–99) offers a particularly lucid and helpful discussion of the topic.
1. The term occurs in the headings of fifty-five psalms, beginning with Ps. 4 and ending with Ps. 140.
2. In 1 Chron. 15:20 we find the phrase binbalim ʿal ʿalamot (“with lyres according to alamoth”; cf. Ps. 46:1), and in 1 Chron. 15:21 the related bekinnorot ʿal haššeminit lenaṣṣeaḥ (“with harps, directing according to haššeminit”; cf. Pss. 6:1; 12:1). This would seem to confirm the connection of the meaning associated with nṣḥ in the Chronicler’s work with the form employed in the psalm headings.
3. Cf. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 144: “—In (my) distress you created room for me—.”
4. Pss. 17; 86; 90; 102; and 142.
5. Other verbs used beside šemaʿ include ʾzn (“listen to”) and qšb (“pay attention to”).
6. The most prominent are ʿad ʾanah; ʿad matay; and ʿad mah.
7. Cf. Pss. 79:5; 89:46.
8. Lev. 26:16 on sowing seed; Lev. 26:20 on spending strength; Isa. 30:7 on trusting in Egypt’s help; Ps. 2:1 on conspiring in rage; Ps. 73:13 on keeping the heart pure; and often with “labor” (Job 39:16; Isa. 49:4; 65:23; Jer. 51:58; Hab. 2:13).
9. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 148.
10. As when Saul and his servant seek the lost donkeys of Saul’s father, Kish, in 1 Sam. 9:3–10:16.
11. Cf. Ps. 24:6, where bqš is paralleled by drš, the more usual term for inquiring of God; also Ps. 27:8; 105:4; 1 Chron. 16:11.
12. Amos 2:4. Cf. Ps. 40:4, where the NIV and others understand śaṭe kazab to mean “turn aside after a lie [false gods].”
13. Cf. Ex. 8:22; 9:4; 11:7, where Yahweh deals differently with the Egyptians and Israelites during the plagues.
14. Even in these passages the meaning of rgz is rather obscure (cf. Gen. 45:24; Prov. 29:9; Ezek. 16:43).
15. Compare the opening description of the fool in Ps. 14:1, “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ ” The Heb. for “in his heart” is the same as in our passage.
16. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 148.
17. The phrase has many connections with the traditional Aaronic blessing recorded in Num 6:25–26. Cf. also Ps. 30:7; 67:1; 104:29.
18. “My cry” (vv. 1 & 3; NIV “my call”); “righteousness” (vv. 1 & 5); “hear” (vv. 1 & 3); “heart” (vv. 4 & 7); “bed/lie down” (vv. 4 & 8); “trust/safety” (vv. 5 & 8); “many/abound” (vv. 6 & 7).
1. See the discussion of “The Kingship of Yahweh in the Psalms,” in “Theology of the Psalms,” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
2. See esp. Deut. 17:14–20, where the prohibitions listed most nearly approximate the excess for which Solomon is condemned in 1 Kings 11.
3. Compare the sentiments of Ps. 146, where human rulership is denigrated (146:3–4) in comparison to the eternal reign of Yahweh (v. 10), who is described as performing appropriately the responsibilities of the oriental monarch of the ancient Near East (vv. 6–9).
4. The daily sacrifice of a male lamb and a cereal offering with oil were offered both morning and evening.
5. See Gerald H. Wilson, “
,” NIDOTTE, 2:550–51; A. H. Konkel, “
,” NIDOTTE, 1:836–39.
6. See the discussion of “Fear of Yahweh” in the section on “Theology of the Psalms” in volume 2 of this commentary.
7. The psalmist alternates in this verse between singular and plural reference to the enemy. Here the third masculine singular pronoun (“his mouth”) is used, while the very next phrase employs the third masculine plural (“their heart”).
8. There is an interesting parallel between this image and the Ugaritic myth of the god Mot (meaning Death), who is depicted spreading his lips from sky to earth in order to convey hapless humans to the abode of the dead through his open gullet.
9. The word translated in the NIV as “speak deceit” (ḥlq) is most often translated as “use a smooth tongue” in the sense of speak flattery or deceit.
10. This may explain the appearance in the first phrase of v. 9 of the doubly singular construction pihu (“his mouth”).
11. The verb ḥsh (“take refuge”) is used twenty-five times in the Psalter, most in reference to finding security with Yahweh. The noun maḥseh (“refuge”) appears an additional twelve times with similar reference.
12. See esp. Deut. 17:14–20.
13. As already mentioned in relation to Ps. 2, the kingship of Yahweh is sometimes connected to the future reign of the Messiah—the Anointed One—who will bring Yahweh’s divine reign down to earth. See also the discussion of the kingship of Yahweh before Pss. 93–99.
14. Cf. also Is. 43:14; 44:6, 24; 47:4; 48:17; 49:7; 54:5, 8; 60:16; 63:16.
1. Comments on “for the director of music” are found in the commentary on the heading of Ps. 4. For “with stringed instruments” see the heading of Ps. 4 as well. “A psalm of David” first appears in the heading of Ps. 3.
2. In Heb., negative commands or prohibitions are expressed neither with imperatives nor with jussives but with imperfect verb forms negated by the particle loʾ. The resulting construction means something like “Don’t!” or “Don’t even think about it!” The most familiar group of negative imperatives in the Old Testament are the Ten Commandments, where imperfects negated by loʾ, are traditionally rendered “Thou shalt not . . . !”
3. The New Testament word for repentance, metanoia, captures a similar sense of “changing direction.”
4. For passages about divine repentance using šwb, see Ex. 32:12; Job 6:29; Ps. 7:12; 90:13; Jer. 4:28; Jonah 3:9. Many find such changeability in God troublesome. We like to think of God as “the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Yet, change in God (from the human viewpoint) is the foundation of prayer and the source of human hope. The Old Testament’s testimony that Yahweh does change—even repents [šwb]—forms a tension with the many descriptions of his sure and unchanging nature. This tension (or paradox) marks out the boundaries of faith and is intended to be held continually together rather than resolved in favor of one or the other feature.
5. This is unfortunately what some modern hymnbooks do in their published responsive readings. Many of the more negative passages of the psalms are passed over and omitted.
6. See the discussion of divine holiness in the section on “Theology of the Psalms” in volume 2 of this commentary.
7. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 162–63.
1. An English translation is available in Walter Beyerlin, “The Negative Confession of Sin (Book of the Dead, Saying 125),” Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament, ed. W. Beyerlin et al., trans. John Bowden (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 63–67.
2. The NIV’s translation of Heb. škn as “make [to] sleep,” while certainly poetic and dramatic, obscures the point of the underlying Hebrew. There the meaning is certainly that the one who currently resides in the world of the living will take up residence (although a less permanent and substantial living) in the dust. It seems that something more than “sully my reputation” is called for by these phrases.
3. While the affirming parallel structure of the first two phrases of v. 6 might suggest that Yahweh’s “anger” in the first phrase ought to be balanced by his “rage” in the second, the word for “rage” is consistently a negative emotion of arrogant pride, which seems best related to the enemies who immediately follow.
4. The NIV has severely reordered this verse without much cause. The original order is “Let the evil of the wicked be at an end, but establish the righteous, O one who searches minds and hearts, O righteous God.”
5. Others direct this phrase to the enemy of the psalmist (e.g., Craigie); still others omit the phrase altogether (e.g., Kraus).
6. The question of divine repentance is complicated by the fact that more than one Hebrew term is employed to describe divine repentance. One of the most important is the verb nḥm, which is also used of both humans and God to describe repentance or change of mind. In Num. 23:19, we hear that “God is not a [mortal] . . . that he should change his mind [nḥm].” Elsewhere, however, Yahweh is described as willing to do just that (cf. Jer. 18:8, 10; 26:3, 13, 19; Joel 2:14; Jonah 4:2).
7. Others (e.g., Kraus) take this to be a portrait of the enemy preparing to continue attacks against the psalmist—an attack that will turn back in disaster on the attacker himself.
8. The first two phrases are in affirming parallelism, using two Heb. words for “be pregnant, conceive” (ḥabal, harah) for variation.
9. Cf. Gen. 14:18–22, where Abram identifies Yahweh with the god whom Melchizedek reveres as “God Most High [ʾel ʿelyon], Creator of heaven and earth.”
10. See vv. 9, 11, and 17.
11. In the first half of Isaiah (chs. 1–39), the title “Holy One of Israel” is used of Yahweh primarily in oracles of judgment on Israel. In the latter half of the book (chs. 40–66), the title is unexpectedly connected with the hopeful designation “Redeemer,” as in 41:14, “The LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”
1. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 180; Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 105.
2. This process led over time to some rather subtle but far-reaching misunderstandings. Hebrew Scripture was originally written without vowels present—as a consonantal text. Various ways were developed to mark out the Tetragrammaton (the four letters of the divine name Yahweh), so that readers would not mistakenly pronounce it. Among the Qumran scrolls from the Dead Sea, Yahweh is often written in archaic Hebrew script that is visibly distinct from the later square Aramaic characters adopted for the transmission of the text and later for printed versions of the Hebrew Bible. When much later (between the fourth and seventh centuries A.D.) vowel points were inserted in the consonantal text of Scripture (above and below the consonants), the divine name was not at first provided with vowels. This indicated the name was not to be pronounced out loud. The consonants of the replacement word ʾadonay were placed in the margin to indicate the appropriate remedy: “Don’t say Yahweh! Read instead ʾadonay.” This was, however, very complicated, since the divine name occurs thousands of times in the Hebrew Bible. Still later, a less difficult shorthand method was adopted by placing the vowels of ʾadonay around the consonants of the divine name yhwh in the text. The resulting hybrid formation yehowah led ultimately to confusion when it was mistakenly taken as the correct pronunciation of the divine name. This confused reading remains with us today in many circles as Jehovah. It is clear, however, that the combined form was never intended to be read in this way but was simply an abbreviated way of warning the reader to respectfully replace the divine name with ʾadonay.
3. Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 178) gives a helpful summary of the various solutions offered along with associated bibliography.
4. Mitchell Dahood, Psalms: Introduction, Translation, and Notes, 3 vols. (AB; Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1966–1970), 1:49. More recently, P. Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 104–5) follows the same tack.
5. The comments of Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, trans. Francis Bolton (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, repr. 1970), 1:152, in this regard are well taken.
6. Or, perhaps, the image is a response to the restless conspiracy of the nations depicted in Ps. 2:1–3, whose murmuring is here both “silenced” and “stilled.”
7. The whole discussion in Eccl. 1:2–11 points up the contrast between the enduring natural process of the world, which continues unchanged from generation to generation, and the brief, fitful, unmemorable lives of human beings.
8. Cf. Gen. 1:26–27, where Yahweh creates ʾadam both male and female.
9. In the account of the sixth day of creation in Gen. 1:24–31, humans share the same creative day with the other animated land beasts. This provides humans with a direct and close relationship with the rest of the created order of which they are also a part. It is also significant that no individual blessing is pronounced on the land beasts as occurs for the sea and air creatures in 1:22. This leaves the impression that the similar blessing to “be fruitful and increase in number” (1:28) covers both the beasts and humans—a further indication of humans’ close and essential relationship to the rest of creation.
10. The Genesis narrative uses two different words to describe the authority and responsibility of humans over creation. I will return to these in the Bridging Contexts section.
11. Greek, ego eimi.
12. A. R. Millard and P. Bordeuil, “A Statue from Syria with Assyrian and Aramaic Inscriptions,” BA 45 (1982): 135–41.
13. Cf. Lynn B. White, “The Historical Roots of Our Ecological Crisis,” in Western Man and Environmental Ethics, ed. Ian Barbour (Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley, 1973); Gerald H. Wilson, “Restoring the Image: Perspectives on a Biblical View of Creation,” Quaker Religious Thought 24 (1990): 11–21.
14. See 1 Kings 5:16; 9:23; 2 Chron. 8:10.
15. Cf. also Rom. 8:15: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him [the Spirit] we cry ‘Abba, Father!’ ”
16. Marcion, a bishop of the early church, believed that the God of the Old Testament was not the same God as in the New. He devised a heavily edited version of the Gospel of Luke and of the Pauline letters that supposedly omitted references to the Old Testament. Marcion was declared a heretic, and opposition to his truncated “canon” gave impetus to the efforts to define the limits of the authoritative collection of New Testament books.
17. In fact, a recent survey conducted by George Barna indicates that “born-again Christians” are more likely to divorce than unbelievers (27 percent for born-again Christians against only 24 percent of those not born again and 21 percent of agnostics and atheists). The survey was reported in Southern California Christian Times. Inland Empire Edition, 11/2 (February 2000): 1, 11–13.
1. Research of this type was begun in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in response to growing awareness of the existence of numerous manuscripts of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament scattered through monasteries and libraries throughout Europe. Comparison of these manuscripts with each another led to the discovery of thousands of variations in spelling, wording, and more extensive content, preserved by these texts; this fact led to attempts to collate, record, and categorize all these variants as the basis of textual studies. This was the beginning of modern, scientific text criticism, which seeks to establish the original version of the biblical text by comparing all variants and determining which one most likely represents the original reading. Two of the most exhaustive and painstaking attempts to collate variants in the texts of Old Testament manuscripts are Benjamin Kennicot, ed., Vetus Testamentum Hebraicum cum Variis Lectionibus, vol. 1 (Oxford: Clarendon, 1776), and Johannes Bernardus de Rossi, Variae Lectiones Veteris Testamenti ex immensa Mss. editorumq. codicum (Parmae: ex Regio Typographeo, 1784–1798).
2. These latter inconsistencies (in the yod and kaph verses) may have been affected by the division of the original poem into two parts, thus obscuring the acrostic nature of the whole.
3. The normal sequence of the Hebrew alphabet is disordered in Ps. 10 by exchanging the pe and ʿayin verses.
4. On the basis of the Hebrew alphabet of twenty-two characters, one would anticipate a complete acrostic to contain some multiple of twenty-two verses—in this case forty-four, since each letter is represented by two verses of poetry. The lack of compatibility with this expected figure is further evidence of the disrupted nature of the acrostic of Pss. 9–10.
5. The schema of the two Psalters runs like this: (a) Pss. 1–8 are the same; (b) Hebrew Pss. 9 and 10 = Greek Ps. 9; (c) Hebrew Pss. 11–146 = Greek Pss. 10–145; (d) Hebrew Ps. 147 = Greek Pss. 146 and 147; Pss. 148–150 are the same. The Greek Psalter does, of course, include the additional Ps. 151, described in its heading as being “outside the number” of the traditional psalm collection.
6. For both of these elements, see comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
7. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4.
8. Cf. NIV. Whether the tune name has any significance to the interpretation of the psalm is patently unclear. Since it is so obscure, it seems best not to make much of it.
9. Cf. Deut. 4:29; 6:5; 10:12; 26:16; 30:2, 6, 10.
10. Hannah’s song is also the model behind Mary’s Magnificat in Luke 2, which evidences a similar attitude of deep joy and thanksgiving tied to the deliverance promised by the birth of Jesus.
11. If it were not for the alphabetic structure of the psalm (v. 4 forms the second line of the bet verse begun in v. 3), it would be tempting to divide verse 4 and allow the first half to close the opening section and the second half to open the next.
12. While it is suggestive that reference to Yahweh as “refuge”—using either of the terms (ḥasah/maḥseh or miśgab) previously encountered—does not occur in the third book of the Psalter (Pss. 73–89), it remains unclear whether this distribution is reflective of some larger editorial purpose.
13. The plural damim (“blood”) is often used to describe violent blood-letting or murder (cf. 1 Sam. 25:26; 2 Sam. 16:7; 21:1).
14. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 27, 196.
15. The same phrase occurs in 7:5; this serves as an additional tether binding Pss. 7–10 together into a thematic grouping. It is suggestive that nowhere else in the Psalter (or in the whole Old Testament, for that matter) do any occurrences of Heb. qumah (“arise”) appear in consecutive psalms—let alone a grouping of psalms as here.
16. In the section on “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary, I explore another aspect of this broader context by asking what the psalms—taken as a whole—have to say about God, humans, the world, and the relationship of all three. This biblical theological approach assumes that the teaching of Scripture must be drawn from the whole range of scriptural texts and documents and from an understanding built up that honors each and allows tensions perceived to stand as markers of the boundaries of faith.
17. In this regard see Pss. 31:23–24; 32:1, 11; 66:16; 77:13–20; 130:7–8; 131:3.
18. Cf. Pss. 14:7; 25:22; 53:6; 57:9; 69:34–36; 102:12–22, 28; 129:5–8; 144:14–15.
19. See the discussion of “The Shape of the Psalter” in volume 2 of this commentary and the various essays describing the shape of the individual books of the Psalter scattered throughout this two-volume work.
20. I have been personally blessed by the work of Bryan Jeffery Leach, who has written numerous new hymns and additional verses to traditional hymns that reflect powerfully and artistically on the breadth of the human condition before God.
21. Cf. Rev. 7:9, where the “great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” stood before the Lamb, wearing white robes and declaring in the words of Ps. 3:8, “Salvation belongs to our God.” Rev. 14:6 also describes an angel carrying the “eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people.”
1. Consult the comments on the headings of Pss. 3 and 4.
2. Pss. 7:10; 11:2, 7; 32:11; 33:1; 36:10; 37:14, 37; 49:14; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11; 107:42; 111:1; 112:2, 4; 125:4; 140:13.
3. Pss. 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11.
4. In Ps. 37:14, yašar is linked with the word derek (in an additional expansion of the theme of uprightness) to describe those whose “way is upright.”
5. The NIV textual note offers an alternative reading of this phrase that is equally despairing: “What is the Righteous One [God] doing?” Others (e.g., Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 131, 133) suggest, “What has the righteous done [to deserve this]?”
6. Of fifty-one occurrences of ḥzh in the Old Testament, twenty-six are found in the prophetic books and nine in the psalms, with thirteen in wisdom literature and the remaining three in the Pentateuch. The verb bḥn appears twenty-eight times in the Old Testament, with ten being in prophetic literature, nine in the psalms, six in wisdom literature, and the remaining three in Genesis and 1 Chronicles.
7. The noun “vision” is found in the titles of Isaiah, Obadiah, and Nahum. The title “seer” appears frequently in the Chronicler as well as in the prophets (Isaiah and Amos) and in 1 and 2 Samuel.
8. See the discussion of nepeš in the comments on Ps. 3:2.
9. In both Gen. 19:24 and Ps. 11:6, God rains “fire” (ʾeš) and “sulfur” (goprit). In Ps. 11:6, the term paḥim is rather awkwardly added just before ʾeš. It is generally agreed that this word (which normally means “leaves” of metal) should be emended by reversing the last two letters of the consonantal text to paḥme (“coals”), with the resulting construction translated as in the NIV’s “fiery coals.”
10. Holladay connects the Hebrew zalʿapah with “rage” rather than “scorching” and understands the passage in 11:6 as a “whirlwind” (CHALOT, 89).
11. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 204.
12. For related passages see Pss. 16:5; 23:5; 75:8; Jer. 25:15, 17, 28; Lam. 4:21; Ezek. 23:31–33; Hab. 2:16.
13. Other religions (such as Islam) are equally intolerant—claiming unique and absolute truth for their beliefs, but because they have not been traditionally associated with the dominant culture, there is less negative critique directed toward them.
14. The bombing of the government office building in Oklahoma City is one example.
15. Later revised to Eight-Nine Reasons the Lord Will Return in 1989.
16. Cf. the parallel passages in Matt. 16:25 and Mark 8:35.
1. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
3. Martin Buber, The Way of Man According to the Teaching of Hasidism (Secaucus, N.J.: Citadel, 1966), 29.
4. The Hebrew means more directly “destruction, devastation.” See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 136, for an excellent critique of Dahood’s suggestion on the basis of Ugaritic that this term be translated “sobs.” Dahood would have the parallel halves of this verse more identical in meaning (“sobs” vs. “groaning”). There is, however, no difficulty accepting the traditional understanding that God sees the “devastation” suffered by the weak and hears the “groaning” that oppression produces.
5. Cf. on this theme of the effective word of Yahweh in Isa. 55:11, where the Hebrew term for “word” is dabar in the singular rather than the plural of ʾimrah as here in Ps. 12. The theological understanding, however, is similar and supportive.
6. More accurate than the NIV’s “flawless,” which draws from the evaluation of gemstones rather than the metallurgical context of this passage.
7. Once again the metallurgical imagery is clear.
8. This too is a metallurgical image, used in Job 28:1 of the purification of gold. It suggests the extreme care involved in sifting out true gold from any impurities in the ore.
9. A number of proverbs condemn malicious and deceptive speech (see, e.g., Prov. 26:22–26).
1. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
3. See the discussion of “Divine Hiddenness” in “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
4. Several Heb. interrogative phrases are translated “How long?” in the psalms. These include: ʿad ʾanah (“until where?” cf. 13:1–3; 62:3); ʿad mah (“until what?” cf. 4:2; 74:9; 79:5; 89:46); ʿad matay (“until when?” cf. 6:3; 74:10; 80:4; 82:2; 90:13; 94:3); and kamma (“like/as what?” cf. 35:17; 119:84). All of these are understood as introducing questions of divine hiddenness and delay; thus, they are rendered as temporally concerned rather than questions of spatial or relational interest.
5. In this light, the promise in 1 Cor. 13:12 that we will “know as we are known” is a promise of being established in the protective care and blessing of God. To the contrary, the pointed rejection of the faithless at the end time—“I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!” (Matt. 7:23) is an ominous consignment to destruction.
6. The picture is of the gradual glazing over of the eyes as death approaches and the life force begins to ebb. See also comments on Ps. 38:10.
7. This translation is mine. Rather than the NIV’s “when I fall,” the Heb. ʾmwṭ (“be made to stumble, totter, wobble”) preserves the image of the imminent collapse of a tottering, stumbling person (because of the effects of illness, or physical attack?) or of a wobbling wall rendered unstable by an earthquake. The psalmist is only too aware of the stability provided by the sustaining presence of Yahweh—a concrete presence that the wicked in their arrogance and independence deny (cf. Pss. 10:6; 16:8; 30:6; 60:2; 62:6).
8. Consult the section on “Lament” in the introduction; also “The Laments” at the end of Ps. 3.
9. Perhaps this is one of the “new songs” that respond to new acts of divine deliverance. See comments on 33:3.
10. See the section on “Lament” and “Thanksgiving” in the introduction.
11. See the section on “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
12. Jesus’ speech, reported in Mark 15:34, is Aramaic: eloi eloi lama sabachthani.
13. In the “Index of Quotations” provided in the Aland-Black-Metzger-Wikgren Greek New Testament (New York: American Bible Society, 1966), the Psalms are quoted over 400 times, and Ps. 22 appears twenty-four times, outstripped only by Ps. 110 with twenty-five quotations. The 400 plus citations occupy approximately ten columns in the “Index”—equaled only by Isaiah (ten columns) and almost twice as many as any other book.
14. When Jezebel threatens the life of Elijah the prophet because of the defeat and execution of the 400 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18), he flees to Horeb to consult with Yahweh. When Elijah complains that he is the only faithful follower of Yahweh left in the whole land, Yahweh responds by revealing 7,000 persons who have not forsaken Yahweh to worship Baal (19:18). The later prophets also make it clear that within the sinful nation, there yet exists a “faithful remnant,” loyal to Yahweh and his covenant.
15. A good example here is found in Dan. 9, where Daniel, an exemplary youth living in exile, turns his heart to pray for the forgiveness of the sins of his people and their ultimate restoration by God. The earlier narratives of the book describe how Daniel and his three friends (Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego) suffer in exile although they remain radically faithful, even at the risk of torture and death.
16. The tendency in Christian circles to read these Servant Songs as predictions of the events in the life and death of Jesus obscures the original thrust of these passages to identify the servant with Israel (or the remnant) and thereby call them into a redemptive relationship to the whole nation and indeed the whole world.
17. Sartre, Existentialism (New York: Philosophical Library, 1947), 25–27. See also the discussion in the Contemporary Significance section for Ps. 19.
1. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
3. See the discussion of maśkil in the comments on the heading of Ps. 32.
4. See comments on the heading of Ps. 53. The term ʿal maḥalat also occurs in the heading of Ps. 88.
5. This term appears frequently in Old Testament wisdom literature as the contrasting counterpoint to the “wise person” or “sage” (ḥakam).
6. Here, as elsewhere in the psalms, the psalmist is careful to use the more generic designation ʾelohim in the speech of unbelievers (whether Israelite or non-Israelite).
7. For a discussion of various terms for the oppressed, see comments on Ps. 10:11–18.
8. See the apt comments in Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 145, on Dahood’s contention that this means “they have formed a cabal” (referring to the evildoers).
9. Cf. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 148; James L. Mays, Psalms (Interpretation; Louisville, Ky.: John Knox, 1994), 83; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 222–23; T. K. Cheyne, The Book of Psalms or The Praises of Israel (New York: Thomas Whittaker, 1895), 35; Derek Kidner, Psalms, 2 vols. (TOTC; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1973), 1:79; J. W. Rogerson and J. W. McKay, Psalms 1–50 (Cambridge Bible Commentary; Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1977), 62.
10. See discussion of the theme of refuge in the comments on Ps. 5:11–12.
11. See the article on “Zion” in ISBE2, 4:1198–1200.
12. See the discussion of Zion in the section on “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
13. Cf. Pss. 74:2; 76:2; 132:13; 135:21.
14. Cf. Pss. 9:11; 84:7; 110:2.
15. Cf. Pss. 99:2; 110:2; 149:2.
16. Ps. 110:2.
17. Pss. 128:5; 133:3; 134:3.
18. Ps. 50:2.
19. Pss. 14:7; 20:2; 53:6.
20. Ps. 87:2.
21. Pss. 78:68; 132:13.
22. Ps. 102:13.
23. Pss. 69:35; 87:5; 102:16.
24. The unknown word šibat should be emended to šebit, a cognate form of shebut (“captivity”).
25. Although the verb šqp does not appear here, the use of miššamayim (“from the heavens”) affirms the same perspective of divine scrutiny from above.
26. Again, although the verb here is yrd (“descend, go down”) rather than šqp, the perspective of divine scrutiny from a distance is identical.
27. The Flood narrative includes, of course, another example of divine scrutiny of human evil and consequent judgment. While God is described as “seeing” human wickedness and corruption in Gen. 6:5, 12, there is no mention of his “looking down from the heavens” in this case.
28. See comments on Yahweh’s essential character as “holy” (qadoš) at Ps. 5:7–8.
29. See comments on the important theme of Yahweh as refuge at Ps. 5:11–12. The idea that Yahweh is present in the midst of the oppressed poor is similar to the more positive New Testament affirmation that “whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40), or, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them” (18:20).
30. See the comments on the “image of God” in Ps. 8.
31. Cf. Rom. 3:9–12, where this very psalm passage is quoted in support of Paul’s contention that Jew and Gentile alike stand under the judgment of God for sin. Similar sentiments are found in Ps. 143:2 and Eccl. 7:20.
1. See Text 31, “The Negative Confession of Sin (Book of the Dead, Saying 125),” in Walter Beyerlin, Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 63–67.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
3. See the comments on Ps. 5:4.
4. The use of škn also supports the tentative nature of human residence with Yahweh. This term describes the temporary dwelling in tents characteristic of nomadic populations without right of land ownership and therefore no fixed abode.
5. See the discussion of “The Art of Hebrew Poetry” in the introduction.
6. See the commentary on Ps. 4:1–2.
7. The phrase translated by the NIV evidences textual difficulty, mostly occasioned by the lack of clarity regarding the Qal perfect verb from rgl, which occurs only here in the whole Old Testament. Elsewhere this verb (related to the word “foot”) occurs most frequently in the Piel stem, where it has the sense of “travel about; roam around.” Dahood (Psalms, 1:84) suggests “trip over the tongue” as a possible meaning, as does Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 149). Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 225) thinks more of making “the rounds as a slanderer.” The question is whether the verb itself bears the notion of slander or if that is an implication of the context. Perhaps we can use a rendering like “roams around on his tongue”—implying an inappropriate use of the tongue for gossip or slander.
8. Hammurabi’s Code sets the rate for money transactions at 20 percent while goods could return as much as 33.3 percent. In other circumstances interest rates go as high as 50 percent.
9. For further information, consult the articles on “Interest” in ISBE2, 2:860, and EDB, 525–26, as well as the article on “Usury” in ISBE2, 4:959.
10. Cf. comments on Ps. 10:16–18.
11. Buber, The Way of Man, 36–41.
1. See the discussions in Kidner (Psalms, 1:38); Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 154); and Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 24–25) for further discussion.
2. Sigmund Mowinckel, Offersang og Sangoffer (Oslo: Aschehoug, 1951), 492.
3. See the discussion in Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 24) and Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 154).
4. See comments on Pss. 2:12 and 5:11–12. Kraus’s assumption (Psalms 1–59, 5–36) of a context of fleeing to the sanctuary for refuge from one’s pursuers seems overly specific, especially given the lack of a sense of threat and urgency in this psalm.
5. See discussion of the Elohistic Psalter in “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary. The generic designation ʾel was employed as the name of the old high god of the Canaanite pantheon. By the time of the biblical period, El had become deus otiosus—the aged god who had in many senses been shouldered aside by the young god, Baal, who had arrived later in Canaan through the migration of Semitic peoples (Amorites) from the northeast by way of Mesopotamia at the beginning of the second millennium B.C. The character and activities of El and Baal are illuminated by the alphabetic cuneiform texts discovered at Ras Shamra, Syria, in the late 1920s. These texts reveal the existence of an extensive Canaanite kingdom known as Ugarit and provide our most thorough inside glance at Canaanite religious, political, and economic texts that have not been run through the negative sieve of biblical critique. For further information on Canaanite religion and the god El, consult P. C. Craigie and G. H. Wilson, “Religions of the Biblical World: Canaanite (Syria and Palestine),” ISBE2, 4:95–101; F. M. Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1973); M. H. Pope, El in the Ugaritic Texts (VTSup 2; Leiden: Brill, 1955).
6. The first difficulty is the verb translated in NIV as “I said.” The Hebrew consonantal text is ʾmrt, which could be vocalized either as first common singular (ʾamarti [“I said”]); second masculine singular (ʾamarta [“you (masc.) said”]); or second feminine singular (ʾamart [“you (fem.) said”]). The base text of BHS (the standard critical edition of the Hebrew Bible) provides vowels for the consonantal text that fix the meaning of the word as the latter of these choices (second feminine singular). This choice is difficult to square with the larger context of the psalm, but it is even more difficult to explain away according to the normal principles of textual criticism, which assume that the more difficult reading is likely to be the earlier. It is almost impossible to explain why a scribe would alter an earlier first common singular form to reflect the second feminine singular.
Most translators have chosen to emend the base text of BHS to reflect the first common singular form found in many other Hebrew manuscripts and reflected in the translations of the Septuagint and the Syriac. A significant number of commentators, however, opt for the second masculine singular possibility.
7. The pointing of the consonantal text as second feminine singular in BHS may reflect the contemporary understanding of the text. It may reflect an understanding of the word as referring to Israel speaking as the “bride” rather than the psalmist. The Targumim explain the feminine term as a reference to the psalmist’s “soul” (nepeš), assuming that this feminine word has been omitted from the text. See the comments in F.-L. Hossfeld and E. Zenger, Die Psalmen: Psalm 1–50 (Die Neue Echter Bibel; Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1993), 110.
8. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 153–54, 157.
9. See the comments and bibliography cited in Dahood, Psalms, 1:87–88. The NJB and Craigie also follow this option, although without discussing the evidence.
10. The difference is between the Qal jussive (desire) and the Qal imperfect (consequence). For the verb in question, it is impossible to distinguish visually between these two forms.
11. Cf. Ex. 29:40; Lev. 23:13; Num. 15:5, 7, 10; 28:14; Hos. 9:4. See also the articles on “Libation” in ISBE2, EDB, and IDB.
12. See Hossfeld and Zenger, Die Psalmen, 111.
13. See the discussion of the divine name Yahweh in the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 8.
14. See the discussion in Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 237–38. Cf. Josh. 13:23; 14:4; 15:13; 17:5; also Num. 18–21; 26:55; Deut. 4:21.
15. Actually, in the Heb., it is the psalmist’s “kidneys” or “innermost recesses” (kilyah/kilyot) that do the instruction. Perhaps this is a description of some deep internal churning that provides insight and direction.
16. For a discussion of “glory, honor” in relation to human reputation and significance, see comments on 3:3–4.
17. The LXX reads he glossa mou (“my tongue”).
18. The Heb. verb škn (“dwell”) denotes a more temporary form of residence than the alternative verb yšb (“live/dwell”). The former is most frequently used to describe the nomadic life of tent-dwellers, who move about. The latter describes the contrasting settlement of those who farm the land and are therefore tied to it. Compare this verse with 4:8, where Yahweh is said to “make [the psalmist] dwell in safety.” The verb employed in 4:8 is yšb, indicating more permanent residence (see comments on 4:8; also see G. H. Wilson, “,” NIDOTTE, 2:550–51.
19. The term occurs only sixteen times in the whole Psalter, with thirteen of these occurrences coming in the first three books (6:5; 9:17; 16:10; 18:5; 30:3; 31:17; 49:15; 49:14 [2x]; 55:15; 86:13; 88:3; 89:48). The remaining three (116:3; 139:8; 141:7) all are found in the fifth and final book. The Hebrew concept of the abode of the dead shares much with the general Mesopotamian view illustrated by such texts as “Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World,” ANETP, 1:80–85. A place of dark, dusty, pale existence, šeʾol was considered the final resting place of all the dead, righteous and wicked, regardless of the moral evaluation of their life on earth. Like the Greek Hades, šeʾol was thought to lie underground toward the center of the earth, so that those who died went “down” to the “pit” to reach their final destination. Those who entered šeʾol did not return and so were barred from all human pursuits, including worship. See the articles on “Sheol” in ISBE2, IDB, and EDB.
20. The term ḥeleq appears to intrude in this context between menat and wekosi. See Ps. 11:6, where the shorter phrase (without ḥeleq) appears with the meaning “[a scorching wind is] the portion of their cup [menat kosam].” The larger construction is an unusual example of a construct phrase in which a single construct noun (menat) is connected to two nouns in the absolute (ḥelqi wekosi). The use of the unusual form here allows the psalmist to refer to Yahweh both as the “portion of my allotment” (menat ḥelqi) and as the “portion of my cup” (menat . . . kosi).
Hosts were known to apportion drink into the cups of their guests. It is clear that they could show favor or displeasure by how liberally or meagerly they treated each guest. In Est. 1:7–8, King Xerxes was liberal with all his guests, ordering his servants to serve each guest as much royal wine as the guest wished. Elsewhere the “cup” (kos) can be a demonstration of divine salvation, anger, or wrath. It is possible that this may reflect a Near Eastern custom of kings dispensing judgment on those who had offended them by requiring them to drink a cup of poison. The insertion of ḥeleq in this context has the effect of shifting the imagery of divine favor from the general imagery of divine largess to the more specific notion of the apportionment of the land, where ḥeleq figures prominently.
21. The term ḥebel is normally employed in the singular form rather than the plural (ḥabalim), as here. The meaning is usually rendered “share”—possibly a smaller segment within a ḥeleq (“allotment”). Cf. Josh. 17:5 “allotment” of Manasseh. Cf. Ps. 78:55, where Yahweh “causes to fall for them an inheritance with a boundary” (wayyapilem beḥebel naḥalah).
22. All these terms are used extensively throughout the narratives of the allotment of the land among the tribes following the Conquest.
23. The presence of Yahweh with Israel to counsel, instruct, and guide is a clear emphasis of the Conquest and settlement narratives.
24. The phrase here uses the less common Hebrew word ʾoraḥ (“way, path”) rather than the more usual derek (“way, path”). The phrase ʾoraḥ ḥayyim (“way of life”) is found at Prov. 5:6a and 15:24, while the similar ʾoraḥ leḥayyim (“path to life”) appears also in Prov. 10:17. The phrase derek ḥayyim appears in Prov. 6:23 and Jer. 21:8. The latter passage is closely related to the Deuteronomic exhortation, “I have set before you life and death . . . choose life” (Deut. 30:19). The Jeremiah passage reads “This is what the LORD says, See, I am setting before you the way [derek] of life [ḥayyim] and the way of death” (Jer. 21:8).
25. During the process of editing this manuscript for publication, the World Trade Center Towers in New York City were blown up by terrorists (Sept. 11, 2001).
1. The Niphal verb occurs seventeen times in the whole Psalter (10:6; 13:4; 15:5; 16:8; 17:5; 21:7; 30:6; 46:5; 62:2, 6; 82:5; 93:1; 96:10; 104:5; 112:6; 125:1; 140:10).
2. Of the thirty-seven occurrences of verbal and nominal forms of the root ḥsh in the Psalter, only here does the root appear in three consecutive psalms. On three other occasions two consecutive psalms are affected (Pss. 36:7 and 37:40; 61:3, 4 and 62:7, 8; 141:8 and 142:5). These other groupings may be significant as well. See comments on these specific psalms.
3. The heading of Ps. 86 is identical to that of Ps. 17: tepillah ledawid. While Ps. 142 is also attributed to David, the initial designation of the composition is as a maśkil, with the term tepillah appearing only at the end of the heading following a historical note. Ps. 90 is designated a “prayer of Moses” (tepillah lemošeh), while Ps. 102 is styled more generally as a “prayer of the afflicted one . . .” (tepillah leʿani . . .). The plural form of the noun (tepillot) appears in the postscript concluding the second book of the Psalter: “This concludes the prayers of David son of Jesse” (72:20).
4. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 26. The term is often coupled in the bodies of the psalms with an imperative verb of hearing, entreating divine attention to the psalmists’ pleas (cf. 4:1; 17:1; 39:12; 54:2; 55:1; 61:1; 65:2; 84:8; 86:6; 102:1; 143:1).
5. BHS suggests a variety of possible emendations, including: yhwh ṣaddiq [“righteous Yahweh”], ʾel ṣaddiq [“righteous God”], or ʾel ṣidqi [“God of my right”]. In any case the sense seems to be a plea that Yahweh take the innocent suffering of the psalmist seriously.
6. Dahood, Psalms, 1:93.
7. For a discussion of the legal character of mišpaṭ and other related terms, see comments on Pss. 4:1–2; 7:6–9.
8. Cf. comments of Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 245–246; Rogerson and McKay, Psalms 1–50, 71 in this regard.
9. The theme of divine examination is also prominent in 11:4–5, where Yahweh “examines” (bḥn) the righteous and the wicked, with the result that the wicked are found wanting and judged with “fiery coals and burning sulfur” while the “upright” will see the face of God (11:7).
10. The background is similar to that in Prov. 24:12, where God is also depicted as “weighing the heart” of those who deceitfully claim innocence by way of ignorance and concludes with the admonition, “Does not he who weighs the heart perceive it? Does not he who guards your life know it? Will he not repay each person according to what he has done?” This proverb and Job 34:11 are the only places outside Ps. 17:4 where the Hebrew noun poʿal (“deed, deeds”) is used together with (ʾadam) (“humans”). The weighing of the heart is also known in Egypt, where the heart of the deceased is weighed in a scale against the “feather” of Maʿat to determine whether or not the deceased is worthy of entering the afterlife. As in Israel, the heart is the center of moral deliberation and is thought to be the place where wrong decisions or sins piled up, thus weighing the heart down.
11. Cf. also Pss. 7:9; 9:7–8; 11:4–6; 14:1–2 for similar images of divine examination.
12. Cf. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 163, “robbers’ roads.”
13. The psalmist employs some literary variation in describing “ways” confronting humans. The “ways of the violent” (,orḥot pariṣ in 17:4c) seems to denote a bare track through the wilds where “ravenous beasts” (pariṣ—cf. v. 12 later in this psalm, where the enemies are characterized as “lions hungry for prey”; see also Isa. 35:9, where pariṣ is paralleled by “lion”) or “robbers” (cf. Jer. 7:11) lie in wait. By contrast, the “paths” (maʿgelot) of Yahweh are the more frequented wagon tracks of commerce, where the safety of numbers provides security.
14. A graphic image of straining to hear a faint or distant sound. Like a horse whose ears turn in order to locate and draw in a sound or a human cupping the hand to the ear to maximize the reception of sound, God is depicted as straining to hear—wanting to hear the psalmist’s plea.
15. See the comments on ḥesed at Ps. 13:5–6.
16. See comments on Ps. 3:1–2.
17. The term mošiaʿ occurs a total of thirty-three times in the Old Testament. Of these, eight (about 25 percent) appear in Isa. 43–63 (cf. 43:3, 11; 45:15, 21; 47:15; 49:26; 60:16; 63:8).
18. Cf. Ruth 2:12; Pss. 36:7; 63:7.
19. See comments of Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 248–49).
20. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 163.
21. In the “Song of the Sea” Yahweh is celebrated for his deliverance of Israel and is declared the incomparable “wonder working” (Ex. 15:1; cf. Ps. 17:7) God who saves by his “right hand” (Ex. 15:6, 12; cf. Ps. 17:7), and through his enduring loyalty (Ex. 15:13; cf. Ps. 17:7), guides his people to his “holy dwelling” (Ex. 15:13; cf. Ps. 15:1, where a different but similar idiom is employed).
22. A similar image of the fat heart closed to God is found in Isa. 6:10, although it uses a different idiom (the Hiphil of the verb šmn [“make fat”]).
23. It is clear that Jeshrun is a symbol of rebellion in the Deuteronomy passage. But it is not clear that “fatness” is an indication of rebellion on its own. It is the “kicking” along with further description of Jeshrun “abandoning” and “rejecting” God (Deut. 32:15c–d) that confirm rebelliousness. In our psalm there is no such further confirmation.
24. The Hebrew manuscripts preserve a tension between the Ketib (what is written in the consonantal text) and the Qere (an alternative pronunciation indicated by vowel pointing and marginal notes). In this case, the Ketib preserves the probable form sebabuni with a first common singular pronominal suffix (“they have surrounded me”), while the Qere indicates a similar form sebabunu with a first common plural pronominal suffix attached (“they have surrounded us”). If the plural suffix was original, it would offer evidence of a later adaptation of this psalm to speak to the larger community. It seems best to me, however, to continue with the singular reference at this point.
25. The contrast between these wicked enemies who find their “portion” (ḥeleq) in this life and the fervent psalmist of Ps. 16, for whom Yahweh is “my portion [ḥeleq] and my cup” could not be greater!
26. See the section on “Dwelling in the Presence of God” in “The Theology of the Psalms,” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
27. Cf. also 1 Chron. 16:11.
28. Cf. 2 Sam. 21:1; Pss. 24:6; 27:8; 119:58; Hos. 5:15.
29. Cf. Num. 6:25–26; Pss. 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 119:135.
30. Cf. Deut. 31:17–18; Job 34:29; Ps. 15:1.
31. Cf. Ex. 33:11; Num. 12:8; Deut. 34:10
32. Gerhard Lohfink, Does God Need the Church? Toward a Theology of the People of God (Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1999), vii, esp. n. 2.
33. The survey was conducted by the George Barna Research Group and was reported in Southern California Christian Times, 11/2 (February 2000): 1, 11.
34. Cf. NRSV, NJB, “mortals”; NAB, “dead men.”
35. Note esp. the contrast between the “this worldly” perspective of the wicked in this psalm and the “other worldly” focus of the psalmist in 16:5, for whom Yahweh is both “portion” (ḥeleq) and cup.
1. For a discussion of the importance of Yahweh as “refuge” in the Psalter, see the section on “Yahweh as Refuge” in “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
2. See comments on the headings of Pss. 3 and 4.
3. The phrase ʿebed yhwh appears twenty-two times in the Old Testament. Of these occurrences, seventeen refer to Moses as the “servant of the LORD” (Deut. 34:5; Josh. 1:1, 13, 15; 8:31, 33; 11:12; 12:6; 13:8; 14:7; 18:7; 22:2, 4, 5; 2 Kings 18:12; 2 Chron. 1:3; 24:6). Of the remaining five appearances of the phrase, two refer to Joshua (Josh. 24:9; Judg. 2:8), two to David (Pss. 18:0; 36:0), and one to the “blind servant” (probably Israel) of Isa. 42:19. It is true that the idea of servant to Yahweh is expressed in other contexts in the Old Testament, using the word ʿebed in connection with various pronominal suffixes (e.g., your servant; my servant), but the use of the whole phrase as a title (as in our passage) is less frequent and is dominantly applied to Moses. The idea of servanthood to Yahweh is particularly connected with the prophets, who are often called “my servants” (2 Kings 9:36; 14:25; Isa. 20:3; Dan. 6:20; etc.). See the articles on “Servant of the Lord” in IDB, ISBE2, and EDB, and the extensive bibliographies included there. For Isaiah, it seems clear that the Servant of Yahweh in Isa. 42:18–19 refers to the deaf, blind, and faithless in Israel. But the subtle shifting back and forth that takes place in the Servant Songs (42:1–9; 49:1–7; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12), from the servant as Israel, or the prophet, or a faithful remnant, or a future individual lends greater ambiguity than might be expected to the interpretation of this passage. On these songs, see H. H. Rowley, The Servant of the Lord and Other Essays on the Old Testament (London: Lutterworth, 1952), 1–88.
4. Shemaryahu Talmon, in his article “Pisqah beʾemṣaʾ pasuq and 11QPsa,” Textus 5 (1966): 11–21, suggests that blank spaces preserved in the text of the Hebrew manuscripts of the Old Testament (and esp. in Samuel-Kings) are intended to point the reader to additional texts expanding on the preceding narratives. Some of the texts Talmon suggests are out of the Psalter. In the case of Ps. 18 = 2 Sam. 22, it would seem that the expansive psalm has at last been incorporated directly into the narrative context. See also Brevard S. Childs, “Psalm Titles and Midrashic Exegesis,” JSS 16 (1971): 137–50, and Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 73–75.
5. See the section on “Royal Psalms” at the end of Ps. 2. For a discussion of the interpretation of the royal psalms, see the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 20.
6. This first-person address is missing in the 2 Sam. 22 version of this psalm, which begins directly with the descriptive phrase: “The LORD is my rock.”
7. See comments on 5:11. No other psalm brings together as many of these phrases as does Ps. 18, but several do offer significant concentrations. See esp. Ps. 144, where five of these eight terms appear (ṣuri in 144:1; meṣudati in 144:2; mišgabbi in 144:2; mepalṭi in 144:2; maginni in 144:2) along with the additional epithet ḥasdi (144:2, “my faithfully loyal one”). Ps. 31 also brings together a number of these terms, including ṣur (31:2), meṣudah (31:2, 3), salʿi (31:3), and adds maʿoz (“mountain stronghold,” 31:2, 4). Ps. 71 also includes three of these terms (ṣur; salʿi; meṣudah) in a single verse (71:3), while adding maʿon (“hidden lair, den,” possibly to be read maʿoz, as in 31:2).
8. For the term “shield,” see the commentary on Ps. 3:3.
9. From the related Aramaic word meṣada (“fortress”).
10. The Piel imperative of this same root appeared in 17:13 (“rescue”) and is found as well in three additional psalms (31:1; 71:4; 82:4). The Piel imperfect of this verb appears eight times in the Psalter (18:43; 22:4, 8; 37:40 [2x]; 43:1; 71:2; 91:14).
11. As Yahweh “helps (the psalmist) escape” the attacks of the enemy, so a shield “helps (the bearer) escape” the arrows, spears, and swords of the opponents.
12. See the discussion of chiasm in the section on “Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction.
13. On two occasions in 1 Sam. (1:9; 3:3), the term hekal is used to describe “Yahweh’s temple” at Shiloh. While it is possible this may be a reference to the tabernacle tent, it is equally possible that the reference is to a more permanent shrine building associated with Shiloh, a precursor to the later Solomonic temple.
14. The term theophany (from the Greek theophaneia [“appearance of God”]) refers to primarily literary descriptions of God being manifested in the realm of human awareness. Sometimes this divine manifestation is accompanied with a spoken word of revelation. Often God’s presence has a fantastic and catastrophic effect on the creation, indicating the awesome power, glory, and otherness of God. The mountains “melt like wax,” seas “boil,” lightning flashes, winds roar. Such theophanies are most common in the Old Testament (cf. Deut. 33:2; Judg. 5:4–5; Ps. 68:7–18; Hab. 3:2–19), although they are not unknown in the New Testament—especially in Revelation (e.g., Rev. 1:12–16). See also the pertinent articles on “Theophany” in IDB, ISBE2, and EDB.
15. Coming “down” from the heavens is perhaps one further indication that the reference to the “temple” in 18:6 should be taken as meaning the heavenly abode of God rather than the Jerusalem temple. Elsewhere Yahweh is said to come from the desert of Seir and Teman (regions associated with Edom to the east of the Dead Sea) or from Mount Sinai (cf. Deut. 33:2; Judg. 5:4; Hab. 3:3).
16. Cf. similar imagery of Ps. 97:1–6.
17. Cf. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 173–74.
18. The NIV translation “he mounted” seems to assume the Hiphil stem, while the traditional text is pointed as a Qal. The Qal is usually translated “ride” while the Hiphil is normally rendered “mount (or cause [someone else] to mount) in order to ride.” Elsewhere Yahweh is described as “riding on the clouds” (cf. Deut. 33:26; Ps. 68:4; 104:3). This has led some to assume that the “cherub” mentioned in 18:10 is actually a reference to the storm clouds, which serve as the divine chariot of God (see esp. Ps. 104:3). The NIV, however, has rendered the singular Heb. noun kerub as a plural (kerubim). This indicates the NIV translators understand the term to refer to the cherubim that stand on the ark of the covenant and between which Yahweh is understood to sit, or to the cherubim that bear the stormy throne chariot of Yahweh in Ezekiel (cf. Ezek. 1, where the beings are called “living creatures,” and Ezek. 10, where they are identified as “cherubim”).
19. See also Ps. 104:3.
20. This phrase occurs in reference to Baal in the Canaanite literature from Ugarit. A generous sampling of these texts can be found in Beyerlin, Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament, esp. 196, 198, 199, 205.
21. For more background on Yahweh as warrior, see Patrick D. Miller Jr., The Divine Warrior in Early Israel (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1973); Tremper Longman III, “The Divine Warrior: The New Testament Use of an Old Testament Motif,” WTJ 44 (1982): 290–307; Tremper Longman III and Dan G. Reid, God Is a Warrior (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995).
22. Ras Shamra is the modern name of the location on the coast of northern Syria where the first discoveries were made of clay tablets written in an alphabetic cuneiform Canaanite language closely akin to ancient Hebrew. The language was subsequently called Ugaritic, after the ancient Canaanite city Ugarit, which was uncovered through archaeological excavations on the spot. For an example of a stele bearing the image of Baal with lightning bolts, see the illustration in Beyerlin, Near Eastern Religious Tests Relating to the Old Testament, 212. A photo of the same stela can be seen in ANETP, vol. 1, #136.
23. The imagery is of the stable foundation or pillars on which the whole earth is viewed as resting. Ordinarily these foundations were covered by the waters of the seas and are related to the “foundations of the mountains” that were shaken by Yahweh’s approach in 18:7b.
24. In the Genesis account of creation (Gen. 1), the earth is initially chaotic (“formless and empty,” 1:2) and associated with the ancient waters (the “deep” [tehom], mentioned in 1:2, is linguistically related to the name Tiamat). It is Yahweh who acts on the waters to limit them and provides a secure and stable environment for human life (1:6–13).
25. Outside the psalms this struggle is also reflected in Job 38:8–11; Isa. 51:9–10; Jer. 5:22; Hab. 3:8–10.
26. This rare Heb. verb (mšh) is used elsewhere only in the parallel passage in 2 Sam. 22:17 and in Ex. 2:10, where it provides the etymology of the name Moses (Heb. mošeh).
27. I am reminded of graphic photos of the removal of U.S. personnel from Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War. As the enemy closed in, one particularly striking picture shows an American helicopter hovering above the U.S. embassy compound while desperate individuals huddle below, awaiting their turn to be lifted out to the waiting aircraft carriers at sea. The scene is heavy with gloom and near panic, with the helicopter offering the only hope of escape.
28. The opening phrases form affirming parallelism with a chiastic arrangement of members:
The LORD has dealt with me according to my righteousness;
according to the cleanness of my hands he has rewarded me.
The concluding phrases mimic the first but with subtle alterations. The secondary verb “reward” is shifted to replace the initial verb “dealt.” The loss of “reward” in the secondary phrase is compensated by the introduction of the new phrase “in his sight.”
The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness,
according to the cleanness of my hands in his sight.
29. Here the repeated reciprocity between noun and verb is broken at last—perhaps as an illustration of the broken relationship created by human “crookedness.”
30. It is interesting that here both “lamp” and “darkness” are considered possessively by the use of the first-person singular pronominal suffix (“my”). This emphasizes the psalmist’s personal experience of deliverance from trouble.
31. Note the connection with Ps. 17:3, where the psalmist calls on Yahweh to “test” the psalmist’s faithfulness. In both cases the verbal root ṣrp is used so that Yahweh’s word has been “tested” (ṣarup) and found true. Yahweh provides the paradigm for the psalmist’s own character.
32. This comparatively rare preposition occurs only seventeen times in the Old Testament, and only this once in the psalms. The basic meaning is “apart from” or “except for.”
33. Another relatively rare preposition that occurs only eighteen times in the whole Old Testament. This is the only appearance in the psalms. The preferred meaning is “except, besides.”
34. Compound bow // bow of bronze (see Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 176).
35. It is worth mentioning that the sequence of verbs employed in this description of the empowered psalmist defeating the enemy, which the NIV translates as a description of a past event remembered, are actually imperfect verb forms (or perhaps cohortatives?), which normally express incompleted action, usually in the future—a fact noted by only few commentators (see, e.g., Kidner, Psalms, 1:95–96). Delitzsch (Psalms, 1:265) suggests (perhaps rightly) that the context is retrospective, so that while the narrative with imperfects assumes an immediacy of narrative as if it is currently happening, the actual events are still past. [Bruce K. Waltke and M. O’Connor, An Introduction to Biblical Hebrew Syntax (Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 1990), ß 31.2b, call this type of imperfect customary non-perfectives.] However, one ought to at least consider the possibility that the psalmist is here anticipating future victories yet to be realized. Part of the pressure to understand these verses as already past comes from the identification of this psalm with David’s deliverance from his enemies, as indicated in the heading (18:0) and by the connection with the parallel psalm in 2 Sam. 22. It is also true that the parallel text in 2 Sam. 22 creates an unambiguously past reference by supplying significant verb forms with what are traditionally pointed as waw consecutives. However, the contrast created by this alternative text only serves to emphasize the alternative possibility introduced by the psalm where consecutive imperfects are not used. This would seem a conscious decision on the part of the redactor who produced the text, whether the psalm is prior to the 2 Samuel text or dependent on it. Without these links, it would not be unnatural to assume that here the author is speaking of the future rather than the past.
36. Cf. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 168.
37. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 254–55.
38. The construction is difficult here—Kraus (ibid., 256) even suggests that it be “set aside” altogether. The parallel in 2 Sam. 22 has lišmoaʿ ʾozen (“as soon as the ear hears”; Qal infinitive construct) instead of the more obscure lišemaʿ ʾozen (“report of the ear; hearsay”; see CHALOT, 377) in the present text.
39. Perhaps the image here, rather than defeated enemy, is of prisoners set free, who come forth from their captivity uncertain of the present circumstances and their future.
40. This may also help explain the existence of destructive natural phenomena in the world. Tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and the like drive home convincingly that our world is not ultimately a stable environment we can rely on. As a result, we are driven to place our trust in God alone.
41. Ex. 24:17; Deut. 4:24; Isa. 33:14; Heb. 12:29.
42. See also comments on Ps. 5:4–5.
43. Isaiah 60:1–3 uses the term ʿarapel to establish a hopeful contrast between the other nations, who are covered with the gloom of God’s judgment, while Israel anticipates the rising of Yahweh’s glory over them.
44. The translation is a slight modification of the NIV translation. At the end of verse 5, the NIV translates “darkness has not understood it,” rather than the more common translation “darkness has not overcome it.”
45. See comments on Ps. 5:4–5.
46. Gerhard Lohfink, Does God Need the Church?, discusses how in Revelation creation imagery of the heaven and earth surrounded by continuing threat of the chaotic waters is reenvisioned as a new heaven and earth in which the chaotic waters are no longer present: “The first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea” (Rev. 21:1).
1. See comments on Ps. 4.
2. See comments on Ps. 3.
3. There are many English translations of the Mesopotamian creation and flood texts. See, e.g., ANETP, 1:28–39; Beyerlin, Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 80–99.
4. For a similar reverie on the night sky, with the resultant realization of divine grace and mercy poured out on humans, see Ps. 8.
5. The lexicons provide only the meaning “cord, line” for this noun. Dahood (Psalms, 1:121–22), however, supplies persuasive support for a cognate noun qaw with the meaning “call, sound, proclamation.” This would accord with the LXX and Vulgate renderings, meaning “sound.” Alternatively, it may be that the lamed of the more regular Heb. word qol (“voice,” which appears in 19:3b) has dropped out of the consonantal text.
6. Or perhaps a warrior running to battle or a messenger carrying a report.
7. See NIVSB, footnote to 19:4b–6.
8. The ḥuppah is perhaps to be connected with the “canopy” under which the Jewish rite of marriage is performed even today. The event has been popularized in theater and motion picture productions of Fiddler on the Roof and Yentl. Alternatively, the event may describe the moment in the marriage preparations when the groom leaves his home accompanied with all his friends (and indeed the whole village) to proceed through the streets to the home of his bride’s family in order to deliver the bride price and receive the father’s permission to marry. The joy and attention focused on the bridegroom at either of these occasions would supply an appropriate image for the psalmist.
9. Dahood, Psalms, 1:121; cf. the comments in Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 179–80; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 272.
10. Cf. Nahum Sarna, “Psalm XIX and the Near Eastern Sun-God Literature,” in Papers of the Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, 1967), 171–75.
11. See the discussion of “Acrostic Psalms” in the section on “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction. Of the six terms expounding the concept of divine guidance associated with Torah in Ps. 19 (torah, ʿedut, piqqudim, miṣwot, yirʾat yhwh, and mišpaṭim), five occur in the first seven verses of Ps. 119—and in the same order as in our psalm (torah, ʿedut, piqqudim, miṣwot, and mišpaṭim). The phrase “fear of Yahweh” (yirʾat yhwh) does not appear in Ps. 119, although references to “your [Yahweh’s] fear” do occur at 119:63, 74, 79, 120—though not as a description of Torah. In addition to the terms in Ps. 19, Ps. 119 also includes the word “decrees” (ḥuqqim) in 119:5 and often.
12. The NIV’s “soul” is misleading. See the discussion of nepeš in the comments on Ps. 3:1–2.
13. The noun ʿedut (related to the noun ʿedah, “testimony”) is completed by the abstract ending -ut and is considered singular, with an distinctive plural—ʿedot. The traditional translation of ʿedut has been “testimony”—though testimony with a decidedly warning edge (cf. Holladay, CHALOT, 266). The term is used to describe the tablets of the Ten Commandments (Ex. 31:18; 32:15; 34:29), the ark of the covenant that contains the tablets (Ex. 25:22; 39:35), and, particularly in the psalms, the Torah in general (Pss. 78:5; 81:6; 119:88; 122:4).
14. This is a factitive function of the Hiphil, in which the state described in the Qal (“be wise”) is established in the Hiphil (“make wise”).
15. Cf. comments on Ps. 9:1–3.
16. Psalms, 1:123.
17. Dahood mentions UT, 1005:2–4; see Song 6:10, along with our psalm.
18. Illumination is also linked with Yahweh in the great and traditional Aaronic blessing instituted in Num. 6:22–26, “The Lord bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Cf. also the brief allusion to this blessing in Ps. 67:1. The phrases of this blessing could be taken to reflect sun terminology and movement. Cf. the Egyptian “Hymn to the Aton,” celebrating the life-giving power of the sun disc worshiped by the pharaoh Akh-enaton (ca. 1365–1348 B.C.).
19. The dimming of the eyes is also associated with grief—an experience not far removed from death itself (cf. Job 17:7; Ps. 88:9; Lam. 5:17).
20. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 182.
21. See also the comments in Dahood, Psalms, 1:123–24; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 268.
22. A common modern Israeli warning sign bears a declaration from the same root: zehirut! Warning! But it is interesting to note that the root of this participle is also found in the noun zohar, yet with an alternate meaning of “shining, splendor.” One of the most significant works of Jewish kabbalistic mysticism from the Middle Ages is known by this title HaZohar (The Splendor), since it records visions of the splendor or the glory (kabod) of Yahweh himself. In light of the linking in this psalm of the revelation of God in the heavens and the sun with the revelation in the Torah, the use of this root is suggestive, if not significantly developed.
23. The NIV translation of this verb in Job 12:16 seems to imply deliberate deception.
24. The verbal form is unusual and unexpected. A few manuscripts read ʾettam instead, which would be the regular Qal imperfect form for this verb.
25. See discussion of terms related to the theme of refuge in the comments on Ps. 18:1–2.
26. In addition to the three occurrences of ṣur (“rock”), the synonym selaʿ (“rock”) also occurs in 18:2.
27. If the suggestion to emend yirʾat yhwh (“fear of the LORD”) in 19:9 to ʾimrat yhwh (“word of the LORD”) is correct, then the verbal connection with 18:30 is more precise. Even without the exact parallel, however, the use of this synonym for Torah in 18:30 (cf. 119:38) still connects with the strong context established in 19:7–11.
28. Cf. Jer. 32:17: “Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.”
29. Jacob’s blessing to his sons recalls the blessing he received from his father Isaac: “May God give you of heaven’s dew and of earth’s richness—an abundance of grain and new wine” (Gen. 27:28).
30. This is not to suggest that the psalms are not able on occasion to exploit the ancient creation myths of chaotic waters struggling for control. Elsewhere Yahweh is described as defeating the seas or crushing the sea serpent Lotan (cf. Job 26:12–13; Ps. 74:13–14; 93:3–4). For Yahweh’s creation and control of the seas, see Job 7:12; 36:30; Ps. 33:7; 89:9; 95:5; 146:6; Prov. 8:29.
31. See also in this regard, Ps. 119:25, 37, 107 (“Preserve my life according to your word”); 119:50, 154 (“Preserve my life according to your promise”); 119:88, 159 (“Preserve my life according to your love”).
32. See the developments as described in Acts 8–15, esp. the culminating decision expressed by James and the elders of the Jerusalem church in 15:12–29.
33. Jean Paul Sartre, Existentialism, 25.
34. Ibid., 26–27.
35. Jean Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on Phenomenological Ontology (New York: Philosophical Library, 1956), 440.
1. See the section on “Royal Psalms” in the introduction and at the end of Psalm 2.
2. Note the explicit mention of the king in 18:50; 20:9; 21:1, 7. The related designation for the king (“his anointed”) also appears in 18:50 and 20:6.
3. The NIV interprets these nine imperfect forms as jussives expressing the will of the speaker. The particular forms in question, however, demonstrate no distinctively jussive features and may be taken as typical imperfects with equal justification if the context warrants. If the forms were taken this way, the army would be expressing confidence that Yahweh will assist the king in achieving victory, rather than expressing their hope and desire that he do so.
4. See NIVSB, 804, drawing on 2 Chron. 20, which suggests a “Levite.”
5. For a discussion of the term selah, see comments on Ps. 3.
6. See comments on the headings to Pss. 3 and 4 for further discussion of these terms.
7. The BHS apparatus suggests an emendation to miqqodšo (“from his holy place”), which could refer to the temple but might also be construed to indicate Yahweh’s “holy dwelling.” The mention of “from Zion” in parallel to “holy place” strengthens the case for the temple being intended, in my opinion, as does the following reference to the king’s sacrifices and burnt offerings (20:3). While it is not impossible for sacrifices to have been offered other than in the temple at this time, the most natural referent for these activities and for this language is the Jerusalem temple.
8. See Ex. 3:6, 15; 4:5; 2 Sam. 23:1; Isa. 2:3; Mic. 4:2; and Pss. 20:1; 24:6 [cf. NIV note]; 46:7, 11; 75:9; 76:6; 81:1, 4; 84:8; 94:7; 114:7; 146:5. The Isaiah and Micah passages are duplicate quotations. In Exodus, the phrase is part of the longer patriarchal formula “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” According to Ex. 3:15, God tells Moses, “This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.” The phrase also occurs four times in the New Testament—three times in the parallel passages in Matt. 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37, where it refers to Ex. 3:15, and once in Acts 7:46.
9. For further discussion of this event, see comments on 8:1, 9.
10. For discussion of this and other terms for fortresses and strongholds, see comments on 9:9–14.
11. See comments on 14:7. This hill should be identified with the Temple Mount on which the Islamic shrines the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aksah Mosque presently stand.
12. Although Saul’s sacrifices earned Samuel’s condemnation here, there is no clear indication that it was the general practice of kingly sacrifices that was at fault; rather, Saul allowed his anxiety at the massing troops of the enemy to push him to override the expectation that he wait until Samuel arrive. As in the prophets at a later date, it was not sacrifices themselves but the attitude in which they were offered that rendered them illegitimate.
13. See the discussion of divine remembering in the commentary on Ps. 13:1–2. To be “remembered” or “known” by God is to be in the appropriate relationship of blessing that Ps. 1:6 contrasts with the “perishing” state of the wicked.
14. Many commentators take the imperfect verb forms in 20:5a–b as a continuation of the jussive mood established in the preceding verses and concluded by the final expression in verse 5: “May Yahweh grant all your requests.” If this interpretation is correct, then this passage would be rendered “Let us sing aloud in praise of your victory! Let us do homage to the name of our God!” (Rogerson and McKay, Psalms 1–50, 90); or perhaps, “May we shout for joy in your victory and raise a banner in the name of our God” (Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 184). Dahood (Psalms, 1:127) also reflects this tendency with a more subjunctive interpretation: “That we might exult in your victory, and in the Name of our God hold high the banners.”
15. Besides the present passage, compare Pss. 18:35; 44:3, 6, 7; 118:15; 144:10; Hab. 3:8.
16. See the discussion in Dahood (Psalms, 1:128), Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 278), and Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 184). Kraus, drawing on the LXX rendering megalynthesometha (“we will be magnified”) assumes a possible transposition of the letters -d- and -g- with a resultant Hebrew form nagdil (Hiphil imperfect of gdl) or negaddel (Piel imperfect of gdl), but ultimately opts for a more severe revision to nagil (Hiphil imperfect of gyl [“rejoice; exult”]), entirely on the basis of parallelism.
17. Another factitive use of the Piel, in which the meaning of the Qal stem (“be full”) is brought to fruition in the Piel (“make full/fulfill”).
18. The term “request” is appropriate here since the noun shares the root with the verb “ask, request.” This is different from what one might “desire” (Heb ḥepeṣ., taʾawah, or raṣon). In 21:2, Yahweh is said to have “granted [the king] the desire [taʾawah] of his heart”—a distinctive phrase that nonetheless links back to the similar idea expressed in 20:4a (where “desire” does not actually appear in the Hebrew text).
19. There is a slight possibility that the speaker in this verse might be the king referring to himself in the third person as Yahweh’s “anointed.” If so, the verse would represent the king’s humble acknowledgment of his dependence for success and victory on the “salvation” that comes from God alone.
20. Delitzsch, Psalms, 1:294.
21. The NIV’s inconsistency in translating forms of the root yšʿ, even within the context of the same psalm, illustrates the difficulty and even “slipperiness” of deciding between the alternatives of “victory” and “salvation/deliverance” in each instance. In many (if not most) passages “salvation/deliverance” provides an adequate translation with good meaning.
22. See the pertinent discussion in the sections on the “Royal Psalms” at the end of Ps. 2 and the section on “Messianic Reinterpretation” in “Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
23. A review of Israel’s early successes against the Philistines reveals a strategic use of restricted terrain—hill country, mountain passes, narrow valleys, or river crossings—where the horse-drawn chariot was least effective.
24. 1 Sam. 13:5–10 (Saul); 2 Sam. 6:17–19 and 24:18–25 (David); 1 Kings 3:3–4, 15 and 8:62–63 (Solomon); 12:31–33 (Jeroboam); 22:1–40 (Ahab of Israel and Jehoshaphat of Judah); cf. 2 Kings 3:26–27 (king of Moab).
25. Cf. 2 Sam. 24, where David’s decision to make a census of fighting men results in divine punishment of all Israel by the outbreak of plague.
26. 1 Sam. 12:20–25.
27. See the comments on the divine name at 8:1 and in the Bridging Contexts section to that psalm.
28. The implications of the divine name Yahweh are discussed in the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 8.
29. The ark certainly was employed in this fashion during the conquest of the land (Joshua) and was lost during the time of Samuel after it had been carried into battle with the Philistines (1 Sam. 4–6). The assumption of the priestly bearers of the ark, who carried it out of the city in order to accompany David when he fled Jerusalem before the forces of his son Absalom, was that the ark implied the presence of Yahweh with the side that possessed it. David clearly distanced himself from that theology when he sent the ark back to the temple with the declaration: “Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, ‘I am not pleased with you,’ then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him” (2 Sam. 15:25–26). This is the kind of trust Psalm 20 describes.
30. Cf. Lev. 26:27–30; 1 Sam. 15:22–23; Amos 5:21–25.
31. Cf. Mark 11:24.
32. This kind of trust is what the Old Testament calls “fear of the LORD.” Such “fear” is far from terror; rather, it describes the core realization that in all aspects of life one is absolutely dependent on Yahweh alone.
1. Scholarly lists of the “royal psalms” exhibit much agreement and only slight variations of contents. According to Hermann Gunkel (The Psalms [Philadelphia: Fortress, 1967], 23), the list includes Pss. 2; 18; 20; 21; 45; 72; 101; 110; 132; and 144:1–11. Artur Weiser, The Psalms, 45, cites Pss. 2; 18; 20; 21; 72; 89; 101; and 110. According to Gerhard von Rad, Old Testament Theology, trans. D. M. G. Stalker (2 vols.; New York: Harper, 1962, 1965), 1:319, note 1, the royal psalms are Pss. 2; 18; 20; 21; 45; 72; 89; 101; 110; and 132. For a discussion of the interpretation of royal psalms, see the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 20.
2. For discussions of the pertinent terms, see comments on the headings to Pss. 3 and 4.
3. The term “king” (melek) occurs some sixty-four times in the Psalter in singular and plural forms. Of these, three are abstract mentions of kings in the most general sense, twenty-six describe foreign kings, fourteen are references to Israelite rulers, and twenty-one call Yahweh/God king. It is most interesting to note that there is no reference to Israelite monarchs using the term melek after the third book of the Psalter (i.e., after Ps. 89). David does appear in the headings of a number of psalms in the fourth and fifth books and is explicitly mentioned in the text of Pss. 122:5; 132:1, 10, 11, 17; 144:10. He is even called God’s “anointed one” (132:10, 17), but never is he, or any other Israelite ruler, called melek. For more on this, see comments on Ps. 2.
4. The NIV’s translation of Ps. 20:4a as “May he give you the desire of your heart” would seem to indicate a close and possibly intended link with 21:2a, “You have granted him the desire of his heart.” However, the earlier verse translates a very different Hebrew phrase from the later one. Ps. 20:4a is more literally translated, “May he give you according to your heart,” which is less similar to 21:2 than appears from the translations. See comments on 20:4 for a discussion of the meaning of that phrase.
5. Although the Heb. word has traditionally been translated “pure/fine gold,” Holladay (CHALOT, 290) suggests a possible identification with olivine chrystoline, a semi-precious stone used for ornamentation in the ancient world.
6. See comments on Ps. 8:5.
7. While it is not clear that the term carried the modern sense of “eternity,” it certainly implied a length of time far in excess of the normal life expectancy of individuals. Coupling that extreme time period with yet another term for long time span, ʿad (“yet, still”; NIV “eternal” in v. 6), heightens the sense of permanency intended.
8. See comments on Ps. 3:3–4.
9. See Holladay, CHALOT, 77, for entries on both hod and hadar. Both terms are used in reference to the king in 45:3, while hadar along with kabod (“glory”) is one of the gracious gifts of God on all humanity (8:5).
10. Exactly which covenant relationship the psalmist has in mind here is not immediately clear. If it is the Sinai covenant between Yahweh and all Israel, then the king is confident that Yahweh will protect his people by supporting the king against his enemies. If it is the Davidic covenant, then the king is basing his confidence on Yahweh’s promise of an eternal kingdom for David and his descendants. It may well be that both covenants stand behind the confidence expressed in this psalm.
11. Holladay (CHALOT, 209) offers the meaning “to meet by chance (what presents itself to one)” for the phrase timṣaʾyad. Alternatively, the nuance of “seek out” might fit the context.
12. The return in the second half of v. 9 to third-person reference about Yahweh (“his wrath”) leads BHS to suggest this half verse is a later gloss.
13. For further discussion of theophany, see comments on 18:7–15.
14. The parallel structure of 21:10 is an artful example of the subtle expressions of affirming parallelism.
Their fruit | from the earth | you will destroy |
and their seed | from human beings |
The verb “destroy” that concludes the first line also governs the thought in the second. The subtle shifting between “fruit”—indicating the coming to fruition of their hopes for descendants—and “seed”—suggesting the beginning point from which posterity proceeds—encapsulates the whole process of begetting descendants from beginning to end. In addition, the juxtaposition of “the earth” (as the physical environment) and “human beings” (as the social environment) heightens the sense of the loss that the disappearance of future generations will make in the world.
15. The circumstance of conspiring nations joining together to attack “the king” of Yahweh is reminiscent of Ps. 2, although the words used are distinctive.
16. For further discussion of the “divine warrior,” see comments on 18:13. Cf. also Longman and Reid, God Is a Warrior, passim.
17. The use of geburah at this point links Ps. 21 back to the “saving power [gebura]” of Yahweh’s “right hand” in 20:6 (cf. also 21:8, “right hand”).
18. Most other translations employ the singular: e.g., NRSV “help” (21:1, 5); NJB “saving help” (21:1, 5); REB “victory” (21:1, 5).
19. In this instance the NIV also translates with “victory” rather than “salvation/deliverance” but shifts the nominal construction into a temporal phrase that would be more likely with an infinitive construct.
20. The theme of deliverance (using two other Heb. roots) dominates the first two-thirds of Ps. 22 (plṭ in 22:4, 8; nṣl in 22:20; yšʿ also appears in 22:21). For further discussion of the linkage between Pss. 21 and 22, see comments on Ps. 22.
21. Cf. Lev. 9:24; 10:2; Num. 11:1; 16:35; 21:28; Deut. 5:25; Judg. 9:15, 20; 2 Kings 1:10, 12, 14; Job 15:34; 20:26; Pss. 21:9; 78:63; 106:18; Isa. 10:17; 26:11; Jer. 17:27; 21:14; 49:27; 50:32; Lam. 4:11; Ezek. 15:7; 19:12, 14; 20:47; 23:25; 28:18; Hos. 8:14; Amos 1:4, 7, 10, 12, 14; 2:2, 5; Obad. 18; Nah. 3:13, 15; Zeph. 1:18; 3:8; Zech. 9:4.
22. Cf. Ex. 24:17; Deut. 4:24; 2 Sam. 22:9; Ps. 18:8; Isa. 30:27; 30:30; 33:14. Consuming fire can also have positive connotations. When used of sacrifice, it can represent the means by which right relationship is restored between sinful humans and God (cf. Lev. 6:10; 2 Chron. 7:1). Compare also the New Testament references in Heb. 10:26–27; 12:29.
23. See esp. Zeph. 1:18; 3:8, where consuming fire is clearly associated with “the day of the LORD’s wrath” and is intended as judgment of “the whole world” (Zeph. 1:18b; 3:8d).
24. K. Aland, M. Black, B. Metzger, Greek New Testament (New York: United Bible Society, 1994), lists James 5:3 as a quotation of Ps. 21:9: “Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days” (James 5:1–3).
25. Cf. Dan. 3:6, 11, 15, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 26.
26. For tannur as “oven,” see Ex. 8:3; Lev. 2:4; 7:9; 11:35; 26:26; Neh. 3:11; 12:38; Hos. 7:4, 6, 7; Lam. 5:10. The term also appears in Gen. 15:17, where it describes the smoking “fire pot” by which Yahweh indicates his commitment to the covenant established with Abraham.
27. See the discussion in the Contemporary Significance section of Ps. 20.
28. See 2 Cor. 12:9–10.
29. The divine gifting described in 21:3–5 has much in common with God’s exaltation of humankind in Ps. 8:5. These passages share three root words: “crowning;” “crown” (8:5, ʿṭr; 21:3, ʿaṭeret); “glory” (8:5, kabod; 21:5, kabod); and “honor/majesty” (8:5, hadar; 21:5, hadar). With the emphasis on “ruling” in 8:6, it may be that the psalmist of 21:3–5 had these images of divine gifting in mind in describing the blessing poured out on the king.
1. For the evidence suggesting that Pss. 70 and 71 should be read as a single unified composition, see comments on Ps. 70.
2. Ps. 22 figures in New Testament interpretation of Jesus at Matt. 27:35, 39, 43; John 19:23–24, 28. For Jesus’ use of this psalm while on the cross, see Matt. 27:46.
3. For discussion of these two more common elements of the psalm headings, see comments on Pss. 3 and 4.
4. The NIV’s translation “To the tune of ‘The Doe of the Morning,’ ” makes the interpretation as a tune explicit and further understands the reference to “the dawn” more generally to indicate “the morning.” For a more detailed discussion of tunes in the psalm headings, see J. F. A. Sawyer, “An Analysis of the Context and Meaning of the Psalm Headings,” Transactions of the Glasgow University Oriental Society 22 (1967–68): 26–38. For this specific element, see also Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 30.
5. Jesus’ speech, reported in Mark 15:34, is Aramaic: eloi eloi lama sabachthani.
6. The noun appears as “victory” in 18:50; 20:6; 21:1, 5. Consult the commentary on these verses for further discussion of the linkage of this theme.
7. There is no Hebrew equivalent of “yet” in the text of 22:3a. In 22:9a the author does use the Heb. particle ki (“but”) to express the adversative sense of the passage that follows. Both passages use the pronoun ʾattah (“you”) as part of the introduction, linking the two together and clarifying the adversative sense of the first passage by the clearly adversative character of the second.
8. For a discussion of the meaning of qadoš, see comments on Ps. 5:7–8.
9. This is the more natural reading of the Heb. behind the NIV’s “you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.” The verb for sitting (yšb) is a Qal active participle here, indicating that Yahweh is continuously and currently sitting. The nuance behind the NIV’s “enthroned” suggests that others are placing God on the throne. The further question concerns whether the verb is to be attached with what precedes or what follows; the Hebrew accentuation groups the verb with what follows. The noun the NIV renders “praise” is actually a plural (“praises”), although some Hebrew manuscripts exhibit the singular form. All this suggests that the better translation is to understand the first phrase as an affirmation of Yahweh’s essential character as Holy One, while the second phrase describes his continual resting on the throne provided by the praises of a faithful Israel. While the phrase “sitter of the praises of Israel” may seem awkward to us, this is an acceptable way to say “sitting on the praises . . .” in Hebrew.
10. It is certainly significant that this verb of trust is used three times within four consecutive phrases (22:4–5), emphasizing the “trust” in Yahweh that characterized Israel’s faithful reliance on their God.
11. Cf. Ex. 16:20; 25:4; Deut. 28:39; Jonah 4:7.
12. The verb translated “trust” here is difficult. The form in the text (gol) makes no sense here. According to the Greek, Syriac, and some versions of the quote in Matt. 27:43, the word should probably be taken as gal, from the Heb. gll (“roll away”). In this context it has been understood metaphorically to mean “roll away (a concern)” onto Yahweh. Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 292) suggests the Aramaic targum read an original yagil (“he shrieked ecstatically/wildly for joy”).
13. Cf. 22:5, where the ancestors’ trust leads to Yahweh’s “rescuing” them, using the same verb (plṭ).
15. Two Heb. words are used here to describe the mother’s womb: beṭen (22:9a, 10b) and reḥem (22:10a). The first—often translated “belly”—is most likely a reference to the internal “womb” or “uterus” in which the child is carried during the gestation period. The second—usually translated “womb”—is more likely a reference to the birth canal or vagina, as the rather crude soldiers’ of Judg. 5:30 suggests: raḥam raḥamatayim (“a reḥem or two for each”).
16. This cry—“Don’t be far removed!”—will return again at the end of the second major section of the psalm (cf. 22:19).
17. Cf. Deut. 32:14; Ezek. 39:18; Amos 4:1.
18. See the discussion with a thorough bibliography of resources in Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 196).
19. The sense of “gloat” is not derived from the Hebrew verb rʾh (“look, see”), but is an interpretive rendering from the context.
20. Since the Heb. of this passage simply reads “they will stare,” it is possible that the antecedent of “they” is “bones” rather than “enemies.” Although the plural of “bones” is by form feminine in this verse while the pronoun is masculine, the singular “bone” (ʿeṣem) is masculine and appears with both masculine and feminine plural forms. In this interpretation, the verse would read: “I can count all my bones, and they gaze and stare back at me.”
21. The NIV’s “come quickly to help me,” while accurate enough, is a bit pallid to catch the real urgency and desperation behind this plea. A similar imperative phrase (leʿezrati ḥušah) directed to God in desperate circumstances is found also in Pss. 38:22; 40:13; 70:1, 5; 71:12; and the similar phrase ḥušah li (“hurry to me”) appears at 141:1. (See the discussion of this phrase in the comments on Pss. 70 and 71, where it provides a connecting link between these two psalms.)
22. The term yaḥid is most often used to describe an “only child”—such as Isaac (Gen. 22:2) or (in the feminine) the only daughter of Jephthah (Judg. 11:34).
23. Note esp. the story of the near sacrifice of Isaac in Gen. 22, where the preciousness of Isaac—who came late in life to Abraham and Sarah and who represents their only hope for the fulfillment of the divine promises—is emphasized by the piling up of words in the description: “Take your son, your only son [yaḥid], the one you love, Isaac, and sacrifice him” (lit. trans.). Other uses of the term are found in Ps. 25:16; Isa. 6:2–6; and in the narrative of Jephthah, who having vowed to sacrifice the first thing that greets him as he returns home from a victorious campaign, is shocked when his only daughter (yeḥidah) runs out of the house to meet him (Judg. 11:34).
24. For a discussion of the name of Yahweh and its significance to Israel, see comments on Ps. 8.
25. For a discussion of the meaning of “fear the LORD,” see the section on “Theology of the Psalms” in volume 2 of this commentary.
26. The last imperative construction (guru mimmennu) is more accurately taken as “be afraid because of him” and is in this context a variation on the more common expression employing yrʾ (cf. 22:23a).
27. This Hebrew noun ʿenut—formed by an abstract ending (-ut) on the same root (ʿnh) as the following noun ʿani, does not appear elsewhere. Holladay (CHALOT, 278) suggests it should rather be read as the infinitive construct of the verb ʿnh (“answer”). In that case the whole phrase would be translated: “He has not . . . disdained to answer the afflicted.”
28. See the discussion of various categories of oppressed persons in the comments on 10:16–18.
29. The verb drš is the most usual way of expressing a religious inquiry into the will and purposes of God—normally involving formal ritual at the worship place. Such inquiry is not just casual questioning but represents a careful, intentional attempt to seek out and understand God’s will.
30. In Gen. 12:3 it is the (lit.) “families of the earth” (mišpeḥot haʾadamah) who find blessing through Abram, while here it is the “families of the [non-Israelite] nations” (mišpeḥot goyim) who come to worship Yahweh. The similarity, while not precise, is sufficient to link these two ideas together.
31. There may also be an intended reference to the eschatological feast (Isa. 25:6; Luke 14:15), in which all the faithful—rich or poor, Jew or Gentile—will participate on an equal footing.
32. “Going down” or “returning” to the dust is a common metaphor for death in the Old Testament (cf. Gen. 3:19; Job 17:16; 34:15; Pss. 90:3; 104:29; Eccl. 3:20). The abode of the dead, Sheol, was thought to be “down” under the surface of the earth, and in broader ancient Near Eastern mythology was thought to be a lightless place, where everything was covered with dust. The Gen. 2–3 account of creation and fall links the dust image with the earthen material from which God is said to have created the first humans. Death, then, is understood as a return to the preanimated state.
33. See comments on “righteous; righteousness” in 4:1–2.
34. Barbara Aland, Kurt Aland, Johannes Karavidopoulos, Carlo M. Martini, Bruce M. Metzger, The Greek New Testament, 4th rev. ed. (New York: United Bible Societies, 1994), 887, 895. The indices list four direct quotations (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34; John 19:24; Heb. 2:12), and twenty allusions or verbal parallels.
35. Cf. esp. Rom. 5:5; Phil. 3:2; 2 Tim. 4:17.
36. This literal Heb. translation is rather interpretively rendered in the NIV as, “From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly.”
37. See comments on 8:3–8 and compare the creation narrative in Gen. 1:26–31.
38. While Ps. 22 asks simply for deliverance from the beastly enemies, it is clear elsewhere that when we dehumanize ourselves to act like the beasts, the punishment we receive is in accord with our new status. One is not able to use reason to restrain an attacking lion but must resort to violence in order to save the life of the one attacked. For this reason the psalmists in Pss. 3:7 and 58:6 plead for God to “break the teeth” of the enemy who have the faithful in a death grip.
39. Note how in the Atrahasis Epic, when unlimited procreative abilities led the rapidly expanding human population into conflict with the gods, the ultimate solution to the conflict (after interim attempts through plague, drought, and famine had failed) was brought about by decreeing limitations on human procreativity. That these limitations included barrenness, miscarriage, still births, and high infant mortality rates indicates these phenomena were widespread facts of life in the ancient world.
40. Jesus’ final word in John’s Gospel is the Greek tetelestai (“It is finished”). The word is a perfect passive from teleo. The perfect tense in Greek expresses an action completed in the past with results continuing into the present. The Greek word is akin to the Hebrew verb šlm which it often translates in the LXX. The Hebrew carries the force of “be/make whole/complete.” The root is commonly used to describe the “peace offering” (šelamim), which might better be understood as a sacrifice that celebrates the restoration of life to proper relationship with Yahweh.
1. See comments on the heading to Ps. 3.
2. A number of texts make this connection clear. See, e.g., the following pages in Beyerlin, Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 13, 15, 26, 28, 40, 46, 102, 107, 137, 143. The prologue to Hammurabi’s Law Code makes the connection of shepherd and king especially clear.
3. Cf. 1 Sam. 16:11, 19; 17:15, 20, 34–37; 2 Sam. 7:7–8; Ps. 78:70–71.
4. See the discussion of the Yahweh malak psalms in the introduction and in the commentary on Pss. 93, 95–98.
5. It is striking that all three imperfects also occur in one of the “factitive” or “causative” stems—indicating the shepherd’s influence and authority over the flock. The normal “causative” stem is the Hiphil, which most often infers applying some causative effect on someone else. For example, the verb ydʿ (“know”), when used in the Hiphil stem, means “to cause (someone else) to know (something)” and is often translated “make known, reveal.” In comparison, the usual “factitive” stem is the Piel (although the Hiphil can also take on this force). The factitive stem normally occurs with a “stative” verb that describes existing in a state rather than accomplishing some action. An example of a stative verb would be “rest” rather than the active verb “run.” The factitive form of the stative verb just mentioned would be “make/cause to rest.” The primary distinction between causative and factitive stems is that the former occurs with active verbs, while the latter occurs with stative verbs. Both stems emphasize that the subject of the verb is exercising decisive influence over someone else, as in the case of our verse.
6. Cf. the extended discussion of the idea of “name” in the comments on Ps. 8.
7. Cf. Ex. 20:7; Deut. 5:11.
8. Cf. Prov. 22:1, where “good name” (i.e., good reputation) translates the Hebrew šem (“name”), with no modifiers attached (cf. also Eccl. 7:1).
9. The article on “Shade; Shadow” in ISBE2 is a good place to start in the exploration of the phrase “shadow of death.” Note the contrasting view presented in the article on “Shadow” in IDB, where the attempt is made to derive ṣalmawet from a root ṣlm. In either case, the meaning is the same. We encounter similar examples in contemporary expressions such as “a killer face” or a “tie to die for.”
In another example of this kind of superlative, the word “God” is also used to this end in Jonah 3:3, where the size of the city of Nineveh is described as ʿir gedolah leʾlohim (lit., “a great city unto God”). The idiomatic meaning of the phrase is clearly to emphasize the superlative size of the city “a really big city!” or more irreverently “a by God big city!”
10. Related words including mišʿan (2 Sam. 22:19; Ps. 18:18) and mašʿen, mašʿenah (Isa. 3:1) affirm the meaning of support. For mišʿenet, see Ex. 21:19; Judg. 6:21; Zech. 8:4. A ruler can also use a mišʿenet (Num. 21:18), although whether this is simply a walking stick or a royal scepter is uncertain.
11. By this interpretation the table is some form of mobile feeding unit employed in the desert or a sort of “staff” employed by the shepherd, while the act of anointing is a type of medical treatment for sick sheep. Cf. Ludwig H. Köhler, “Psalm 23,” ZAW 68 (1956): 227–34.
12. Several commentators, including Dahood (Psalms, 1:147–48) and Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 308), make reference to the passage from the Amarna letters in which a local prince pleads with the Egyptian authorities: “May it please him to give gifts to his servant while our enemies look on.” It may be this kind of visible and public evidence of divine support and acceptance that the psalmist anticipates.
13. See Pss. 26:8; 27:4; 36:7–8; 52:8; 65:4; 84:1–4, 10–12; 92:12–14, for examples of similar imagery.
14. Cf. Ex. 21:13–14; 1 Kings 1:50–53; 2:28–30.
15. See Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 308–9) as a recent proponent of this view.
16. For further information on the various uses of the Hebrew word bet (“house”), consult Wilson, “,” NIDOTTE, 2:550–51.
17. The eschatological banquet theme is mentioned in the prophets (Isa. 25:6) and figures prominently in the New Testament teaching of Jesus as well (cf. Luke 14:15).
18. This connection with pilgrimage to the Jerusalem temple is particularly interesting in light of the following Ps. 24:3, with its emphasis on preparing to “ascend the hill of the LORD . . . [and] . . . stand in his holy place.”
19. See here Ps. 84:1–10, where once again the Jerusalem temple is the longed-for goal of pilgrimage.
20. Cf. Pss. 23:6; 26:8; 27:4; 36:7–9; 52:8; 65:4; 84:1–4, 10–12. The only occurrence outside these books is found in 92:12–14: “The righteous will flourish like the palm tree, they will grow like a cedar in Lebanon; planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green.”
21. Ps. 65:4 further identifies this hekal as qedoš (“holy”), making the connection with temple even more clear.
22. Cf. Num. 35:6–32; Deut. 19:1–13; Josh. 20:1–9; 21:13, 21, 27, 32, 38, where the pertinent legislation is given and the cities chosen listed.
23. 1 Kings 1:50–53; 2:28–35. The story of Joab’s execution after seeking asylum in the temple fulfills the demand of Ex. 21:13–14, since Joab was guilty of deliberate and premeditated murder of Abner and Amasa (1 Kings 2:31–33).
24. See comments on 5:11–12.
25. Cf. Num. 35:25; Josh. 20:6.
26. See also 84:10–12: “I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked. For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless. O LORD Almighty, blessed is the man who trusts in you.”
27. The temple is the “place where [God’s] glory dwells” (26:8), and to dwell there is to live within the glow of God’s true essence.
28. See also 52:8: “I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God; I trust in God’s unfailing love for ever and ever.”
29. Cf. Heb. 4:3, 10.
30. See comments in Gerald H. Wilson, “Renewing the Image: Perspectives on a Biblical View of Creation,” Quaker Religious Thought 24 (1990): 11–21.
1. See Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 311–12, for this view.
2. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 211, for this view.
3. The appearance of the technical term selah accords with the proposed structure since it stands at the conclusion of both second and last sections. This may perhaps suggest a closer relationship between the first and second sections, since no selah intervenes.
4. For a discussion of both these terms, see comments on the heading of Ps. 3, where both occur for the first time. There is no immediately apparent significance for the variation in order of these two terms (mizmor ledawid in Ps. 23 vs. ledawid mizmor in Ps. 24), although the former arrangement occurs far more frequently (30 times) than the latter (only 6 times). If the psalm actually incorporates a liturgy for entering the temple precincts, this raises serious questions with the traditional attribution to David associated with the psalm heading.
5. The pair appears some twenty-five times in the Old Testament: sixteen times outside the Psalter (1 Sam. 2:8; 1 Chron. 16:30; Job 34:13; 37:12; Prov. 8:26, 31; Isa. 14:21; 18:3; 24:4; 26:9, 18; 34:1; Jer. 10:12; 51:15; Lam. 4:12; Nah. 1:5) and nine times within it (Pss. 19:4; 24:1; 33:8; 77:18; 89:11; 90:2; 96:13; 97:4; 98:9). The concentration of five occurrences (89:11; 90:2; 96:13; 97:4; 98:9) at the end of Book 3 and the beginning of Book 4 of the Psalter is suggestive of editorial concern and affirms the link between the Yahweh malak psalms (93; 95–99) and the questions regarding the demise of the Davidic covenant raised in Ps. 89. For further discussion, see comments on Pss. 89–99 and the various essays on the shape of the Psalter offered throughout this two-volume commentary.
6. For other examples of this emphasis on stability and security using ʾereṣ and tebel, see Jer. 10:12; 51:15.
7. For other passages in this vein, compare Ps. 24:1; 90:2; Prov. 8:26, 31.
8. Other passages describing Yahweh as judge of the earth include Job 34:13; Isa. 26:18; 34:1–17.
9. For additional discussion of theophany, see comments on Ps. 18:7–15.
10. For other theophany passages employing tebel and ʾereṣ, see Ps. 97:4. Human sin and evil also leave their negative imprint on the world as Isa. 24:4–5 indicates: “The earth [ʾereṣ] dries up and withers, the world [tebel] languishes and withers, the exalted of the earth languish. The earth is defiled by its people.”
11. The Heb. meloʾah (or with a masculine pronoun meloʾo) appears most frequently with the noun ʾereṣ (“earth, land”; cf. Deut. 33:16; Isa. 34:1; Jer. 8:16; 47:2; Ezek. 12:19; 19:7; 30:12; 32:15; Mic. 1:2), though on two occasions it is connected with tebel (“world”; Pss. 50:12; 89:11). In addition, the term appears three times with yam (“sea”; Pss. 96:11; 98:7; Isa. 42:10) and once with ʿir (“city”; Amos 6:8).
12. Translations of the various Mesopotamian texts of creation can be found in a variety of sources listed in most commentaries on the early chapters of Genesis. The two most significant resources are Beyerlin, Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament; Pritchard, ANETP.
13. Ugaritic texts describing the struggle between Baal and Yam are part of the Baal-Anat cycle (I AB-VI AB). English translation of these often fragmentary texts are available in ANETP and Beyerlin, Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament.
14. The kind of “purity” that bar suggests is that accomplished by “sorting” or “sifting out” so that only the good remains. “Sort, sift” is, in fact, the meaning of the verb brr, from which this adjective is derived.
15. For a discussion of the meaning of the term nepeš, see comments on 3:1–2.
16. To “lift up” has overtones of worship and praise, as numerous references to “lifting up the hands” in worship to Yahweh make clear. See e.g., Pss. 28:2; 63:4; 134:2; Lam. 2:19; 3:41. Worship is also characterized by lifting up “hearts” (Lam. 3:41) or a “cup of salvation” (Ps. 116:13) in other passages.
17. Dahood lists Ps. 26:4; 31:7; 119:37; Jonah 2:8.
18. For the former view, see Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 311–15. The latter understanding is expressed by Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 213.
19. Kraus (ibid., 314) provides the following references in support of his claim: Amos 5:5; 2 Sam. 21:1; Hos. 5:15; 2 Sam. 12:16.
20. On the various terms used to describe Yahweh’s residence among humans and the implications for understanding the relative permanence of his appearance with them, see the article on “,” NIDOTTE, 2:550–51.
21. See the discussion of “The Kingship of Yahweh in the Psalms,” in the section on “Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary. See also the comments on 5:1–3.
22. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 315.
23. See this Jubilee legislation in Lev. 25.
1. For further discussion of the alphabetic acrostic form, see the section on “Hebrew Poetry” in the introduction. The acrostic in Ps. 25 is clearly defective in verse 18, which should begin with the Hebrew letter qop but starts with the word reʾeh instead. For this reason BHS suggests an emendation to qešob (“be attentive”) or qeḥah (from lqḥ, “take”), although without textual support. Similarly Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 319) emends to qešar (“have regard”). Charles A. Briggs (C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Psalms, 2 vols. [ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1906–1907], 1:229) connects the existing text reʾeh with a possible original qrʾ (“meet”), with the understanding that the original qop was omitted by confusion with the following reʾeh that appropriately begins the reš line in verse 19. The latter explanation has the strength of plausibility and is picked up by Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 17). The waw verse also is reconstructed out of the short partial v. 5b, where a few manuscripts supply the word with an initial conjunction w- (“and”).
2. Hossfeld and Zenger, Die Psalmen, 163, also understand the verse, and thus the final form of this psalm, as a response to the postexilic setting.
3. See Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 317; Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 277. In BHS, the line is suggested in the apparatus at 25:5c by adding the conjunction to the word ʾotka (“you”) with the support of a few manuscripts. See also the comments of Hossfeld and Zenger, Die Psalmen, 161.
4. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
5. See comments on nepeš in Ps. 24:4.
6. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 219.
7. See comments on reḥem at 22:9.
8. See comments on ḥesed at 6:1–5.
9. See comments on “remembering” at 8:3–4.
10. The NIV’s “for you are good, O LORD” (lemaʿan ṭubeka yhwh) obscures the later connection of this phrase with lemaʿan šimka yhwh (“for the sake of your name, O LORD”) in the central thematic verse 11.
11. This is the same Heb. root from which the noun torah (“instruction, law”) is derived. With the reference to Yahweh’s “covenant” and “testimonies” in 25:10b (cf. NIV “demands of his covenant”), it is clear that adherence to the Torah is expected.
12. For a discussion of the various categories of oppressed persons, see comments on 10:16–18.
13. For an extended discussion of the divine name, see comments on 8:1.
14. See the discussion of various expressions for sin in the section on “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary. The idea of “crookedness” associated with ʿawon stands in direct contrast to the claim that Yahweh is yašar (“straight”) in 25:8.
15. On yaḥid, see comments on Ps. 22:20. Here the emphasis of this word seems to be more on isolation and the resultant vulnerability experienced.
16. See comments on the various types of oppressed persons mentioned in the psalms at 10:16–18.
17. The NIV is reading the verb connected with this noun (“they have widened,” from rḥb) as “increased; multiplied”—a translation not entirely appropriate for this word. The form presents problems because the verb is masculine plural while the supposed subject is feminine plural. BHS suggests an emendation to the masculine singular imperative form and reads it as a plea to Yahweh to “make wide” the “strictures” of the psalmist’s heart.
18. Actually the Heb. reads “all his troubles” rather than the NIV’s “their troubles.”
19. See Hossfeld and Zenger, Die Psalmen, 163; Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 221–22.
1. See comments on dwelling in the house of Yahweh at 23:6.
2. We may find it difficult at first to recognize humility in what may seem like a rather brash and prideful statement of complete innocence, but it is there. Especially the call for Yahweh’s scrutiny is a moment of humble submission to divine authority. One does not lightly open the dark inner recesses of one’s being to God’s gaze, for the consequences of sin are real and God’s mercy is very necessary, as the psalmist clearly recognizes in 26:9–11.
3. The motif of taking refuge in the sanctuary may play a role in the background of this psalm, esp. in the central expression of the psalmist’s fear of being dragged away from it among the sinners who deserve punishment. Alternatively, this may represent the fear of the exilic community of being judged along with the foreign nations among whom they lived. See comments on taking refuge in the temple at 2:12.
4. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
5. See further comments on divine testing and scrutiny at 11:4 and 17:3.
6. See comments at 15:2–5.
7. See comments on divine examination at 11:4–6 and 17:1–5.
8. The root bḥn (“test, examine, probe”) appears twice in 11:4–5; also alongside the verb pqd in Job 7:18.
9. Note the similar thought expressed in different words in 17:5, which declares: “My feet have not slipped” (bal namoṭu); cf. 26:1: “I have trusted without wavering” (loʾ ʾemʿad).
10. It is interesting that the kidneys figured prominently in the ritual of sacrifice practiced throughout the ancient Near East. When animals were sacrificed, the kidneys and the surrounding fat were burned on the altar to the deity. Because of their inaccessibility deep in the inner recesses of the abdominal cavity, the kidneys provided an apt metaphor for the deep inward recesses where humans sought to hide their sin.
11. The Hithpael stem in which the verb hlk appears here can emphasize the repeated nature of an action, as in Esther, when Mordecai constantly walks back and forth before the house of women where Esther is being kept because he is concerned for her welfare and wants to know how she is faring (Est. 2:11).
12. The term ḥesed appears as well in 25:6 and 7; while ʾemet is found in 25:5.
13. The word used for “men” here appears only in plural forms; its singular form is unknown. The term means distinctly male in gender rather than a more generic “human.” The word appears most frequently in phrases such as mete mispar (“a countable [small] number of men”) and mete meʿaṭ (“a few men”), which emphasize small numbers. The phrase mete šawʾ appears in Job 11:11, describing the category of males characterized by falsehood.
14. The term naʿalamim is not well understood. The form is a Niphal participle masculine plural from the root ʿlm (“hidden”). The force of the Niphal stem in this case appears to be passive, so that the literal sense of the word is “those who are hidden.” In 1 Kings 10:3, the singular neʿalam describes the difficult philosophical issues raised by the Queen of Sheba in her conversation with Solomon, for whom no matter was too difficult to interpret. The implication seems to be issues whose true nature is not immediately apparent on the surface. In relation to humans, this may mean those who are not transparent in their relationships with others, who keep their true feelings and motives hidden.
15. A wordplay may be at work in the use of the term mereʿim (“evildoers”). The similar word mereʿim (“intimate, close friends”) shares the identical consonantal text and differs only in a single vowel point.
16. The whole confession is bracketed at beginning and end with verbs of sitting that exhibit the same alternation between perfect-imperfect, past-future: “I have not sat . . . I will not sit.” This gives the whole statement a sort of completeness of effect.
17. The Wailing Wall is the western supporting wall of the Temple Mount, on which the temples of Solomon and Herod originally stood. Since access to the top of the Temple Mount (now the site of the Islamic shrines the Mosque of Omar and the Al Aksah Mosque) is officially prohibited for Orthodox Jews, the Western Wall provides the closest encounter now available with the ancient temple. As a result it has become a particularly revered place of worship for the international Jewish community.
18. Although the Hebrew words for “pure” employed in these verses are not from the same root (24:4, from brr; in 73:13, from nkh), the thought world expressed is similar. The connection of a pure heart and innocent hands in the context of worship preparation is striking and certainly is a way of stressing inward and outward integrity.
19. See the discussion of the “wonderful works of Yahweh” in the commentary on Ps. 9:1–3.
20. Circling about a central cult object is also part of the Haj (“pilgrimage”) in Islam. There the faithful individuals join with the large international congregation of pilgrims in circling the Kaaba—the sacred shrine in Mecca—as one of the first activities of the pilgrimage experience.
21. Cf. Ps. 24, where the two halves bring together the worshiping community and the victorious God.
22. For a further discussion of the “glory” of God, see “Responding to divine holiness” in the Bridging Contexts section on Ps. 5.
23. See my discussion of the temple as Yahweh’s dwelling, “,” NIDOTTE, 2:550–51.
24. Cf. Ex. 21:13–14; 1 Kings 1:50–53; 2:28–30.
25. The expression ʾanše damim appears five times in the biblical text: four times in the Psalter (Pss. 26:9; 55:23; 59:2; and 139:19), and once in Prov. 29:10. Perhaps this term originally described those who wished to consummate a blood vendetta upon an innocent person seeking asylum. By the time of the postexilic period, these passages would have been broadened to include all those who represented enemies of God (see esp. Ps. 139:19–22). David is called a “man of blood” twice by Shimei son of Gera, descendant of Saul, as David fled Jerusalem before the troops of Absalom (2 Sam. 16:7–8). This accusation attempts to put David into the category of the ʾanše damim, who are guilty of spilling innocent blood. Later, David’s desire to build a temple for Yahweh is frustrated because, according to Yahweh, David has poured out blood (damim) before God in his many military campaigns (1 Chron. 22:6–10; 28:3). He is not, however, called a “man of blood” in this context.
26. See, e.g., the venal judges who seek to seduce Susanna in the Apocryphal additions to Daniel.
27. One other piece of evidence in support of a postexilic reading of the psalm is the use in 26:12 of the term maqhelim (NIV “great assembly”). Although the noun is a plural form, the NIV chooses to translate it as a singular reference to the gathering at the Jerusalem temple. Might this plural form instead refer to the plural “places of assembly” among the exilic communities (i.e., the synagogues)?
28. The link between this singular plea for redemption and the similar plural plea at the end of the preceding Ps. 25:22 (“redeem Israel, O God”) is clear. In the postexilic reading of such psalms, singular voices could be understood as mirroring the collective concerns of all Israel.
29. The NIV’s translation of maqhelim as “great assembly” flies in the face of the fact the word is plural and the adjective “great” does not appear here. It is at least possible that the postexilic pilgrim, anticipating ultimate return to the Diaspora setting removed from the Jerusalem temple, here promises to spread praise of Yahweh among the exilic gathering places—the synagogues.
30. The near synonym dyn (“judge, decide”) is also translated “vindication” by the NIV in Gen. 30:6; Pss. 54:1; 135:14.
31. The Greek verb for “justify” (dikaioo) has the same sense of “acquitted, declared not guilty” associated with the Heb. verb ṣdq.
1. Ps. 27:4–6; cf. 23:6; 24:3–6; 26:8; 28:2; 29:9; 30:0; see comments on 23:6.
2. See the discussion of Davidic attribution in the introduction and comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
3. As we have seen in other contexts, yešaʿ can also mean “deliverance.” Cf. comments on the related word yešuʿah at 3:1–2.
4. For a discussion of the concept of “refuge” and the terms related to it, see comments on 5:11–12; see also section “Refuge in the Psalms” in “Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
5. When the psalmist in 27:1b, d asks, “Whom shall I fear . . . of whom shall I be afraid?” the obvious answer is “Fear Yahweh, not humans!”
6. To “stumble” is the prelude to disaster as our psalm and the similar context in Ps. 9:3 (“My enemies turn back; they stumble and perish before you”) indicate. In contrast, those who trust in Yahweh do not stumble or fall. “Though he stumble, he will not fall, for the LORD upholds him with his hand” (Ps. 37:24); “Great peace have they who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble” (119:165).
7. The second occurrence of “seek” in v. 4 results from emending the Hebrew text lebaqqer (“inspect sacrifices”) to lebaqqeš (“seek”) by connection with the verb ʾabaqqeš (“I will seek”) earlier in the verse.
8. See comments on bqš at 4:1–2, and especially footnote 11.
9. The emphasis in the phrase benoʿam yhwh (NIV “beauty of Yahweh”) is on the gracious kindness of Yahweh as host, not the physical or essential beauty. One can observe kindness and grace as well as beauty.
10. A Qal imperfect from ṣpn (“store up, treasure; hide, shelter”).
11. A Hiphil imperfect from str (“hide, secret”).
12. The word is from sukkah “[temporary] shelter” with the unusual third masculine singular pronominal suffix -oh attached. Coupled with the parallel noun ʾoholo (“his tent”) these phrases may refer to the mobile “tabernacle” shrine mentioned in the Exodus narratives. It is unlikely that these references to the “tent” reflect a premonarchical origin for this psalm. Certainly in its final form the composition is aware of the temple (cf. hekalo in 27:4). It is through the use of these terms that the psalmist brings the memory of the Exodus together with the current experience of pilgrimage to the temple.
13. See esp. comments on 18:1–3, where this term and others relating to the theme of refuge are discussed.
14. Note that the psalmist’s cry to be heard mimics the fundamental call to Israel to hear and obey Yahweh (šemaʿ yiśaraʾel [“Hear, O Israel . . .”], Deut. 6:4; see also Deut. 4:1; 5:1; 6:3; 9:1; 20:3, most of which appear to be section headings recalling the primary call in 6:4). Outside the Psalter the phrase is used of Yahweh only in Deut. 33:7 (“Hear, O LORD, the cry of Judah”). Within the Psalter, the exact phrase šemaʿ yhwh occurs only twice; here and in Ps. 30:10 (“Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me”). A similar use of the alternative form of the Qal imperative (šimʿah) does occur once in 17:1 (“Hear, O Lord, my righteous plea”); on five other occasions similar constructions appear, although with significant variations in order (cf. 39:12; 84:8; 102:1; 130:2; 143:1). This seems a rather audacious use of the imperative to call Yahweh to obedience to his covenant obligations.
15. Literally, the text reads, “Of you has said my heart, “Seek MY face!’ ”
16. The psalmist’s “seeking” Yahweh connects back to his earlier “seeking” to dwell in Yahweh’s house in 27:4, but it also provides links to the approved “generation of those who seek him” in 24:6.
17. The string of negative jussive forms ties the whole entreaty together as a unit.
18. Cf. the similar use of the verb “teach, instruct” in 25:8, 12, to describe the instruction of both sinners and the one who fears Yahweh in the right “way.”
19. The verb “lead” appears also in 23:3.
20. The “straight path” the psalmist seeks has thematic linkages throughout this group of psalms, beginning with the “paths of righteousness” in 23:3. The “straight path” of 27:11 is also reminiscent of the “level ground” on which the psalmist confidently stands in 26:12, since both use the same Heb. word mišor (“straight, level”).
21. The Hebrew is difficult and interpreted variously as “a violent witness” (Hosfeld and Zenger, Die Psalmen, 174 [Gewaltzeuge]), “raging” (ibid., 173 [wüten]), or the NIV’s “breathing out violence”—the last two both taking the word from the root ypḥ (“gasp for breath; groan”) or pwḥ (“blow; blast”). The “violence” these enemies breathe out is the Heb. ḥamas (“violence that spills blood”). See also 25:19, where this same word describes the “fierce” hatred the enemy has for the psalmist.
22. The base text underlying BHS (i.e., Codex Leningradensis) begins 27:13 with the Heb. word luleʾ (“unless”), which normally introduces a protasis clause responding to a preceding apodosis (if) clause. Because no apodosis is present prior to this verse and because the peculiar marking of this word in the Masoretic Text indicates strong suspicion regarding its presence—a suspicion confirmed by its absence in a number of manuscripts—most commentators and translations omit it entirely.
23. The more unusual form ṭub (“goodness, well-being, success”) links Ps. 27 back to 25:7 and forward to 31:19, which also describe the goodness of Yahweh. That goodness (using the more common form) appears also in 23:6 and 25:8.
24. The phrase “land of the living” occurs some fifteen times in the Old Testament, seven of which are in Ezekiel (Ezek. 26:20; 32:23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 32), four in the Psalms (Pss. 27:13; 52:5; 116:9; 142:5), two in Isaiah (Isa. 38:11; 53:8), and one each in Job (Job 28:13) and Jeremiah (Jer. 11:19). In all cases it clearly refers to this present life as opposed to the vague nonexistence of Sheol.
25. Coupled as imperatives of encouragement these verbs occur twelve times in the Old Testament: once when God directs Moses to encourage Joshua (Deut. 3:28), three times in Moses’ actual instructions to Joshua (Deut. 31:6, 7, 23), five times in Joshua’s instructions to Israel in the conquest of the land (Josh. 1:6, 7, 9, 18; 10:25), twice as David encourages Solomon to complete the building of the temple (1 Chron. 22:13; 28:20), and a final time in Hezekiah’s instructions to his troops in the face of the Assyrian invasion (2 Chron. 32:7). These verbs are also paired in slightly different constructions in 2 Chron. 11:7; 13:7; Ps. 31:24; Isa. 35:3; Nah. 2:1, and these roots occur together as nouns in Isa. 28:2 and Amos 2:14.
26. The NIV’s translation of ʾohel as “tabernacle” interprets the term here as a reference to the miškan (“tabernacle”), which is also called the “Tent of Meeting” (ʾohel moʿed).
27. Egypt is called an “iron-smelting furnace” in Deut. 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51; Jer. 11:4.
28. See comments on 23:5–6 and the Bridging Contexts and Contemporary Significance sections for this psalm.
29. See the report of George Barna in Southern California Christian Times 11/2 (February 2000): 1, 11.
30. Andrew Murray, Waiting on God (New York: Revell, n.d.), 46–47.
31. C. S. Lewis, “Meditation in a Toolshed,” God in the Dock (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1970), 212–15.
1. See comments in the NIV Study Bible notes to Ps. 28.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
3. The NIV has “mercy” here. There is a subtle but significant difference to my way of thinking in “mercy” and “favor.” The former is unmerited and undeserved, while the latter may be based on some perceived reason—such as Job’s righteous behavior.
4. The lifting of the hands to God is a gesture of prayer (141:2) and can be associated either with praise (63:4; 134:2) or supplication (28:2; Lam. 2:19; 3:41).
5. The reference in this verse is to the “rear room of the temple where the holiness of Yahweh resides.” The term debir is employed more generally in the ancient Near East to designate the rear room or inner niche “of a Syrian type of temple,” which later came to be called in Hebrew parlance the “Holy of Holies”—qodeš haqqedašim (Holladay, CHALOT, 66; the NIV translates this phrase as “the Most Holy Place”).
6. The verb “drag” is the Hebrew also employed in Gen. 37:28 to describe Joseph’s brothers “dragging” him roughly out of the pit in order to bundle him off into slavery with the Midianites.
7. As mentioned in relation to 26:9 (see comments), there may be a connection here with the idea of asylum in the temple. If the one seeking asylum was determined to be guilty, he would be “dragged” out of the temple and executed. Here the psalmist disassociates himself from those who would suffer such a fate.
8. For similar attempts to disassociate from wicked persons, see 1:1; 26:4–5, 9 and comments. The word that the NIV translates “cordially” is šalom, the common word for “peace; wholeness; well-being.” The point seems to be that the evildoers outwardly express concern for the well-being of their neighbor, but in their hearts they desire to hurt him.
9. The same demand for transparent consistency between one’s inner attitudes and outward actions motivates much of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5–7), where Jesus heightens the demand of righteousness associated with the Pharisees by pointing away from external obedience to the law to the inner attitude of repentance and reliance on the mercy of God.
10. The Heb. gemul is often translated “reprisal, reward,” but as a contextual interpretation from a root meaning “deeds, doings” (Holladay, CHALOT, 62).
11. While this passage probably was not originally intended to speak to the exilic destruction of the Jerusalem temple, it likely resonated in a reverse manner with the postexilic Jewish community and came to express a sort of appropriate hope for retribution against those who “tore down” the temple and “did not rebuild it.” The shift to communal language in the final verses of the psalm (28:8–9) suggests this individual plea for deliverance was reinterpreted in light of the exilic experience. Cf. also Jer. 1:10, where two of the same verbs (hrs [“overthrow, throw down”] and bnh [“build”]) are used to describe God’s judgment and restoration.
12. Once again the Hebrew psalmist has no problem envisioning humans “blessing” God. The NIV’s consistent translation of brk in this kind of context is “praise.” This may indicate some theological hesitation on the part of the NIV translators to describe humans as capable of blessing the almighty, immutable, unchanging, and entirely complete Yahweh (see the comments on 16:5–8).
13. This is the only occurrence of ḥezeq in the whole Old Testament.
14. Holladay (CHALOT, 269) suggests that in some cases ʿoz may mean “fortress” rather than “strength” (cf. Ps. 59:17).
15. See comments on Ps. 3:3 for further discussion of “shield.” Yahweh is also described as magen in 3:4; 7:10; 18:2, 30; 33:20; 59:11; 84:11; 115:9, 10, 11; 119:114; 144:2.
16. This could be explained as an aural copying error since leʿammo and lamo are so close in sound.
17. The term maʿoz (“fortress”) also appears at 27:1; 31:2, 4; 37:39; 43:2; 52:7; 60:9; 108:9. The word yešuʿot (“salvation, deliverance”) is often translated “victory, victories,” as the earlier use in 18:50 demonstrates.
18. See the NIV Study Bible note on this verse.
19. See comments on 23:6.
20. Cf. Prov. 10:3, 16, 22; 11:19; 12:21; 13:21, 25; 14:11; 15:6; 16:20.
21. E.g., Prov. 11:4, 28; 15:16; 16:8, 16, 19; 19:1; 22:1; 28:6.
22. Cf. Pss. 5:9; 17:3, 10; 28:3; 55:21; 58:2; 62:4.
23. The lamenting cries of Pss. 89 and 137 fall into this category of complaint.
24. The New Testament word for “church” is the Greek ekklesia, “those called out.”
1. Altogether Yahweh appears either singly or in combination with other words a total of eighteen times in the eleven verses of the psalm, leaving no doubt that the psalmist’s focus is on the majestic power of the being of Yahweh and on his name.
2. By “mythical” I mean having to do with those narratives that intend to explain the origins of the universe and humanity—frequently in highly poetic language. The Genesis accounts of the creation and Flood share with similar ancient Near Eastern texts a focus on chaotic waters that must be controlled within boundaries before secure human existence can be assured. By being described as “enthroned over the flood,” Yahweh is proclaimed as the authoritative ruler of the chaotic waters and creator of a stable universe.
3. See comments on the heading to Ps. 3.
4. See the initial references to kabod in the comments on Pss. 3 and 8.
5. See the discussion of theophany in the comments on Ps. 18:4–19; compare other theophany passages such as 18:7–15 and 77:16–19.
6. Ancient Kadesh was located inland, about equidistant from Damascus to the south and Aleppo to the North. Rather than a “desert” of sand, the area might better be called an unoccupied “wilderness” or steppe—alternative translations of the Heb. midbar.
7. The narratives of Gilgamesh and Enkidu are available in various translation. See, e.g., ANETP, 1:40–75.
8. Another designation for Mount Hermon (cf. Deut. 3:8–9).
9. The difficulty is compounded by the fact that the plural of the word “forest/thicket” (yaʿar) is normally masculine (yeʿarim) rather than feminine as the form used here (yeʿarot). BHS offers another possible emendation of this word to yeʿalot “(female) mountain goats,” a reading that would parallel the “writhing deer” version of the first half of this verse.
10. The word mabbul occurs in Gen. 6:17; 7:6, 7, 10, 17; 9:11 [2x], 15, 28; 10:1, 32; 11:10.
11. It is no accident that the closest theophanic parallel to Ps. 29 is Ps. 93—the lead-off psalm of the Yahweh malak collection. See discussion of the Yahweh malak psalms in the section on “Psalm Types” in the introduction.
12. The noun ʾelohim is a masculine plural form and is used so frequently for the multiple gods of the polytheistic nations that only a few examples are given here (e.g., Ex. 15:11; 23:32–33; Deut. 6:14; 8:19; Pss. 82:1; 86:8; 95:3; 96:4; 97:7, 9; 135:5; 136:2; 138:1). The most striking feature in Israel’s use of this term is that the plural form came to be used when referring to the one God of Israel. In these cases, the singular nature of God was clearly indicated by the use of masculine singular verbal forms!
13. The NIV even more interpretively translates bene ʾelohim as “angels,” while supplying a textual note to the more direct rendering “the sons of God.”
14. Some scholars have suggested that the northern kings kept the early capital Tirzah as a center of exclusive Yahweh worship while Samaria allowed worship of multiple deities for the mixed population of the kingdom.
15. See the Aqhat Epic, in which Baal is described as “the Rider of the Clouds,” in ANETP, 1:127.
16. Prostrate in the slippery fish bottom of the boat, Peter had to acknowledge that he too was one of the “fish” Jesus had come to catch!
17. From the hymn “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” by Joachim Neander, 1650–1680, translated by Catherine Winkworth, 1827–1878. Taken from The Covenant Hymnal (Chicago: Covenant Press, 1973), 29.
1. The core psalms of this group are all pleas for deliverance (Pss. 25; 26; 27; 28), while threat and divine deliverance figure prominently in Ps. 23 as well.
2. Just what dedication of the temple this has in view remains obscure—whether that of the original Solomonic temple, the restored exilic temple, the rededication in the time of the Maccabean revolution, or some other moment of purification.
3. For mizmor and ledawid see comments on the heading of Ps. 3. This is the first occurrence of the simple šir in a heading (see also headings to Pss. 45; 46; 48; 65–68; cf. also the heading of Ps. 18).
5. See also, Pss. 34:3; 99:5, 9; 107:32; 118:28; 145:1 where the exaltation of Yahweh plays an important role.
6. The NIV also uses the term “gloat” in 22:17 to interpret the phrase yabbiṭu yirʾu bi (“they look, they see me”).
7. The phrasing is a little awkward, but not impossible. The prepositional phrase miyyorede (following the Ketib and other versions) “from those who go down” might also mean “more than those descending.” The bor “pit” (like the hole into which Joseph’s brothers threw him before selling him into slavery, Gen. 37:22) is often used as a parallel to Sheol.
8. This is from the same root as ḥesed (“enduring covenant loyalty”) and emphasizes enduring loyalty and faithfulness to the covenant demands rather than what we normally associate with “holiness; piety; sainthood.”
9. The verb zmr appears again at the end of this psalm (30:12) and has occurred previously with this same sense in 27:6 (cf. also 28:7).
10. See the comments on the interconnectedness of sin and sickness in the Israelite understanding in the comments on 6:1–5.
11. On a very few occasions, humans are said to “hide their face” from God—usually out of fear of judgment deserved for their sin (cf. Ex. 3:6; Rev. 6:16). Even more rare is the use of the phrase for Yahweh “hiding his face” from human sin as a way of mercifully not acting in judgment (Ps. 51:9). Far more frequently, however, Yahweh hides his face as an act of judgment and rejection that leaves the human to face alone the consequences of sin and the lack of divine protection. See particularly the passage in Deut. 31:17–18, in which Yahweh prophesies to Moses concerning the disloyalty of Israel that will lead to divine rejection, so that the people of Israel will say, “Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is not with us?” (See also Deut. 32:20; Job 13:24; 34:29; Pss. 13:1; 27:9; 44:24; 69:17; 88:14; 102:2; 104:29; 143:7; Isa. 50:6; 54:8; 57:17; Jer. 33:5; Ezek. 39:24, 29; Mic. 3:4.)
13. This term normally has negative implications and is often translated “illegal” or “dishonest gain” (e.g., Ex. 18:21; 1 Sam. 8:3). The word is related to the verb bṣʿ (“cut off”) and may refer to a portion of a larger whole that is “cut off” as the individual’s portion in a transaction. One could imagine that as various economic commodities were transferred through “middle men,” the original value could be greatly reduced by each person “cutting off” a portion (whether openly or surreptitiously). It would seem that the word was not considered universally evil or negative, since it is here applied to the “gain” or “profit” that God might receive through human praise.
14. The “pit” (šaḥat) into which the psalmist fears descending here is different from the “pit” (bor) mentioned in 30:3. The šaḥat is a trap dug to capture animals, while the bor is a cistern intended to capture rainwater. Either could be used as an image of the burial pit in which a dead body was placed and, by extension, Sheol, the abode of the dead.
16. The interpretation of this passage continues to be difficult because of the varieties of meaning attached to the root dm. On the one hand the root dmm means “perish, be destroyed” while the similar root dmm can mean “stand still, be motionless” and the related root dmh can mean either “be like” or “be silent.”
17. See comments on 27:7 for additional discussion of this type of cry and its relationship to the central call for Israel to hear and obey Yahweh.
18. The sermon appears in two versions: Jer. 7:1–15 and 26:1–6.
19. Cf. Ex. 20:5; 34:14; Deut. 4:24; 5:9; 6:15; Josh. 24:19.
20. The author of Hebrews offers two quotations from the Old Testament in Heb. 13:5b–6: the first from Deut. 31:6, the second from Ps. 118:6–7.
1. This circumstance is, of course, more complex than can be briefly stated. Through 31:2a the two psalms are practically identical. From that point the two diverge more significantly, each offering phrases not appearing in the other but maintaining a progression of similar phrases.
2. See comments on these terms in the headings of Pss. 3 and 4.
3. In Job the identification of these terms is esp. clear, when “spirit of God” (ruaḥ ʾel) is paralleled with “breath of the Almighty” (nišmat sǎdday) on two occasions (Job 32:8 and 33:4). See also Job 34:14, where spirit and breath are linked. Eccl. 12:7 and Ps. 146:4 describe the departure of the ruaḥ at death. Eccl. 12:7 goes so far as to note the spirit returns to God, “who gave it.” In a clear reference to the account of creation in Gen. 2, Zech. 12:1 declares that Yahweh “forms” (using the same Heb. verb yṣr as in Gen. 2:7 to describe the forming of the first human by God from clay) the ruaḥ “of man within him.”
4. In Luke’s passion narrative, Jesus at the last gives himself up into the care of God with the words of this psalm: “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 23:46). In Acts 7:59, Stephen commits himself into the care of Jesus with much the same words.
5. The Numbers passage is the only occurrence of the phrase outside the Psalter. Within the psalms the phrase occurs at 4:6; 31:16; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 104:15; 119:35, and it is consistently associated with divine favor and blessing (see also comments on 4:6).
6. Sheol is the abode of the dead and is viewed as a place of passive silence and resting. Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 262) notes connections between death and silence in 94:17 and 115:17.
7. The theme of God as “hiding place” links this psalm to the following one, where God is once again viewed as protective place of concealment from trouble. Cf. 32:7, where the same Heb. term (seter) is used of God.
8. It is generally agreed that the Feast of Booths reinterprets an originally agricultural feast in which the sukkot were temporary shelters built to shade workers during the grain harvest. This early festival was given new life and purpose by making it the time for recalling the nomadic escape from Egyptian bondage. A similar transition can be seen taking place in the Feast of Weeks, an original agricultural festival mentioned as such in the Old Testament but transformed in later years into a remembrance of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.
9. The sort of personal reflection out of a specific context described in this verse with the Heb. phrase waʾani ʾamarti be- . . . occurs three times in the psalms (Pss. 30:6; 31:22; 116:11; cf. also Isa. 38:10). That two of three occurrences should be found in adjacent psalms is suggestive. In Ps. 30 the reflection comes out of a sense of well-being (NIV “When I felt secure . . .”), while Ps. 31 reflects a situation of stress and confusion (NIV “In my alarm . . .”). Ps. 116 employs the same wording as 31:22 (NIV “In my dismay . . .”) for a similar context of distress.
10. Cf. Pss. 4:2; 25:2, 3, 20; 31:1, 17; 34:5; 35:4, 26; 40:14, 15; 44:7, 15; 53:5; 69:6, 7; 70:2, 3; 71:1, 13, 24; 78:66; 83:16; 86:17; 89:45; 97:7; 109:28, 29; 119:6, 31, 46, 78, 80; 127:5; 129:5; 132:18.
11. Cf. also Prov. 3:14; 15:17; 16:8, 16, 19; 17:1.
12. See also the biblical books of Job and Ecclesiastes for a contrasting view to this general pattern.
13. The phrase “God of truth” is a singular one. Similar phrases occur only in Isa. 65:16 and 1 Esdras 4:40. The Hebrew of the former (ʾelohim ʾamen) is not an exact reflection of the Hebrew of our psalm (ʾel ʾemet). In Isaiah the phrase is often translated “faithful God.” The 1 Esdras passage in the Greek is an exact reflection of the LXX of Ps. 31:5 (Gk. ho theos tes aletheias). By contrast, the Isa. 65:16 passage in the LXX is rendered ton theon ton alethinon.
1. See the discussion of untitled psalms in the section on “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary. Cf. Gerald H. Wilson, “The Use of ‘Untitled’ Pss. in the Hebrew Psalter,” ZAW 97 (1985): 405–13.
2. Ps. 32 is the second of seven penitential psalms in the Psalter (Pss. 6; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; 143).
3. The term appears in 14:2; in the headings, it appears an additional twelve times (Pss. 42; 44; 45; 52; 53; 54; 55; 74; 78; 88; 89; 142).
4. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 25.
5. See my comments on the connections between Pss. 32 and 33 in my discussion of Ps. 33; also in Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 174–76.
6. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 266; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 369.
7. An interesting assimilation of texts apparently takes place in the LXX version of Ps. 32. There the Greek text reads, “there is no deceit in his mouth” rather than the Hebrew’s “in his spirit.” This seems to modify the original text toward Isa. 53:9, “nor was any deceit in his mouth.” In the Greek text, the two Heb. words for “deceit” (remiyyah and mirmah) are translated by the same Greek word: dolos. In the New Testament, 1 Peter 2:22 clearly quotes from Isa. 53:9 as illumining the model of Christ we are to emulate. In Jesus’ first encounter with Nathanael (John 1:47–51), he praises Nathanael as “a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.” The theme of lack of deceit as praiseworthy was certainly well established by the time of Christ.
8. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 267; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 371.
9. See, for example, Gen. 4:13; Ex. 28:38; 34:7; Lev. 5:1, 17; 17:16; Num. 5:31; 14:18; 30:15; Isa. 33:24; Ezek. 4:4, 6; 18:19; 44:10, 12; Mic. 7:18.
10. This seems a clear allusion (if not a direct quote) of Isa. 53:12, where the alternate phrase “lift up sin” is used at the end of the fourth Servant Song (52:13–53:12): “For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” First Peter 2:24, in the midst of a discussion of the crucifixion drawing extensively on Isa. 53, agrees that “he himself [Jesus] bore our sins in his body on the tree” (italics added in both references).
11. In a strange way the Internet is eroding this cult of privacy. In order to explore the labyrinthine contents of the Web, one must submit all sorts of personal information to Web providers in order to be fully connected. “Cookies”—placed on our computers by persons unknown to us—track our moves, communicating to marketers, merchandizers, and system administrators our viewing preferences and our buying tendencies. Yet we put up with this intrusion because the Internet offers an illusion of anonymity since we can cloak our identity to other users with whom we come in contact. The illusory nature of this sense of privacy and anonymity is nowhere better illustrated than in the use of the Internet at work. Recent actions by employers to track employee Internet and e-mail usage, resulting in disciplinary actions and even dismissals for excessive use of the Web during work hours, accessing inappropriate (esp. pornographic) sites, or objections to the amount and content of e-mail messages, have made it clear that use of the Web, far from being private and secure, is subject to the scrutiny of many others.
1. See Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 374.
2. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 271.
3. For discussion of the acrostic psalms, see the section on “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction. For a brief discussion on this psalm, see Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 271. For further literature on the subject see J. M. Vincent, “Recherches éxégetiques sur le Psaume 33,” VT 28 (1978): 442–54.
4. See the discussion of “untitled psalms” in Gerald H. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 173–81.
5. Cf. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 375.
6. Cf. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 272.
7. See Longman, “The Divine Warrior,” 290–307; cf. Longman and Reid, God Is a Warrior, 45, 191.
8. For a discussion of the terms “righteous, righteousness” and “justice,” see comments on 4:1–2; 7:6–9.
9. There may also be echoes here of Yahweh’s primeval defeat of the chaotic waters at creation by which the enduring stability of the world was ensured, but that struggle is not foregrounded (cf. Ps. 93).
10. The idea of “fearing” God can sometimes be troubling. It is clear from a thorough study of this phrase and concept that it does not mean “be afraid”; rather, it is an idiomatic expression carrying the weight of “maintain the appropriate relationship and attitude of absolute dependence on and loyalty to Yahweh.” See the discussion of “Fear of Yahweh” in the section on “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
11. This theme is esp. significant in the Pentateuch (cf. Gen. 17:7; Ex. 6:7; Lev. 11:45; 22:33; 25:38; 26:12; Num. 15:41; Deut. 29:13), but also appears in the prophets (cf. Jer. 7:23; 11:4; 30:22; Ezek. 36:28).
12. Pss. 19 and 104 are sometimes mentioned in this regard. The heavenly scrutiny of God is also mentioned in 14:2 and 53:2. In 85:11, “righteousness looks down from heaven.”
13. See 20:2; 30:10; 54:4; 70:5; 72:12; 107:12; 121:1, 2; 124:8; 146:5; esp. 115:9, 10, 11, where the phrase “he [Yahweh] is their help and shield” is employed as a repeated refrain. Verbal forms of the same root appear in 79:9; 109:26; 118:13; 119:86, 173.
14. This is but a partial listing of the many references to waiting/hoping for God in the psalms: 5:3; 25:3, 5, 21; 27:14; 31:24; 33:18, 20, 22; 37:7, 9, 34; 38:15; 42:5, 11; 43:5; 52:9; 119:166; 130:5, 7. At least four Heb. verbs are at work here: ṣph (“make long, endure, wait”); qwh (“wait eagerly”); yḥl (“wait, hope”); and sabr (“hope, wait”).
15. The Book of Psalms: A New Translation According to the Traditional Hebrew Text (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society of America, 1997).
16. See Ps. 102:26–28.
17. The challenging poem of Eccl. 1:3–11 clearly teaches what our psalmist acknowledges, that human endeavor and power is a futile source of confidence and trust. “What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, ‘Look! This is something new’? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. There is no remembrance of men of old, and even those who are yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow” (1:9–11).
1. James A. Sanders, The Dead Sea Psalms Scroll (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univ. Press, 1967), 117.
2. The other twelve psalms are 3; 7; 18; 51; 52; 54; 56; 57; 59; 60; 63; 142.
3. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
4. See discussion of terms for the poor and oppressed in the comments on 10:16–18.
5. See comments regarding a reluctance to depict humans as able to “bless” God at 31:21–24.
6. “And where the ten are, there shall never lack a man among them who shall study the Law continually, day and night, concerning the right conduct of a man with his companion. And the Congregation shall watch in community for a third of every night of the year, to read the Book and to study Law and to pray together.” From the Community Rule (also called the Manual of Discipline), column VI. Translation is from Geza Vermes, The Dead Sea Scrolls in English (New York: Penguin, 1968), 81.
7. The Heb. for “radiate”(nhr) also occurs in Isa. 60:5. While it is tempting to connect this description of radiance as the result of looking to Yahweh, with the similar description of Moses descending Mount Sinai with a radiant face because of his close contact with God, the Heb. phrase used in the latter case (“the skin of his face shone,” lit. trans. of Ex. 34:29) is distinct from that used in Ps. 34:5.
8. It is most suggestive that the only two occurrences of the angel of Yahweh in the Psalter occur in adjacent psalms. We will consider the relationship of these two psalms as the commentary proceeds.
9. See the discussion of “Fear of Yahweh” in the section on “The Theology of the Psalms” in volume 2 of this commentary.
10. In wisdom literature, this is frequently the definition of right human relationship to God and others.
11. The term behind my use of “wholeness” and the NIV’s translation “peace” (34:14) is šalom, which is regularly translated as “peace” but means far more than the cessation of war and conflict. The word has overtones of “completeness” and means to assume the kind of “right” relationship to God, the world, and others that establishes an appropriate balance that can only be understood as “wholeness.”
12. See Job 1:5, 11; 2:5; see also the related passage in 1 Kings 21:10, 13, where Naboth is sentenced to death for blasphemy after being falsely accused of (lit.) “blessing” God.
13. The Heb. text here reads yebarakeka (“he will bless you”), although the text clearly requires “curse.”
14. Of course, I am not denying that in some sense “none is righteous, no not one” (Ps. 14; 53) and that all sinners deserve divine punishment for their failings.
1. Cf. esp. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 285.
2. Ibid.
3. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
4. The magen was a smaller, round shield worn on the arm and preferred by those wielding swords for the mobility it offered. The ṣinnah was a larger, rectangular shield behind which those wielding spears could hide most of their body while thrusting out at the enemy (see also comments on 3:3–4).
5. The ḥanit is a shorter, thrusting spear used in close combat. The meaning of segor is debated, with some suggesting a double axe, and others the “socket” from which a throwing spear (or javelin) is launched. If the latter is true, the image is a metonymy in which the part is used to express the whole; thus the NIV’s “javelin.” See “Spear” in EDB, 966.
6. For a discussion of the Heb. word nepeš, see comments on 3:1–2.
7. See the discussion of “shame” in the comments on 31:1–5, 17–18 and in the Bridging Contexts section for that same psalm.
8. This verse mixes agricultural and military metaphors. Chaff is the husk of harvested grain that is separated from the useful kernel by beating or running over the grain with a sledge. The grain is then tossed into the air during a breeze so that the lighter chaff is blown away and the heavier kernels fall to the ground to be collected.
9. See comments on 34:7.
10. The Heb. of 35:7–8 is particularly disjointed and difficult. The NIV assumes the transposition of the Hebrew word šaḥat (“pit”) from its awkward position in the first phrase of verse 7 (where it precedes rešet [“net”]) to a more appropriate position in the second phrase, where it provides the missing object of the verb “dig.” Some (e.g., Kraus, Craigie) omit the Heb. ḥinnam (“without cause”) from the second phrase as repetitive. Dahood (Psalms, 1:211–12) postulates (rather weakly) on the basis of Ugaritic a root for the same word that means “stealthily.” The final phrase of verse 8 is equally debated. The existing Heb. provides the difficult “into ruin let him fall into it”—the double preposition being particularly awkward. To restore the retributive balance of “ruin . . . net . . . pit,” some suggest reading the Heb. text of bešoʾah (“into ruin”) as baššuḥah (“into the pit”). The NIV’s “into the pit, to their ruin” is a conflation of these two options. Dahood suggests the Heb. word šoʾah (usually translated “ruin”) can have the sense of “pit.”
11. This kind of testimony is explicitly forbidden in Ex. 23:1, and in Deut. 19:16–19 provision is made that when such a “violent, ruthless, malicious” witness is found out, the penalty that would have been imposed on the innocent party is to be carried out on the witness instead. For this kind of “violence” God brought the great Flood to cleanse the earth (Gen. 6:11, 13), which is understood to have been “filled” and “polluted” by human bloodletting. The prophets also regularly condemn ḥamas. Cf. also Ps. 27:12, where “false witnesses” (ʿede šeqer) are described as “breathing out violence” (wipeaḥ ḥamas).
12. Prov. 17:13 describes the lasting effects of such insolent disregard on the perpetrator: “If a man pays back evil for good, evil will never leave his house” (cf. also Ps. 38:20; Jer. 18:20).
13. Dahood, Psalms, 1:213; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 391; Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 285.
14. This verse is difficult, esp. the word nekim, since it occurs nowhere else. A variety of solutions have been suggested, ranging from reading nkym as nkrym (nekarim = “strangers”; see Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 391) to Dahood’s reading as nkym (nokim = “smiters”; see Dahood, Psalms, 1:213). Craigie’s replacement of nkym by tkym (“oppressor”) has the support of the Dead Sea manuscript 4QPsa (Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 285).
15. The attackers qareʿu (“tear up, tear away, tear apart”), perhaps referring to the effects of slander on the victim, although Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 391) prefers qrṣ (“wink [in derision]”; cf. 35:19) or qr, (“cry out”).
16. The preceding phrase is another difficult one, with no satisfactory solution.
17. Perhaps here an equivalent of our phrase “baring the fangs” like a beast of prey, either in anger or in anticipation of tearing into a victim.
18. There is some discussion regarding the precise meaning of the term translated by the NIV as “from their ravages” (Heb. miššoʾehem). Dahood (Psalms, 1:214) assumes a connection with the same root as employed in šoʾah (v. 8) and suggests the meaning “from their pits.” Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 391) draws on the parallel with “lions” in the next line to suggest an emendation to miššoʾagim “their roars.” The NIV assumes an unusual masculine plural form of the feminine noun šoʾa (“ruin, devastation”) or a related masculine noun form.
19. Verse 19 consists of two affirming parallel lines in which the two verbs (yǐśameḥu [“rejoice/gloat”] and yiqreṣu [“wink”]) are both governed by the single negative particle ʾal (“not” at the beginning of the first line). In this case both verbs would be jussives expressing the will of the speaker, “Let them not. . . .” Alternatively, the second verb can be seen as independent of the negative particle, thus serving as a relative clause, so that the second line can be translated: “My unjustified haters who wink the eye.” In either case the meaning is essentially the same.
20. The NIV’s “maliciously” is not in the Hebrew text but is an interpretive translation of the consistently negative meaning of the idiom.
21. The psalmist’s detractors are also said to “gape” (lit., “make wide against/concerning me their mouth”)—a visible distortion of the mouth in a public display of pretended astonishment or dismay intended to ridicule the object of scorn.
22. “Awake” and “arise” are not intended to suggest divine slumber; rather, they express the psalmist’s desire that Yahweh stir himself up from apparent inactivity to actively accomplish his deliverance.
23. To speak to one’s nepeš, as here, is to reflect on one’s most deeply held desires and convictions (see comments on 3:1–2).
24. The phrase can also be used of humans, marking out their superiority to others (cf. Deut. 33:29; 1 Sam. 26:15).
25. For references to the incomparability of Yahweh to other gods in a polytheistic or henotheistic context, see Ex. 15:11; Deut. 33:26; 1 Kings 8:23 = 2 Chron. 6:14; Pss. 86:8; 89:6, 8.
26. Proclamation of the exclusive existence of Yahweh is the intent of 2 Sam. 7:22 = 1 Chron. 17:20.
27. The psalmists—esp. in the laments—often reflect a similar awareness of the inconsistencies of life in relation to their profession of Yahweh’s character.
28. See esp. the comments on public vindication in the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 26.
29. Twelve-steppers have a way of putting this in the Third Step prayer: “Take away my difficulties that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of your power, your love, and your way of life.”
1. See comments on the headings of Pss. 3 and 4 for these terms.
2. For the statistics on the use of this expression, see note 3 in the discussion of Ps. 18.
3. It is tempting to suggest this association of David and servant of Yahweh in the psalm headings might explain the source of Jesus’ own adoption of the suffering servant as the model of his messianic role. Jesus was certainly well immersed in the psalms and often used them to interpret his own life and ministry (cf. his quotation of portions of Ps. 22 from the cross).
4. The word “oracle” is normally the translation applied to the Hebrew term maśśaʾ, (“carrying, burden; pronouncement, oracle”).
5. See in the New Testament Acts 2:30.
6. 11QPsa, col. 27. The account known as David’s Compositions attributes to David a total of 4,050 psalms and songs for various occasions and purposes. The account also claims divine inspiration for these compositions: “And Yahweh gave him a discerning and enlightened spirit so that he wrote. . . . All these he wrote through the discernment that was given him from before the Most High.”
7. See the discussion of “Fear of Yahweh” in the section on “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
8. It is also interesting to note that the psalmist does not relate the wicked’s fear to Yahweh, as in the classic phrase yirʾat yhwh, but uses instead the more generic divine epithet ʾelohim (“God”). It is common practice in the psalms to avoid placing the divine name Yahweh in the mouth of unbelievers or severe sinners. Instead, the psalmists often substitute ʾelohim, possibly indicating the lack of understanding such people have of the true nature of Yahweh and at least protecting the divine name from association with such profane belief.
9. See the discussion of poetic technique in the section on “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction.
10. The Heb. harre ʾel literally means “mountains of God.” On occasion, however, the generic terms for god/God (Heb. ʾel; ʾelohim) are used as emphatic particles with the sense of “really big!” (cf. Jonah 3:3, “and Nineveh was a great city to God” probably means “and Nineveh was a really big city!”).
11. The second term in the initial merism (NIV’s “skies”) is the Hebrew šeḥaqim. The word is normally associated with the heavenly phenomenon of clouds. Holladay (CHALOT, 366), however, suggests a connection with (clouds of) dust. This would make the double merism more complete and exact: “heavens . . . dust (of earth); mountains . . . deep.”
12. Cf. Gen. 2; Isa. 5:7; 25:6; 55:2; 58:14; Matt. 8:11; 22:1–14; Luke 13:29; 14:16–24.
13. Cf. also the related imagery surrounding the “river of the water of life” in Rev. 22:1–2.
14. See the discussion of “living water” in the Bridging Contexts section below. For Jesus’ use of related ideas, see his discussion with the Samaritan woman in John 4.
15. For placing one’s foot on an enemy as a sign of conquest and subjection, see comments on 8:6; 110:1.
16. Cf. the conflict between the herdsmen of Lot and Abraham in Gen. 13; also Moses’ rescue of the daughters of Reuel from the local shepherds in Ex. 2:16–19.
17. In this understanding, the Flood (Gen. 6–9) is a threat of uncreation, in which the chaotic waters above the earth rain down and those beneath the earth bubble up to flood and dissolve the tenuous protective habitat of humanity and all creation.
18. In Mesopotamia, the chaotic primeval waters Apsu (male) and Tiamat (female) give birth to the younger gods, while in Egypt it is the earth Geb (male) and heavens Nut (female) that accomplish the same feat.
19. “When He Returns,” words and music by Bob Dylan (Special Rider Music, 1979).
20. Cf. 2 Cor. 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ; [there] is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
21. Such arrangements are noted at Qumran as well in the ritual baths uncovered in private houses from the Second Temple period in Jerusalem.
1. See the discussion of acrostic psalms in the section on “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction. This balanced distribution of the acrostic psalms in the first and last books of the Psalter is a strong indication that wisdom interests have played an important role in shaping the final form of the canonical book of Psalms.
2. Except in the case of the ḥeṭ stanza (vv. 14–15), which has six lines, and the nun stanza (vv. 25–26), which includes five lines.
3. See the discussion of attribution to David in the comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
4. Compare this verse with the similar aphorism in Prov. 24:19: “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of the wicked.” The two verses agree in all particulars in the Hebrew except in the identification of the group that is not to be envied. In Prov. 24:19 that is the “wicked” (rešaʿim) while in Ps. 37:1 it is “those who do wrong” (ʿośe ʿawlah).
5. See 37:2; 90:5; 92:7; 102:11; 103:15; 129:6, of which four are located in the important and formative Book 4 of the Psalter (Pss. 90–106). The other occurrence besides our psalm (129:6) is an apparent allusion to Isa. 37:27 = 2 Kings 19:26 (or perhaps vice versa). Outside the Psalter the image of withering grass appears in Job 8:12; Jer. 12:4; and frequently in Isaiah (Isa. 15:1–6; 37:27; 40:6, 7, 8; 51:12). Jesus used the image in his Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 6:30) as an admonition not to worry excessively (cf. Luke 12:28); it also appears in 1 Peter 1:24 as a quote from Isa. 37:27. In Rev. 8:7, a third of the grass of the earth is burned up when the seventh seal is opened.
6. The Heb. reʿeh ʾemunah (“consistent/reliable pasture”) is an apparent reference to the withering grass image used in verse 2. Although the wicked can anticipate only divine judgment and ultimate destruction, those who trust Yahweh can look forward to secure and abundant pasture for their flocks and themselves.
7. Here and in Lam. 2:16, apparently the baring of the teeth in a snarl as a beast of prey menaces its intended victim. Cf. Ps. 112:10, where the image seems more like the baring of the teeth in a grimace of pain, although the snapping of an injured animal at those who approach may also fit. In the New Testament (predominantly in Matt.), the phrase occurs for the most part in tandem with tears (“weeping and gnashing of teeth”) and seems to rely on the image of suffering and pain rather than being a predator.
8. Cf. Prov. 3:14; 8:19; 12:9; 15:16, 17; 16:8, 16, 19, 32; 17:1, 12; 19:1, 22; 21:9, 19; 22:1; 25:7, 24; 27:5, 10; 28:6. Prov. 15:16 offers a close parallel to our verse: “Better a little with the fear of the LORD than great wealth with turmoil” (cf. also 16:8; 28:6).
9. Isa. 47:14 and Mal. 4:1 both indicate that such a custom of burning stubble was practiced in Israel; each uses the practice as a potent symbol of judgment. The insubstantial character of smoke that quickly dissipates is also known elsewhere in Scripture. See Ps. 102:3 and Isa. 51:6 and the related reference in Ps. 68:2.
10. For further discussion of the meaning of this verb and related noun forms, see Gerald H. Wilson, “
,” NIDOTTE, 4:109–11.
11. Cf. the later statements of 37:37–38 to the effect that while there is “a future” for the righteous “man of peace,” the “future of the wicked will be cut off.” In light of the statement about the offspring in 37:28, most likely the later statement should be understood as a reference to the end of the line of posterity.
12. Cf. 37:10, where the disappearance of the wicked is promised in very similar terms. Experience confirms promise. What has been observed before offers the foundation for hope in the present circumstances.
13. See esp. comments on Ps. 31.
14. See comments on 44:22.
15. See, e.g., Prov. 10:16, 22; 11:19, 21, 28; 15:6, 16; 16:20; 21:6; 22:16; 23:4–5; 24:19–20; 28:8, 20, 25.
16. See, e.g., Job 4:7–9; 8:1–7, 20; 11:13–20; 15:20–35; 18:5–21; 20:4–29.
17. See, e.g., Pss. 1; 5:4–7; 7:14–16; 34:6–7, 15–16.
18. See, e.g., Job 21:7–16; 24:1–12. It is true that elsewhere Job seems to expect divine judgment ultimately to fall on the wicked (cf. 24:18–24; 27:13–23).
1. It is traditionally included among the seven penitential psalms: 2; 32; 38; 51; 102; 130; and 143.
2. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 271; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 374. Kraus’s term “acrostic songs” is confusing and may be the result of unwieldy translation. Beyond the number of verses, Craigie also mentions the “considerable regularity of the internal structure and balance” of the psalm as characteristic of this category.
3. See comments on the heading of Ps. 3 for discussion of this term.
4. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, 1:20.
5. Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 303; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 411.
6. Cf. Job 6:4 and 34:6, where Job equates God’s attack with the poison of arrows and the “incurable” wounds they left behind.
7. Kraus (Psalms 1–59, 411–12) takes the symptoms to suggest leprosy.
8. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 303–4.
9. Ibid., 304.
10. The reference to the “back” (kesel [“loins, area around kidneys”]) may indicate kidney pain or disease. The pain is described as burning (“searing”).
11. This word occurs over twenty times in Proverbs.
12. The verb translated as “pounds” is the unusual Pealal stem and has the meaning “keep on moving back and forth, beat violently (of heart)” (Holladay, CHALOT, 255).
13. Lit., “my contact, blow; mark, disease” (from the root ngʿ [“reach, touch, strike”]). When an illness is thought to be a divine attack, then the marks of the disease are considered blows or bruises.
14. See comments on 35:4; also 3:1–2.
15. The NIV has broken up the existing Heb. sentence to provide a set of three balanced and parallel lines, following the accentuation of the Hebrew text (lit. trans.):
They set traps, those who seek my life
and those who would harm me speak threats
and deceptions all day long they plot.
The last phrase in particular seems awkward, and the first word (“deceptions”) might best be taken with the preceding phrase, “and those who would harm me speak threats and deceptions.” For the use of the Heb. verb “murmur, meditate, plot,” see comments on 1:2 and 2:1.
16. The Heb. of this phrase, leṣelaʿ nakon (“for stumbling I am established”), suggests the stumbling of the victim is permanent and imminently final.
17. For a discussion of the different nuances represented by ʿawon and ḥaṭṭaʾat, see comments on 32:1–2.
18. In military contexts both words can be translated “victory,” although to do so often obscures linkages and wordplays being created with other forms of the root yšʿ.
19. It is interesting that tešuʿa occurs (thirteen times) only in Books 1, 2, and 5 (i.e., not in Pss. 73–106). By contrast, yešuʿa occurs forty-four times in all five books of the Psalter.
20. See, e.g., 3:8; 35:9; 37:39; 51:14; 71:15; 74:12; 80:3; 88:1; 98:3, 4; 118:14; 119:41; 140:7; 149:4.
21. See also 9:14; 70:4; 91:16; 96:2; 106:4; 119:41, 123, 166, 174.
22. The translation is mine. It is esp. interesting that here at the end of the Psalter we find a phrase that recalls and reaffirms the statement with which the collection began. At the end of Ps. 3 the reader is called to acknowledge that “salvation belongs to Yahweh” (3:8a, my translation).
23. See, e.g., 9:14; 13:5–6; 35:9–10; 51:14; 68:19; 71:15; 96:2; 116:12–14.
1. See comments on “The Shape of Book 1” at the beginning of Psalm 1.
2. See comments on the heading of Pss. 3 and 4 for discussion of these terms.
3. While Jeremiah experienced a similar extended period of silence, his eventual outbreak was into prophetic speech rather than a personal complaint to God. It is true, however, that the words that surround Jeremiah’s description and provide its literary context are just such a complaint to God (Jer. 20:7–10). It is the parallel attempt to bottle up words that are burning to be spoken that connects Jeremiah and the psalmist (and to some extent Job).
4. The NIV of 39:1a breaks into two phrases what is in the Hebrew essentially a single statement: “I said, ‘Let me guard my ways from sin with my tongue.’ ” The difference is subtle, but it refocuses the whole thought around the idea of careful speech rather than a more general “watching of the ways.” The statement employs the cohortative form of the verb, which expresses self-encouragement and exhortation to a course of action rather than a more declarative determination.
5. See, e.g., Jer. 20:7–10, as well as the comments in Amos 3:8: “The lion has roared—who will not fear? The Sovereign LORD has spoken—who can but prophesy?” The book of Jonah is an extended picture of the futility of trying to escape the divine call to prophesy.
6. Cf., e.g., Pss. 8; 102; 144; 145; 146.
7. Heb. meh ḥadel (“how close to an end”) or perhaps “how forsaken [by God].”
8. Heb. (lit.) has “a few spans of four fingers.”
9. Heb. (lit.) has “my duration [is] as if it does not exist.”
10. The Heb. is habel habalim . . . habel habalim hakkol habel, where the phrase habel habalim is a superlative expression that means “the greatest of all possible habalim.” Traditionally the term has been translated “vanity.”
11. The final phrase of v. 5 is difficult and somewhat uncertain. Taken literally it means something like “surely every vanity of every man takes a stand.” Many Heb. manuscripts omit the first kol (“every”) as is in the case of the repetition of this phrase in 39:11. If we take the lead of that second phrase, we might render 39:5 as: “Surely every human being that stands upright is meaningless.” A very harsh evaluation!
12. See the discussion of the “image of God” in the comments on Ps. 8.
13. Cf. Isa. 44:9–18.
14. An agricultural image coupled with the following verb “gather.” The phantom men “pile up” as if gathering grain into piles in the field, while others will “gather” the collected grain into their storehouses.
15. A helpful article on the Old Testament concept of the alien or stranger is found in “Sojourner; Alien; Stranger,” ISBE2, 4:561–64.
1. Cf. Cheyne, The Book of Psalms, 108, who sees as many as three poets at work in Ps. 40. Dahood, Psalms, 1:245, and Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 423, also fall into this category.
2. See the comments in Craigie, Psalms 1–59, 313–14.
3. Craigie adopts this position, ibid., 314. Rogerson and McKay also argue for the unity of Ps. 40, Psalms 1–50, 191. See also comments on Ps. 70, below.
4. See comments on the headings of Pss. 3 and 4 for discussion of these terms.
5. Two Hebrew verbs underlie this theme of waiting. The first (yḥl) carries the primary sense of endurance, the willingness to “hang in there” faithfully for a long time (37:7 [as emended in BHS]; 38:15). The second (qwh) emphasizes intent expectancy, as if the thing hoped for is about to happen now (37:34; 40:1). The two words are paralleled in 130:5, indicating that both endurance and expectancy are part of waiting for Yahweh’s deliverance.
6. See comments on 33:3 for discussion of the phrase “new song.”
7. For further discussion of the concept of the fear of Yahweh, see comments on Ps. 34 and the section on “The Fear of Yahweh” in “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
8. The verb used here (ʾrk) can be variously translated. It has the base meaning of “arrange in lines” and by extension comes to describe “drawing up in battle formation” and then “to confront someone.” Another possibility seized upon in many translations is the idea of comparison derived from placing things alongside one another. This last possibility, despite its popularity, seems less likely in this context than the idea of confronting God or calling him to account for the plans he has made for human beings.
9. The word in question here is the Heb. verb spr, which appears here as missapper and can be translated either “count” or “relate/declare/tell.”
10. See Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 427.
11. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 315.
12. Cf. various treatments of the subject in the Babylonian Talmud, including Berakot 15a–b; 17a; Sukkah 49b; Baba Batra 9a; Menaḥot 110a; cf. also ʾAbot de Rabbi Nathan 20a. One related question in light of the evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls for the continued fluidity of the Psalter collection into the second half of the first century A.D. is: Which destruction of the temple and resulting lack of temple sacrifice does the psalm reflect? That by the Babylonians in 587 b.c.? Or the Roman destruction of A.D. 70?
13. Derek Kidner, Psalms, 2 vols. (TOTC; Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1973), 1:159.
14. Craigie (Psalms 1–50, 313), referring to Delitzsch, suggests a possible understanding of krh (“pierce”), meaning that “God’s word penetrates deafness.”
15. See comments on merism in the section on “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction.
16. See Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 426; Mays, Psalms (Interpretation; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1994), 168.
17. See Cheyne, The Book of Psalms, 111; Rogerson and McKay, Psalms 1–50, 193.
18. See Dahood, Psalms, 1:246.
19. See Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, 39–40; Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 314.
20. See Kidner, Psalms, 1:160; The NIV Study Bible, 826.
21. The similarity to the situation in Ps. 39 is remarkable. There the psalmist initially resists speaking out until compelled to by the inner working of God. The psalmist then confesses sin and justifies the disciplinary punishment and rebuke of God to those who are observing his distress.
22. In fact, the LXX translates bsar in this verse with a form of euangelizo, the verbal cognate of euangelion.
23. The term “efface” (from the Old French effacer [“remove the face”]) means to remove something that exists by destroying or obliterating it. Archaeology frequently uncovers examples of effacing, such as statues with their features chiseled off, reliefs with names expunged, etc. One of the more famous examples is the movement by Akhenaton (born Amenophis IV), the “heretic king” of Egypt from 1363 to 1347 b.c., to have the name of his father, Amenophis III, removed from all honorific reliefs around the nation because that name honored the old god Amun, whom Akhenaton had rejected in favor of the sun disk, Aton. I have often wondered what part the result of this censorship process, with its visible devastation of the reliefs, played in Akhenaton’s decision to build a new capitol for his reign at Ikhnaton—modern day Tel el-Amarna. Recent accounts of the destruction of 1,500-year-old statues of the Buddha at the order of the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan follow this same pattern of obliteration. The Old Testament practices its own form of literary “effacing” when it replaces the divine name element Baal in human personal names with the caustic judgment Bosheth (“shame”): e.g., Ishbaal, “Man of Baal” (1 Chron. 8:33; 9:39), the son of Saul, becomes Ishbosheth, “Man of Shame,” in other texts (cf. 2 Sam. 2:8 and twelve other times).
24. It is interesting to note that all the verbs used to describe attempts at concealment begin with the Heb. letter kaph. This type of alliterative wordplay calls attention to the verbs and intensifies their effect on the alert reader.
25. See comments on Pss. 70–71 for a discussion of how those two psalms work together.
26. See the comments of Marvin E. Tate, Psalms 51–100 (WBC; Dallas: Word, 1990), 203.
27. For more detailed discussion of 40:13–17, see comments on 70:1–5. A comparison of these verses illustrates the complexity of understanding the dynamics of what is generally understood to be an Elohistic Psalter (Pss. 42–83), in which the divine name yhwh is often replaced by the less specific and more generic designation ʾelohim. It is difficult, if not impossible, to discover any consistent method in these variations.
28. Cf. 2 Sam. 22:43; Ps. 18:42; Mic. 7:10; Zech. 9:3; 10:5, all of which use the noun ṭiṭ as in Ps. 40:2. A similar reference using ḥomer instead of ṭiṭ is found in Isa. 10:6. In other settings ṭiṭ can describe the clay used by potters: Nah. 3:14, “Work the clay [ṭiṭ], tread the mortar [ḥomer]”; Isa. 41:25, “like a potter treading the clay [ṭiṭ].”
29. Earlier in the same psalm a similar setting uses the uncommon term yawen to describe the same kind of ocean mire into which the psalmist fears sinking (69:2). The only other occurrence of yawen is in 40:2, where it appears in the construct phrase with ṭiṭ: miṭṭiṭ hayyawen (“muddy muck”?).
30. Jer. 41:4–9 describes the use of a cistern as a repository for bodies resulting from slaughter.
31. The phrase is perhaps better rendered “desolate pit,” according to Holladay (CHALOT, 356).
32. This scroll is mentioned in Deut. 17:18–20: “When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the priests, who are Levites. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his brothers and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.”
1. See the discussion of “Concluding Doxologies” in the “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction.
2. See comments on the headings of Pss. 3 and 4 for discussion of these terms.
3. See the remarks there regarding the importance of ʾašre in binding Pss. 1 and 2 together as an introduction to the Psalter.
4. A complete listing includes 1:1; 2:12; 32:1, 2; 33:12; 34:8; 40:7; 41:1; 65:4; 84:4, 5, 12; 89:15; 94:12; 106:3; 112:1; 119:1, 2; 127:5: 128:1, 2; 137:8, 9; 144:15; 146:5.
5. The impression of significance is enhanced by the realization that the term also occurs in the final psalms of Books 3 (89:15) and 4 (106:3) and brackets the concluding psalm of Book 5 (144:15; 146:5).
6. Craig C. Broyles, Psalms (NIBC; Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson, 1999), 41–42.
7. Actually, the masculine singular form of the participle occurs most frequently in the psalms (seventeen times, of which thirteen are genre designations in psalm headings, transliterated in the NIV simply as maśkil, e.g., 32:0). Outside the Psalter, the term most regularly occurs in wisdom literature (Job 22:2; Prov. 10:5, 19; 14:35, 15:24; 16:20; 17:2; 21:12). Two appearances of the Hiphil masculine plural participle (maśkilim) occur in Dan. 12:3 and 10, where they describe a group of faithful believers privy to important esoteric knowledge about the end times.
8. The verb “bless” (ʾšr) is from the same root as the opening word of the psalm (ʾašre). The NIV follows the LXX in translating this verb in the active voice. In the Heb. of the MT, the word is pointed as a Pual (passive) verb form and would be translated “(so that) he will be blessed. . . .”
9. In the Heb., the phrase is the jussive (“let you not surrender him”), indicating a shift from description of divine protection into a plea for deliverance directed to God himself. The NIV follows the recommendation of BHS and reads the phrase as “he will not surrender him.” The emendation seems reasonable to me.
10. The Heb. for “sickness” here comes from the verb dwh (“menstruate”) and normally describes the “sickness” associated with a menstrual flow. For the Israelites, menstruation was considered polluting, rendering the woman unclean and dictating withdrawal from public association. Here the term seems to be used to suggest an ailment with particular public approbation, in which case the protective care of Yahweh to hold the patient supportively would be remarkable, since any contact with the unclean person would render the other unclean as well.
11. The Heb. verb for “change” here (hpk; NIV “restore”) probably means to turn the pallet/mattress over or to air it out rather than changing soiled bedclothes, as we might expect a nurse to do. Alternatively, it might mean to reorient the bed so that the sick person can have a change of view. Either is a way of comforting the ill.
12. This common expression for the Israelite practice designated by the verb “fulfill the responsibility of the marriage of a brother-in-law” is taken from the Latin word levir (“brother-in-law”).
13. See the discussion of “Jesus’ Use of the Psalms” in the section on “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
14. Cf. V. H. Koov, “Heel,” IDB, 2:577; Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, 48. Dahood’s translation—“spun slanderous tales”—relies on unusual interpretation of the words based on related Ugaritic terminology. See Craigie’s comments, Psalms 1–50, 319.
15. Koov, “Heel,” 2:577; Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 430, agrees.
16. Note the caustic irony of the wordplay between the treacherous “close associates” (ʾiš šelomi [“the one at peace/one/unity with me”]) and the anticipated pay back (ʾašallemah [“let me pay them back”]). The psalmist wishes to “settle account” with the enemies once and for all.
17. In light of the psalmist’s confession of sin (41:4), tom cannot indicate moral perfection here but a way of commitment and integrity of purpose.
18. The picture is of one holding fast to an object so tightly that it cannot be lost because of unsettling circumstances or direct attack. I am reminded of the ball carrier in football plunging into the line hugging the ball to his chest in both arms to avoid an inadvertent fumble or being stripped of the ball by an opposing player.
19. The Heb. nṣb emphasizes the firmness and enduring quality of the thing/person set up and established. For a discussion of dwelling in the presence of Yahweh, see “Dwelling with Yahweh” in “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
20. The term ʾašre occurs over forty times in the Old Testament (twenty-five of these within the psalms), while baruk appears over seventy times (only seventeen of these in the psalms), a Qal passive participle.
21. For further discussion of ʾašre, see comments on 1:1 and 2:12.
22. The word ʾašre appears at 1:1; 2:12; 32:1, 2; 33:12; 34:8; 40:4; 41:1; 65:4; 84:4, 5, 12; 89:15; 94:12; 106:3; 112:1; 119:1, 2; 127:5; 128:1, 2; 137:8, 9; 144:15; 146:5.
23. I can offer no adequate explanation for the omission of ʾašre from the concluding psalm of Book 2 (Ps. 72). However, it is striking in this regard that when the kingly figure who is the focus of Ps. 72 is promised blessing by all the nations, that blessing employs a verb from the same root as ʾašre (72:17b). When, however, the nations are promised blessing from the king, it is the root brk that is used (72:17a), a probable reference to the covenant with Abraham/Israel in Gen. 12:1–3, where all the families of the earth will find blessing (brk) in their relationship to Abraham and his descendants.
24. See esp. Pss. 32 and 34 with their aphoristic instruction (binding the titleless Ps. 33 between them); Ps. 94 is also aphoristic and concerned with instruction; both Pss. 112 and 119 share the acrostic form that is associated with wisdom; Pss. 127 and 128 are both clearly wisdom instruction. The exceptions to the rule of wisdom connection are Pss. 40; 65; and 84, although 84 does include a “better than” statement (84:10), often part of wisdom aphorisms.
25. See the discussion of wisdom shaping of the Psalter in Wilson, “The Shape of the Book of Psalms,” 129–42.
26. The word dal occurs in Gen. 41:19; Ex. 23:3; 30:15; Lev. 14:21; 19:15; Judg. 6:15; Ruth 3:10; 1 Sam. 2:8; 2 Sam. 3:1; 13:4; 2 Kings 14:14; 25:12; Job 5:16; 20:10, 19; 31:16; 34:19, 28; Pss. 41:1; 72:13; 82:3, 4; 113:7; 141:3(?); Prov. 10:15; 14:31; 19:4, 17; 21:13; 22:9, 16, 22; 28:3, 8, 11, 15; 29:7, 14; Isa. 10:2; 11:4; 14:30; 25:4; 26:6; Jer. 5:4; 39:10; 40:7; 52:15, 16; Amos 2:7; 4:1; 5:11; 8:6; Zeph. 3:12.
27. See also Job 34:19; Prov. 22:16.
28. Cf. Lev. 14:21; Prov. 19:17.
29. Job 20:19 may imply that some dallim had houses that could be taken from them.
30. In contrast, the NRSV reads Ps. 41:1 as “consider the poor,” while NJB conflates the two possibilities to get “cares for the poor and the weak.” Cf. also Judg. 6:15, where Gideon resists God’s call to leadership by claiming: “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest [haddal] in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”
31. Cf. Ps. 82:3–4; 113:7.
32. The noun tom is related to the adjective tam. Both are often translated as “blameless” or “innocent.” Cf. Gen. 20:5, 6; 25:27; 2 Sam. 15:11; 1 Kings 9:4; 22:34; 2 Chron. 18:33; Job 1:1, 8; 2:3; 4:6; 8:20; 9:20, 21, 22; 21:33; Pss. 7:8; 25:21; 26:1, 11; 37:37; 41:12; 64:4; 78:72; 101:2; Prov. 2:7; 10:9, 29; 13:6; 19:1; 20:7; 28:6; 29:10; Song 5:2; 6:9; Isa. 47:9 for the varied nuances of these words.
33. See comments on Ps. 39:1 and the Contemporary Significance section of that psalm.
1. See further discussion of the Elohistic Psalter in “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
2. The Korahite psalms include Pss. 42, 44–49; 84–85; 87–88 (eleven altogether).
3. The information regarding the Levitical organization of temple worship is complex at best. The pertinent passages include 1 Chron. 6:16–44; 15:5–24; 16:41–42; 25:1–8.
4. For comments on maśkil, see comments on Ps. 32.
5. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 325.
6. See comments on “rock” in Ps. 18.
7. The Heb. term used for “dwelling” here is miškan (“temporary dwelling”), often referring to the portable “tabernacle” used for worship by the tribes of Israel during the desert wandering. The use of the term here in conjunction with the reference to “your holy hill” is clearly intended to indicate the Jerusalem temple.
8. Mays, Psalms, 174–75.
9. Cf. also Isa. 17:10; 51:13; Jer. 2:32; 3:21; 13:25; 18:15; Ezek. 22:12; 23:35.
10. Cf. Pss. 30; 32; 34; 52; 64; 66, for just a few examples.
11. Compare the similar sentiments expressed by the author of Ps. 84, whose soul “yearns, even faints for the courts of the LORD” (84:2), who envies the sparrow because she can continually nest in the dwelling place of God (84:3), and who “would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked” (84:10).
1. J. Clinton McCann, “Books I–III and the Editorial Purpose of the Psalter,” in The Shape and Shaping of the Psalter, ed. J. Clinton McCann (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1993), 102.
2. “When Ps. 42–43 is read in light of Ps. 44 . . . it takes on a collective orientation. The [repeated] refrain in Pss. 42–43 becomes an example for the postexilic community of how to face the problem of exile and dispersion” (ibid., 102–3).
3. Cf. Deut. 6:6–7, 20–23; 11:18–21.
4. See the formative essay by Gerhard von Rad, “The Form-Critical Problem of the Hexateuch,” in The Problem of the Hexateuch and Other Essays (London: SCM, 1984), 1–78.
5. This rehearsal took a variety of forms but generally included deliverance from Egypt and the gift of the land of Canaan. In some cases the account begins with the call of Abraham (cf. Josh. 24:2–13; Ps. 105); in others it extends to the monarchy and perhaps even the Exile (Ps. 107).
6. Cf. Josh. 23:9; 24:12–13.
7. The Heb. term here translated “victory(ies)” is (along with its verbal cognate yšʿ ) more usually rendered “salvation” or “deliverance.” For example, the repeated refrain of Pss. 42–43 employs the same word to describe God as “Savior” (42:5, 11; 43:5). In some more military context (as in Ps. 44), victory seems an appropriate rendering, although “deliverance, salvation” are often used with good effect and equal sense in other translations—e.g., the rendering of 44:4b as “who ordains Jacob’s rescue” (Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 443).
8. For a variety of options for dating, see Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 445–446; Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 332–33.
9. Ṣalmawet esp. connotes desperate, threatening circumstances. The most familiar appearance of the term is Ps. 23:4, where it is traditionally translated “[valley of] the shadow of death.” The term appears in Ps. 107:10, 14; Isa. 9:2; Jer 2:6; Amos 5:8 as a description of extreme threat to life. Two appearances in Job (Job 3:5; 10:21) speak of the “land of darkness and ṣalmawet” in ways that approximate Sheol, the Hebrew abode of the dead. Thus, to be covered with “deep darkness,” as in our passage, is to experience the ultimate threat of death.
10. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 448.
11. See the explicit laying out of blessing for obedience and cursing for disobedience in Deut. 28.
12. Mays, Psalms, 179–80.
13. Cf. also the royal promises in Ps. 101.
14. This is unfortunately the path most often chosen by responsive readings included in hymnals. The psalms are regularly used in this reading because of their obvious affinity to liturgical recitation in worship. But most commonly, the psalms are presented in a cut-and-paste format, with the positive sections foregrounded and most harsh, vengeful, and negative elements excised and removed. How often, for example, have you heard Ps. 137 read with the “baby smashing” passage left intact? This smacks of something far less than hearing the “full counsel of God.” Perhaps we simply have not suffered often and deeply enough to really understand what God is saying through these difficult portions. There is a degree of needed honesty involved in praying through the psalms from beginning to end—“warts and all,” as the Rule of Saint Benedict suggests.
15. In actuality there are four “Servant Songs” in Isaiah (Isa. 42:1–4; 49:1–6; 50:4–11; 52:13–53:12) that describe the suffering of the “servant of the LORD.”
16. Cf. Rom. 8:17; 1 Peter 4:12–15.
17. The construction is a Greek purpose/result clause, using hina plus aorist subjunctive.
18. Matthew 6 goes on to encourage its readers to trust in God and rest in the assurance that he knows their needs and will provide for them. The subtle radicality of the statement in 6:25, however, plants seeds that will ripen into a crop that can sustain those who are faced with decisions even more agonizing and far-reaching than those posed in Matthew 6. At its core, this statement says something like: “Isn’t there more to life than eating? Isn’t there more to the body than clothing?” I want to cry out, “No! I can’t live without eating. I can’t survive without protecting clothing.” Followed to its logical (and I would suggest intended) conclusion, this statement tells me that there are some things worth going naked and starving for.
1. See the section on “Types of Psalms” in the introduction. For a discussion of the interpretation of royal psalms, see the Bridging Contexts section of the commentary on Ps. 20.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4 for further discussion of this term.
3. See comments on the heading of Ps. 42.
4. See comments on the heading of Ps. 32.
5. See the discussion on “The Psalm Headings” in the introduction.
6. See comments to the heading of Ps. 30, where this term first occurs. This is the second occurrence of šir in the Psalter; the headings of Pss. 46 and 48 also contain the word.
7. The NIV’s “noble theme” is perhaps overly interpretive.
8. The use of the translation “anointing” in both these cases hides the fact that different Heb. words are used. The first anointing—of the king’s lips—in 45:2 translates the Hebrew huṣaq (from yṣq [“be poured out; be emptied out”]). The second anointing—with the “oil of joy”—in 45:7 translates the more traditional verb of anointing mešaḥaka (from mšḥ [“anoint”]). The verb yṣq is used for pouring out oil as a ritual act or libation (Gen. 28:18) or for pouring out oil on the head of a priest for consecration (Lev. 21:10), but it can also describe the “pouring out” of molten metal for casting (1 Kings 7:23, 24, 33).
9. The idea of eternal blessing for the king has surfaced previously in Ps. 21:6, where the phrase berakot laʿad (“eternal blessings”) is used rather than berakka ʾelohim leʿolam (“God has blessed you forever”), as here.
10. Cf. Ps. 23:5; Eccl. 9:8; and the anointing of Jesus referred to in Luke 7:46.
11. See also Ps. 41:8, where the Heb. can be translated “a vile word pours forth from/on him,” rather than the NIV’s “a vile disease has beset him.”
12. See the discussion of the term (bene ʾadam) in the comments on Ps. 4:1–2. The phrase bene ʾadam occurs twenty-one times in the Psalter. That the phrase appears in 21:10 is another link between that psalm and Ps. 45. The singular phrase ben ʾadam occurs only three times in the Psalms (Pss. 8:4; 80:17; 146:3).
13. The term for victory in 45:3 (from ṣlḥ [“be prosperous, successful”]) is different from the noun used in 21:5 (yešuʿah [“salvation, victory”]).
14. See also comments on 19:9 for the meaning of this word in the Psalter.
15. This is only the second occurrence of ʿanwah (“humility”) in the Psalter. The first (and only other occurrence of the term in the whole Old Testament) is in 18:35. The closely related term ʿanawah (also “humility”) appears in Prov. 15:33; 18:12; 22:4; Zeph. 2:3.
16. A difficult phrase with a literal meaning of “your right hand will instruct you (with) awesome works.” One would usually expect others to be instructed, but here the activity seems to turn back upon the agent.
17. Another difficult passage. As most commentators note, the verse seems to have been disarranged here and must be transposed to make good sense. A verb is apparently missing from the phrase about “sharpened arrows in the hearts of the king’s enemies.” Perhaps the verb “they will fall” does double duty—here and in the second phrase about “nations will fall under you.”
18. The word “feet” does not appear in the Heb. text, which joins the preposition “under” with the second masculine singular pronominal suffix.
19. The recognition of kings as gods was known in the ancient Near East, with examples in Egypt, where the pharaohs were thought to be Horus, and in Mesopotamia, where divine authorization of kingship on occasion bled over into divine kingship. In the “Curse of Agade” (ANETP, 2:204–15), the Akkadian king Naram-Sin seems to have taken on the prerogatives of divinity—an act that led to the fall of the Akkadian Empire according to later Sumerian commentators.
20. “Oil of joy” occurs again only in Isa. 61:3, where it provides a strong contrast to mourning. There those exiles who are grieving in Zion will receive “a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness [joy] instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.” The Hebrew śaśon carries the meaning “exulting joy” and is often linked with śimḥah (“celebration”).
21. See comments on “righteousness” and other related legal terms at 7:6–9.
22. Ivory imported from Africa or India was employed throughout the ancient Near East for ornamentation of buildings (as carved plaques) or furnishings. Solomon had an “ivory throne” decorated with lions and a calf (1 Kings 10:18–20). Ivory components from similar thrones have been uncovered at Samaria and Nimrud. Ahab was reported to have built an “ivory house” (1 Kings 22:39). Because of its expense, ivory was associated with great wealth and royalty. Pictures of carved ivory plaques can be seen in ISBE2, 2:940–43.
24. See the articles on “Ophir,” EBD, 783; ISBE2, 3:607–8.
25. The kind of craving depicted by ʾwh is usually of a bad kind (Holladay, CHALOT, 6), but certainly not some elevated aesthetic appreciation. The intent is to speak of the basic physical and sexual attraction.
26. The LXX translates šegel with basilissa (“queen”), so the process of reinterpreting the unacceptable term had already begun.
27. The “Daughter of Tyre” is representative of the kind of dignitaries that would attend such an occasion. Tyre had long and close relationships with the kingdom of Israel from the time of David and Solomon.
28. These words describing clothing are difficult to bring precision to and are often translated differently in different contexts.
29. For varied uses of ybl, see Isa. 18:7; 23:7; 53:7; Hos. 10:6; Zeph. 3:10.
30. Absalom, e.g., used his position as the king’s son to curry favor with disaffected elements and to build his own power base in opposition to his father (cf. 2 Sam. 15:1–6).
31. Cf. 45:11, where the word translated “honor” is in reality the Heb. verb form hištaḥwi means “worship.”
32. McCann, “Books I-III and the Editorial Purpose of the Hebrew Psalter,” 102.
33. Christoph Rösel, Die messianische Redaktion des Psalters: Studien zu Enstehung und Theologie der Sammlung Ps. 2–89 (Stuttgart: Calwer Verlag, 1999).
34. See comments on the royal psalms in “Types of Psalms” in the introduction.
35. See the discussion in “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
36. See the treatment of the Yahweh malak psalms in “Types of Psalms” in the introduction.
37. See Gerald H. Wilson, “Psalms and Psalter: Paradigm for Biblical Theology,” in Biblical Theology: Retrospect and Prospect (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, forthcoming). See also the discussion of this matter in the Bridging Contexts section of the commentary on Ps. 2.
1. For further discussion of selah, see comments on Ps. 3.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4, where this term is first used.
3. See the discussion of the psalm headings in the introduction. As BHS notes, a few manuscripts and versions suggest a possible emendation to ʿalmut, as in the heading to Ps. 9 (see comments). At least one old Greek version suggests a form from ʿolam (“forever”). The term ʿal ʿalamot appears also in 1 Chron. 15:20 in a description of the duties of temple musicians, who are “to play the lyres according to ʿalamot.” The general Heb. noun ʿalmah (pl. ʿalamot) means a “girl of marriageable age” or a “young woman before the birth of her first child” (Holladay, CHALOT, 274). The term in the psalm heading may refer to a song tune or perhaps to a particular high sound to be adopted in singing.
4. See comments on the heading to Ps. 30. Ps. 45 is also called a šir, although there the term may be connected with the additional designation yedidot.
5. See comments on 2:12; 5:11. The word “refuge” appears in approximately 35 percent of the psalms in Book 1, in contrast to 25 percent in Book 2, 5 percent in Book 3, 18 percent in Book 4, and 13 percent in Book 5.
6. See 74:12–17.
7. The verb mwṭ is often used in the psalms to indicate the potential for disastrous falling. The affirmation that “I will not be moved” is one of the greatest claims of assurance expressed in the Psalter. Here the psalmist’s confidence even exceeds this traditional hope for certain stability in the midst of the storm of life. Even if all stability and firm footing is removed, the psalmist will not be afraid. Cf. Pss. 15:5; 16:8; 21:7; 30:6; 55:22; 62:2, 6; 66:9; 93:1; 96:10; 104:5; 112:6; 121:3; 125:1.
8. The Heb. is less than clear. The consonantal text (hmyr) is variously taken as hamir (Hiphil infinitive from mwr) with the meaning “change,” or as himmor (Niphal infinitive from mwr) with the meaning “quake, shake.”
9. There may be some attempt to evoke the abundant watering associated with the river that flowed through the Garden of Eden (Gen. 2:10). It is also worth noting that in the Canaanite religious texts from Ugarit, Judge Nahar/River is one of the watery opponents who must be defeated to establish order. Here the river is harnessed to the good of the city of God. See comments on 36:8; 65:9. Note the studied contrast between this psalm and Ps. 137, where the “rivers of Babylon” offer occasion only for regret and anger over the destruction of Zion/Jerusalem, the city of God. The irrigation canals are also mentioned as a source of abundance and life in 1:3.
10. While the identification of the “city” with Jerusalem might be questioned on the basis that no such “river” is present in the City of David, the mythic language of the text overrides these concerns. See the discussion of Mays, Psalms, 185, regarding how “symbolic language used in the ancient Near East to imagine and speak about the dwelling place of the gods” included the presence of a stream that flowed from the “cosmic mountain where this dwelling was.” Since Jerusalem is the dwelling place of the one God, Yahweh, it is described in the symbolic terms used for this cosmic city.
11. The vocabulary is different, but the imagery is similar to that of the raging, conspiring nations in 2:1.
12. The noun ṣabaʾ, (pl. ṣebaʾot) is drawn from the same root as the verb ṣbʾ, (“go to war; serve as soldier”). The ṣabaʾ, ṣebaʾot are the individual and massed military personnel necessary to carry out the campaigns of the king. In reference to Yahweh, the “host” are probably the heavenly beings who do his will (the angels), or in some cases the stars. Israel did consider Yahweh as king and therefore understood that he undertook military action as warrior against the enemy and for the protection of his people. The term ṣebaʾot in reference to Yahweh occurs some fifteen times in the Psalter, in eight psalms (24:10; 46:7, 11; 48:8; 59:5; 69:6; 80:4, 7, 14, 19; 84:1, 3, 8, 12; 89:8). In these appearances, the term is often associated with the kingship of Yahweh (cf. 24:10; 48:8; 84:3).
13. Refuge, strength, and fortress all come together in Ps. 59:16 and Jer. 16:19. The comparison of these texts with our psalm is instructive. In both Ps. 59 and Jer. 16, “refuge” is connected with the additional phrase “in time of distress” (beyom ṣar/ṣarah), a phrase that, while not identical with “in trouble” (beṣarot), has much in common with it. The conjunction of these four elements—refuge, strength, fortress, and trouble—suggest a traditional association on which all these passages draw.
14. The root underlying “make cease” (šbt) is the same as that behind the word “Sabbath” (šabbat [“day of rest”]).
15. The NIV’s “shields” requires an emendation of the text from ʿagalot (“wagon carts”) to an irregular form from ʿagilah (“round shield). Because of this difficulty, the word is sometimes taken as “chariots” (cf. the NIV text note; but see Holladay, CHALOT, 264). Perhaps Yahweh is here viewed as destroying the “wagons” carrying supplies to the military campaign.
16. The occurrences are Pss. 46:4; 48:1, 8 (2x); 87:3; 101:8; Isa. 60:14.
17. See also 74:1–8.
18. The Psalms of Ascent (Pss. 120–134) are considered by many to be songs sung by pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem. On the dangers of pilgrimage, consider Ps. 107.
19. Cf. passages such as Isa. 44:26–28; 45:13; 58:12; 60:10; 66:20; Jer. 3:17; 33:7; Dan. 9:25; Joel 3:1, 20; Mic. 4:2; Zech. 8:3–4, 22.
20. Cf. Rev. 20–22 for the extended description of the Holy City, the new Jerusalem.
21. See the following passages that in the NIV contain the phrase “Be still”: Ex. 14:14 [ḥrš]; Neh. 8:11 [hsh]; Ps. 37:7 [dwm]; Ps. 46:10 [rph]; Jer. 47:6 [dwm]; Zech. 2:13 [hsh].
1. Cf. J. D. W. Watts, “Yahweh Malak Psalms,” TZ 21 (1965): 341–48; Gerhard von Rad, OTT2, 1:363, note. Other psalms included in this form-critical category are Pss. 93; 96–99; 149.
2. The NIV’s translation choices in this psalm obscure the different Heb. words that lie behind the translation “nation(s).” It is more usually the term goy/goyim that is translated “nation(s).” This word does appear in 47:8 (and is the only word translated “nations” in Ps. 46:6, 10). However, the NIV also translates the word ʿammim (more commonly and accurately rendered “peoples”) as “nations” in 47:1, 3, 9a, 9b. In addition, the less frequent word leʾummim (normally an “ethnic community”) is translated “peoples” in 47:3b. While these words for people groups are not always clearly distinguished in Old Testament usage, the following relationships usually are implied. The term goy describes a national entity that is an amalgamation of a number of tribes and ethnic communities. By way of contrast leʾummim designates an ethnically related “people group.” Within such a people group, ʿam describes the extensive descendants of an eponymous ancestor (such as Israel or Abraham). The latter term is sometime exchanged for šebeṭ or maṭṭeh (“tribe”), although ʿam clearly intends a larger group.
3. See previous footnote.
4. Although there is a selah at the end of v. 4, this does not seem to correspond with the literary and logical division of the psalm.
5. While Ps. 46 employs the more standard verb for exaltation (rwm) and Ps. 47:9 uses the more general verb ʿlh (“go up, ascend”; probably in a purposeful wordplay with the “ascension” image in 47:5), Ps. 47 still serves as an appropriate response to the anticipation of divine exaltation in 46:10.
6. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4.
7. See comments on the heading of Ps. 42.
8. See comments on this term at the heading of Ps. 3.
9. See Prov. 11:15; 17:18; 22:26. In one text the NIV translates taqaʿ kap as indicating ridicule (Nah. 3:19), but this passage can also be understood as saying: “All those who hear the report about you will confirm a contract against you, for against whom has not your constant evil taken surety?” That is, all those nations forced by Assyria to give surety (through tribute or ransom) would jump at the chance to return the favor to their fallen enemy.
10. See Ps. 98:8; Isa. 55:12.
11. See Num. 24:10 Lam. 2:15, where spq occurs with kap (“hand”); in Jer. 31:19 it is the “inner thigh” or “sexual organ” that is struck; finally in Job 34:26, 37, where the verb stands alone. On one occasion (Ezek. 25:6) the verb mḥʾ with yad seems to indicate ridicule.
12. Note the comments on Nah. 3:19 in footnote 9, above, where I suggested the usual meaning for taqaʿ kap in this passage, namely, to make a contract. If this is adopted as plausible, then as far as Ps. 47 goes, we would need to find a meaning other than “applause” or “signify joy.” The idea is that these peoples of the earth are called to “strike an agreement” (by shaking hands in affirmation) among themselves, or with Israel, to stand under the kingship of Yahweh—as the assembled nobles of the “peoples” become the people of the God of Abraham in 47:9.
13. On the topic of the “fear of Yahweh,” see comments on 2:11 and 15:4.
14. The theme of Yahweh’s giving the land of Canaan to the Israelites “as an inheritance” is prominent in the Pentateuch (cf. Ex. 32:13; Lev. 20:24; Num. 34:2; Deut. 4:21; cf. also Josh. 11:23).
15. See The NIV Study Bible, 833–34, note on 47:5–6.
16. The NIV’s translation of zmr as “sing praises” ignores the fact that the term has more to do with playing an instrument than producing vocal music. The fifth occurrence of the term in Ps. 47:7b instructs the reader/listener to “play for him a maśkil.” The great variety of translations exhibited by the versions and commentaries reveals the relative uncertainty regarding the meaning of this term that appears in the headings of some thirteen psalms (32; 42; 44; 45; 52; 53; 54; 55; 74; 78; 88; 89; 142), all but one of which fall within the confines of Books 1–3 of the Psalter. The more general designation is as a “didactic psalm,” but others, referring to method of composition or performance, prefer an “artful/skillful psalm.” (Cf. the extended discussion in Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 25–26.)
17. The reference to Yahweh’s “holy throne” is reminiscent of Isaiah’s vision of Yahweh enthroned in the temple with the seraphim calling out “Holy, Holy, Holy!” (Isa. 6:1–9). The image of Yahweh “sitting on his throne” also appears in 1 Kings 22:19 = 2 Chron. 18:18.
18. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 466, and Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 347, are two examples.
19. The Heb. text actually contains the word maginne (“shields of . . .”) rather than “kings of. . . .” BHS suggests a possible emendation to signe (an initial mem and samek are similar and often confused in handwritten script; “governors/rulers of . . .”). It is, of course, possible that the psalmist intended “shields of the earth” to be an image of the militant power of kings who have submitted to Yahweh here.
20. The phrase “light to/for the Gentiles/nations” [leʾor goyim] occurs three times in Isaiah. The first two (42:6 and 49:6) use the term goyim, which the NIV translate as “Gentiles” (meaning non-Jewish nations). The third is found in Isa. 51:4, where the word ʿammim (“peoples”) is used instead. The Greek translation of leʾor goyim (phos ethnon) appears only once in Acts 13:47, where the Isa. 49:6 passage is quoted. Although some would consider this passage a reference to Yahweh’s suffering servant, or the Messiah, or even Jesus, it seems clear that Isaiah intends Israel to understand that this responsibility is also hers.
21. Using the phrase ki melek kol haʾareṣ ʾelohim to emphasize both the present and continuing nature of Yahweh’s rule.
22. Employing the perfect malak ʾelohim ʿal goyim to stress the completion of the act of becoming king in the present.
23. Again, the use of the perfect tense yašab signifies God’s enthronement as an accomplished fact, not a hoped-for future event.
24. A probable reference to the conquest of Canaan, in which Yahweh drove out the resident nations to provide an “inheritance” for Israel.
1. Zion is variously identified with Jerusalem, the city of God, and with a hill/mountain on which Jerusalem or the temple was situated. Zion is viewed as the seat of human and divine kingship—the former associated with the palace and the latter with the temple.
2. For “song,” see comments on the heading of Ps. 30; for “psalm,” see comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
3. See comments on the heading to Ps. 42.
4. See the articles on “Zaphon” in Bible dictionaries, such as EBD and ISBE2.
5. The “citadel” is the fortified area of a city, where a last stand is made in case of an attack. It most often occupied the highest ground and was therefore the most defensible position in the city.
6. For discussion of the various terms for refuge, fortress, etc., see comments on Ps. 20.
7. The pronoun “her” that the NIV inserts to suggest the object of the enemy’s vision is the city itself is not in the Heb. text (cf. the corner brackets around this word in the NIV).
8. “Ships of Tarshish” are mentioned on several occasions in the Old Testament (1 Kings 10:22; Ps. 48:7; Isa. 23:1, 14; 60:9; Ezek. 27:25). The references indicate Tarshish was most likely a port city on the Mediterranean Sea, usually located in Spain (some suggest the port Tartessos). Solomon was said to have assembled a large fleet to ply the Mediterranean for the rich materials needed to support his many building projects (1 Kings 10:22). A fleet of ships built by King Jehoshaphat (2 Chron. 20:37) was completely destroyed in a storm as in our text (cf. also the endangerment of Jonah’s ship by storm on its way to Tarshish in Jonah 1:3ff.).
9. The transmission of traditions to future generations as a source of continued encouragement is an important part of many psalms. See esp. Pss. 22:30; 48:13; 71:18; 78:4, 6; 79:13; 89:1; 102:18; 145:4.
10. For discussion of God’s name, see comments on Ps. 8.
11. See comments on legal terms such as ṣedeq and mišpaṭ at 4:1–2 and 7:6–9.
12. This final phrase of this psalm (ʿal mut) is difficult in this context and deserves comment (see Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 472, 476–77). The word mut is apparently the infinitive construct of the verb mwt (“die”). The NIV’s “even to the end” draws on this meaning, although this rendering with the preposition ʿal is awkward (something like “upon, against, concerning dying”). Since the similar phrase ʿalamot is found in the heading of Ps. 46, where it is treated as a reference to a tune for singing, the critical apparatus of BHS suggests that ʿal mut was similarly a part of the heading of Ps. 49 (appearing between “sons of Korah” and “psalm”) that has been misplaced. A. R. Johnson, “The Role of the King in the Jerusalem Cultus,” in The Labyrinth, ed. S. H. Hooke (New York: Macmillan, 1935), 92, understands the phrase as a reference to the Canaanite deity of death, Mot, and translates: “May he [Yahweh] lead us against ‘death.’ ”
13. Ultimately the coalition was only temporary. The texts of Solomon’s reign suggest rather uneven treatment of the two regions by the Judahite king. Forced labor and heavy taxation in support of Solomon’s building campaigns appear to have fallen disproportionately on the northern tribes. Thus, when Solomon died, his successor, Rehoboam, was faced by an embassy of northerners seeking assurances that these uneven treatments would cease. Rehoboam’s arrogant rejection of their concerns led to the immediate succession of the northern tribes to form the kingdom Israel, under the leadership of Jeroboam I. Thus the division of the kingdom (only an 80- to 120-year “experiment”) was a reversion to earlier associations of loyalty with a long history antedating the monarchy.
14. Although accused of worshiping Baal, Jeroboam and his northern successors probably continued to think of themselves as worshipers of Yahweh, as the use of the Yahweh elements in the names of their children indicates.
15. The reference to “his holy mountain” in 48:1 may be either to this association or to the later mention of Mount Zion (48:2).
16. Note the mention of Mount Zion in 48:2, 11, and 12. The name “fortress of Zion” may have been a original Jebusite designation of the site that was subsequently taken over by David and Israel (cf. 2 Sam. 5:7).
17. Because of its prominence and visibility for long distances, the mountain and its name became ultimately the Heb. designation for the northern direction (ṣapon). In this regard, see the article on “Orientation” in ISBE2.
18. Among these psalms are usually included Pss. 46; 48; 76; 84; 87; 122; and 132.
19. The passage on the promise to David appears in response to a sense of abandonment and hope for restoration (cf. 132:1–4, 10). Cf. comments on the term melek in the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 2.
20. C. S. Lewis, “Meditation in a Toolshed,” God in the Dock, 212–15.
1. See the discussion of wisdom psalms in “Types of Psalms” in the introduction.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4 for “the director of music,” on the heading of Ps. 42 for “the Sons of Korah,” and on the heading of Ps. 3 for mizmor.
3. For comments on the poetic technique of merism, see “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction.
4. In this combination, bene ʾadam seems to designate “simple folk; peasants” while bene ʾiš describes “children of the elite.” Cf. 62:9, where the same opposition of classes occurs. In its singular form ben ʾadam has the more universal sense of “human being.”
5. See comments on 10:16–18 for the various terms for the poor and oppressed.
6. The phrase is difficult, with a literal meaning “the crooked activity of my heel,” which makes little sense. BHS suggests an emendation to ʿoqebay, a participle meaning “those who deceive me.”
7. The phrase translated “redeem” (from pdh) normally refers to an act of paying to redeem humans or animals who by law belong to Yahweh (cf. Ex. 13:13). The related noun “ransom” (koper) means a price paid to release a captive or seized property. Both terms are used in vv. 7–8.
8. This psalm may well form the background of Jesus’ teaching in Matt. 16:26 (Mark 8:37): “What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”
9. Verse 14 is particularly difficult as the number of suggested emendations in the BHS textual apparatus indicate. Besides the ambiguous meaning of the verb rʿh (“lead to pasture/graze upon”), the major difficulties include (1) whether the verb translated “rule” is to be taken from the root rdd or from yrd (“go down [to Sheol”]); (2) whether the enigmatic weṣuram (“and their rock”) ought to be emended to yeṣuram (“their form/shape”) or ṣuratam (“their design/plan”); and (3) whether the infinitive construct form leballot (“waste away, decay”) ought to be emended to liklot (“perish”).
10. In Canaanite mythology, the god of Death, Mot, receives the dead into the netherworld by swallowing them. He is graphically described as “one lip to earth and one to heaven, he stretches his tongue to the stars. Baal enters his mouth, descends into him like an olive-cake, like the yield of the earth and trees’ fruit” (IAB, ii).
11. If the verb “rule” (rdd) is instead taken to be from yrd (“go down”), the phrase may refer to the descent of the wicked rich directly to Sheol. In this case the question of the upright ruling over the arrogant rich is removed.
12. See Craigie, Psalms 1–50, 360.
13. For comments of the meaning of kabod, see discussion at 3:3–4.
14. For “ransom,” see Ex. 21:30; 30:12; 25:21–22; Job 33:24; Ps. 49:7; Prov. 13:8; 21:18; Isa. 43:3. For “bribe,” cf. 1 Sam. 12:3; Job 36:18; Prov. 6:35; Amos 5:12.
15. Perhaps donkeys were redeemed because of their economic importance as pack animals among the early nomadic Israelites.
16. Hannah’s dedication of Samuel to lifelong service of Yahweh may reflect such an understanding.
1. Heman appears in the heading to Ps. 88, while Jeduthun is found in the heading to Ps. 39. Because the latter psalm also contains an attribution to David (ledawid), some question whether the reference to Jeduthun is an attribution of authorship or some type of musical direction (cf. 1 Chron. 16:41–42).
2. See comments on the heading to Ps. 3.
3. Sun imagery is used of Yahweh in other Old Testament contexts (e.g., Pss. 19; 37; 84:11; 104:1–3). For more on the connection of the sun and judgment in the ancient Near East, see comments on Ps. 19.
4. For a discussion of the poetic feature of merism, see comments on “Techniques of Hebrew Poetry” in the introduction.
5. Note how the reference to “heavens above, and the earth” chiastically reverses the order of elements in the split merism that surrounds this section—“earth” (50:1b) and “heavens” (50:6a).
6. The place name Zion (ṣiyyon)—a reference to the hill in Jerusalem on which the temple stood—appears some thirty-nine times in thirty-one psalms. Within Book 2 of the Psalter (Pss. 42–72) Zion appears eight times in six psalms: 48:2, 11, 12; 50:2; 51:18; 53:6, 65:1, 69:35. The largest collection of Zion psalms is found in Book 5 (Pss. 107–150), where thirteen psalms have the term fourteen times.
7. The abstract noun miklal is related to the verbal root kll (“make complete, perfect”).
8. The obvious connection between the appearance of Yahweh and consuming fire and storm is the theophany at Sinai (cf. Ex. 24:17, where the phrase “consuming fire” occurs).
9. The heavens and earth are called as witnesses to Yahweh’s covenant with Israel in Deut. 4:26; 30:19; 31:28 (cf. Isa. 1:2). In a more general sense heavens and earth can testify against an accused person in court (cf. Job 20:27).
10. There may be an element of irony or sarcasm intended here, since the continuation of the psalm shows that some of those who profess by their sacrifices to be ḥasidim are judged to be “wicked.”
11. Since in the psalm the subject of the imperative is the feminine noun ʿammi (“my people”) rather than the masculine noun yiśraʾel (“Israel”), as in the classic expression of the Shema in Deuteronomy, the imperative here takes a feminine singular form.
12. Although the similar phrase ʾani yhwh ʾeloheykem (with a different first-person pronoun and the second-person plural pronoun on the word “God”) is used frequently in Exodus (e.g., Ex. 6:7, 16:12), Leviticus (esp. frequent), Numbers (e.g., Num. 10:10, 15:41), and even appears in Deut. 29:6, the form mimicked in Ps. 50:7 is directly related to the form used in the introduction of the Sinai narrative (Ex. 20:2; Deut. 5:6). Here the form is ʾanoki yhwh ʾeloheyka, as in Ps. 50.
13. A. Leo Oppenheim, Ancient Mesopotamia: Portrait of a Dead Civilization (Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1977), 183–98.
14. Other passages rejecting such a view of sacrifice are: Isa. 1:11–15; Jer. 7:21–23; Hos. 6:6; Amos 4:4–5; 5:21–25; Mic. 6:6–8.
15. The construction in the Heb. is awkward. The phrase literally means something like “you dwell/sit with your brother you speak.” BHS suggests emending tešeb (“dwell”) to bošet (“shame”) so the phrase would be translated, “shame you speak with/against your brother.” The NIV has taken “dwell” as having a continuous effect. The parallel phrase is more clear: “with/against the son of your mother [= your brother] you give stain/fault.” However, dopi (“stain”) occurs only here in the whole Old Testament and must remain uncertain.
16. The Heb. phrase combines the Qal infinitive construct and the first-person singular Qal imperfect (heyot ʾehyeh) as an emphatic expression: “[you thought] I am indeed [like you].”
17. The fact that the earlier passage uses the negative particle ʾal rather than the more common loʾ suggests the verb form it negates (yeḥeraš) should be read as a jussive expressing the will of the speaker (“let him not remain silent”) rather than a straightforward future declaration (“he will not remain silent”). It is the following description of the theophany that has persuaded the NIV that the whole passage should be read as actuality and not hope.
18. The final image (ʾeʿerkah) is a military expression of drawing up one’s battle line across from the enemy troops. Picture, if you will, the Israelite army (1 Sam. 17:1–11) confronting the Philistines across the Elah Valley, with the giant champion Goliath strutting up and down challenging the Israelites to send out a champion for individual combat, and you may have some idea of the situation envisioned here.
19. Cf. Deut. 4:9, 23, 31; 6:12; 8:11, 14.
20. The usual idiom in Judges is “to forsake” (yaʿazbu) Yahweh (cf. Judg. 2:12; see also 1 Sam. 12:9).
21. Cf. Isa. 51:13; 65:11; Jer. 2:32; 23:27; Hos. 2:13; 13:6. See also Ps. 106:13, 21, where the golden calf incident during the Exodus wanderings is attributed to Israel’s having forgotten “the God who saved them” and “what he had done.”
22. The kind of tearing that ṭrp describes is always associated with wild animals (cf. Gen. 37:33; 44:28): most often the lion (Pss. 17:12; 22:13; Ezek. 22:25; Hos. 5:14; Nah. 2:12), but occasionally the wolf (Gen. 49:27; Ezek. 22:27).
23. The phrase is reminiscent of Amos’s prophecy that only a remnant of Israel would survive the Assyrian conquest like a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear left over from the carcass of a devoured sheep (Amos 3:12).
24. Legislation governing the rib is found in Ex. 21:18; 23:2, 3, 6; Deut. 17:8; 19:17; 21:5; 25:1.
25. See also Hos. 12:2; Mic. 6:2.
26. See also Jer. 6:20.
1. See the comments on Ps. 6.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4 for “the director of music” and on the heading of Ps. 3 for mizmor and the reference to David.
3. The first historical notice in the psalm headings appears in the heading to Ps. 3 (see comments).
4. See comments on 5:7, where this term first appears.
5. The image is that of wiping off dirt from the mouth (Prov. 30:20) or from a dish (2 Kings 21:13).
6. This verb describes the activity called “fulling,” in which materials were cleaned by tramping on them in water since no soap was available for the process.
7. “Sweep/scour clean.” When used with the preposition min as here, the term often refers to cultic cleansing in preparation for participation in temple ritual.
8. These three terms for sin also appear in 25:7, 11 (see comments on those verses; see also “The Theology of the Psalms” in vol. 2 of this commentary).
9. The verb ṣdq (“be in the right/be righteous; have a just case”) is a legal term affirming that the one who brings a case to court has fulfilled all the obligations of the circumstance under consideration. See comments on the related legal terms at 4:1–2; 7:6–9; 9:4–8.
10. This may well be another term with legal overtones, as a pronouncement of innocence in a trial.
11. The artful variation in this phrase demonstrates the skill of the poet. In the first instance (51:2b) the noun “sin” (ḥaṭṭaʾt) is used with the verb “cleanse” (ṭhr). In the second passage, two verbs are used: “free from sin” (ḥṭʾ ) and “be clean/pure” (ṭhr). Each expression uses the same roots, and the correspondence of form and meaning is unmistakable.
12. For a discussion of chiasm, see the section on “Techniques of Hebrew Poetry” in the introduction.
13. Probably a reference in the Old Testament to members of the marjoram and thyme families of aromatic plants rather than the actual hyssop plant, which does not grow outside southern Europe. See the articles on “Hyssop” in EBD and ISBE2.
14. “Bloodguilt” is the guilt that derives from “murder”—the shedding of an innocent person’s blood. If the connection with the Bathsheba incident is taken seriously, then the sin at the core in this verse is the killing of Uriah the Hittite rather than the adulterous affair with Uriah’s wife.
15. Most translators interpret the noun ṭuḥah/ṭuḥot in Job 38:36 as “inner parts” (cf. Ps. 51). This means they interpret the parallel word in Job (śekwi) in an analogous way as referring also to some inward and invisible process (NIV “the mind”). Others suggest an alternate translation in which ṭuḥot means “the ibis (bird of Thoth)” and the second noun is a reference to another kind of bird (Holladay, CHALOT, 351, “cock”). This latter move reduces support for the traditional interpretation “inner parts” in Ps. 51.
16. In Nehemiah, it is the breaches in the walls of Jerusalem that were “plugged up” by the returnees.
17. Many relate this account to the building of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, which diverted water from the Gihon Spring to what is now call Siloam’s Pool. Others, however, identify Hezekiah’s work with the surface trench covered with stones that skirts the southern part of the Ophel hill to bring water to the same pool.
1. The first maśkil in the Psalter is Ps. 32 (see comments on the heading of this psalm). A small collection of maśkilim begins the second book of the Psalter, including the Korahite Pss. 42–43, 44, 45.
2. This form is from hll (“praise”) in a reflexive stem that means “praise oneself.”
3. The tongue plots “destruction,” although the Heb. word (hawwah/hawwot) can also mean “threats” (cf. 38:12), a translation that would fit the context of controlling speech well.
4. Cf. the New Testament discussion of the power and abuse of the tongue in James 1:26; 3:5–9; 1 Peter 3:10.
5. These kinds of images would certainly have spoken to the exilic community as the ultimate punishment from God for failure to rely on him.
6. This final verse evidences some difficulty in translation and some phrases may have been omitted. The Hebrew says: “I will praise you forever for what you have done, and I will expectantly await your name because it is good before your saints.” The NIV assumes the opening verb of praise also governs the final phrase “before your saints.”
7. Rather than “saints,” the word ḥasidim has to do with fulfilling ḥesed (“covenant loyalty and love”). A better translation would be those who live out enduring loyalty to their covenant relationship with Yahweh.
8. Cedars of Lebanon were shipped throughout the ancient Near East for building projects, and Canaanite mythology associated Lebanon and its cedars with the divine forests protected by the fearsome dragon Huwawa (cf. the Gilgamish Epic).
9. In Jeremiah, the context of the wicked is the “wastelands/desert,” which is “parched,” “a salt land where no one lives” (Jer. 17:6). For Ps. 1 the wicked are rootless “chaff that the wind blows away” (Ps. 1:4).
10. That the “fear of God/Yahweh” does not mean being afraid of God is confirmed by Ex. 20:20, where Moses exhorts the Israelites who are cowering before the theophany on Mount Sinai: “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning.”
1. See discussion of the Elohistic Psalter in the opening comments to Pss. 42–43 and in “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4 for “the director of music” and on Ps. 3 for psalms of David.
3. See comments on the heading of Ps. 32.
4. The heading of Ps. 88 shares two terms in common with that of Ps. 53: ʿal maḥalat and maśkil. Ps. 88, however, is not Davidic, being doubly attributed to Heman the Ezrahite and the Sons of Korah. See also comments on the heading of Ps. 88.
5. The second Davidic collection is composed of twenty-one psalms, of which eighteen bear Davidic attributions in their headings. The other three psalms (66, 67, and 71) are bound into their Davidic context in other ways: Pss. 66 and 67 by thematic connections with the surrounding psalms as well as the use of similar terms in their headings, and Ps. 71 by being read together with the preceding Ps. 70 (attributed to David).
6. Note these comparisons:
Ps. 14 | Ps. 53 |
šm pḥdw pḥd | šm pḥdw pḥdlʾ hyh pḥd |
ky ʾlhym bdwr ṣdyq | ky ʾlhym pzr |
ʿṣt ʿny | ʿṣmt ḥnk |
tbyšw | hbšth |
ky yhwh mḥshw | ky ʾlhym mʾsm |
The additional phrase in the first line of Ps. 53 above (lʾ hyh pḥd) might easily have been omitted from Ps. 14 by haplography—the eye of the reader having skipped from the first pḥd to the second. The rest of the texts show relative balance in number of words, and some suggestive parallels: ʿṣt - ʿṣmt and tbyšw - hbšth.
7. Cf. Deut. 28:53; Jer. 19:9; Lam. 2:20; Ezek. 5:10; Zech. 11:9.
8. In certain headhunting societies, the idea existed that by eating the flesh or certain significant organs (like the heart) of the defeated enemy, one could gain some of the characteristics of the enemy for themselves or reduce the power of vengeance.
9. Scattered bones also figure in Ezek. 6:5, although there the bones of dead bodies are used to profane pagan holy places, rendering them useless for future worship (cf. 2 Kings 23:14). In Jer. 8:1, the disinterred bones of the kings and officials of Judah are scattered and exposed as a way of dishonoring them because of their faithless worship of other gods.
1. For further discussion of the Elohistic Psalter, see comments on Ps. 42. The reference in 54:4 to “the Lord” (ʾadonay) may also represent a “replacement” of the divine name yhwh. Over time in the Jewish community, the convention gradually arose—out of respect for the divine name and the desire to avoid abusing it—that when yhwh was encountered in the text, the word ʾadonay was spoken instead. See comments on the divine name in Ps. 8.
2. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4 for “the director of music” and on Ps. 3 for psalms of David.
3. See comments on this term at its first appearance in Ps. 32.
4. Indeed, the first four terms in the headings of Pss. 54 and 55 are identical: lamnaṣṣeaḥ binginot maśkil ledawid (“To the director of music. With stringed instruments. A maśkil of David”).
5. The “life” the enemies seek is the psalmist’s nepeš—that animated being sustained by Yahweh’s Spirit. This integrated person—body, mind, and spirit—is under attack.
6. The appearance of both zarim and ʿariṣim suggests the original emphasis of the psalm was on attacks by foreign nations. This indicates the historical notice in the heading has adapted the original psalm to speak to the circumstances of the conflict between David, Saul, and the Ziphites. See the comments on this subject in Marvin Tate, Psalms 51–100 (WBC 20; Dallas: Word, 1990), 46, 48, and Joachim Becker, Israel deutet seine Psalmen: Urform und Neuinterpretation in den Psalmen (Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1967), 64–65. Tate agrees that Ps. 54 may be an adaptation of an earlier lament to the needs of the postexilic community. Becker claims that Ps. 54 is one of seventeen or so psalms that have been so reinterpreted.
7. While this term has traditionally been translated more generally as adversary, Dahood’s study (Psalms, 2:25–26) is probably correct in identifying the more accurate nuance “slanderer.”
8. Following the destruction of the second temple by the Romans in A.D. 70, it became generally accepted Jewish practice to understand that attention to Torah, prayer, and almsgiving could “substitute” for ritual sacrifice until the temple would be rebuilt and sacrifice restored.
9. See Tate, Psalms 51–100, 48.
10. Whatever else God’s use of the plural self-reference in Genesis means (Gen. 1:26; 3:22; 11:7), it certainly implies that he has the capability to commune/relate within himself, which can only be paralleled among humans by relationship between/among independent human beings. Note in this regard the subtle confirmation of this in Gen. 1:27, where the creation of the Adam moves from “God created the Adam in his own image” to “in the image of God he created him” to “male and female he created them.” This implies that there is something essential in both male and female that, when rightly related together, allows human beings to reflect the image of their creator.
11. Similarly, Job’s demand for personal vindication is at first ignored until he is brought by the glory and grace of the God who comes to stand over against him to an admission that his personal vindication is of little account and in fact entirely unnecessary any longer (Job 42:1–6). When vindication does come for Job, it is after his confession to God has rendered it moot, and it is coupled with a prayer of intercession for the friends who, although declared wrong in comparison to Job, are nevertheless valued by God. The full restoration of Job is reliant on his giving up his claims against his friends by praying for them.
1. The following psalms of lament include individual complaints (Pss. 56–57; 59; 61) and more general or communal complaints (Pss. 58; 60).
2. In this psalm, the psalmist’s words are called “my prayer” (55:1a) and “my plea/lament” (55:1b).
3. At least one manuscript of the Latin Vulgate makes this connection explicit in the heading to this psalm: “The voice of Christ against the chiefs of the Jews and the traitor Judas” (see J. W. Rogerson and J. W. MacKay, Psalms 51–100 [Cambridge Bible Commentary; New York: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1977], 29).
4. The notion is widespread and mentioned in commentators as diverse as Delitzsch (Psalms, 156), Rogerson and McKay (Psalms 51–100, 32), Tate (Psalms 51–100, 55), and Mays (Psalms, 207)—to name a few.
5. See representative comments in Delitzsch and Tate.
6. A thorough treatment of the textual variations and possible resolutions is found in Tate, Psalms 51–100, 51–54.
7. For a discussion of groups of psalms marked by the use of identical terms in successive psalm headings, see Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 155–67.
8. In Ps. 54, the phrase “hear [šmʿ ] my prayer, O God” is paralleled by a second phrase employing the alternative verb “listen” (ʾzn). Here in Ps. 55, however, the alternative expression appears in the first phrase: “Listen [ʾzn] to my prayer, O God.”
9. The root meaning of ʿlm is “hide”; in 55:1 it speaks reflexively of “hiding oneself.” The sense is to “avoid” someone or something (here the psalmist’s lament) so as not to deal with it. In this light the NIV’s “ignore” seems accurate.
10. The debate over ʾarid is whether to derive the form from rwd (“roam about”), indicating restlessness of spirit, or from rdd (“trample, subdue”), suggesting oppressive thoughts. The LXX translation “to give pain to, grieve” suggests the Heb. rʿʿ, which has no support in the textual tradition. The NIV translates the verb as if third person plural, with the psalmist’s “thoughts/concerns” as the subject, rather than the first person-singular found in the text. For ʾahimah, the question is whether to take the form from hwm (“murmur, be distracted”), in which case the verb is a cohortative (“let me be distracted”) and awkward in the context, or from hmh (“groan, growl”), indicating the psalmist’s verbal expression of pain.
11. Cf., e.g., Pss. 10:6; 13:4; 15:5; 16:8; 21:7; 30:6.
12. See the discussion in Tate, Psalms 51–100, 52.
13. Here, as in 23:4, mawet (“death”) is probably used as an intensifying element—“deadly terrors” or “ultimate terror.” It may be that mawet is the result of dittography, repeating the latter part of the preceding word, ʾemot.
14. This last term has the meaning “shaking, shuddering,” but it is used here with the verb ksh (“cover over, overwhelm,” as with waves of water). Perhaps the image is of shudders “flowing over” the whole body.
15. The Heb. behind the translation “be at rest” is the verb škn (“dwell, settle down, nest”). The term is most often used to emphasize the temporary residence of nomadic peoples in tents and to describe the nesting of birds in the wild. See Wilson, “
,” NIDOTTE, 4:109–11.
16. The Heb word yonah designated a variety of bird types of the family of small pigeons, only one of which—the turtledove—was given a distinct name. Doves could be domesticated for food or sending messages, but could also live in the wild, often nesting in inaccessible cliffs and crags.
17. Cf. Pss. 22:19; 38:22; 40:13; 70:1, 5; 71:12; 141:1.
19. Tate, Psalms 51–100, 52.
20. Some commentators provide an object for the first verb (“their plans,” RSV; “the wicked,” NIV; “their throat,” BHS), while others coordinate both verbs as referring to the single object “their tongue.” See the discussion in Tate, ibid.
21. The word rib normally has the meaning of “law case,” but it can refer to a more general “dispute” or “feud” (Judg. 12:2).
22. See 25:19 for comments on ḥamas.
23. The Heb. reḥob, from a root meaning “wide, broad,” is often taken as “street,” but it can also indicate a “broad place” or “city plaza/square.”
24. The verb ḥrp is intense in its sense of rejection and ridicule.
25. The noun ʿerek (“row, layer”) describes a person who stands alongside another in a row and is thus the same “sort” of person. The idea could be one of rank, although the “matched” character of relationship seems more likely. A person who hits it off with the psalmist is the most appropriate match for a “companion.”
26. The story of Susanna is part of the additions to the book of Daniel included in the Apocrypha.
27. The consonantal Heb. text at the beginning of 55:15 would be taken to mean, “Desolations upon them!” The marginal Masoretic note recommends an alternative reading, in which the word for “desolations” (yaššimawet) is divided into yšy [=yšyʾ ] mawet, which is taken to mean either “let death beguile them” or “let death devastate them,” depending on whether one takes the verbal root to be šwʾ (“devastate” [Gunkel]) or nšʾ (“beguile” [Briggs]).
28. An English translation of this text is available in ANETP, 1:80–85.
29. It is also suggestive that the verbal root (gwr) used in both 5:4 and 55:15 is the less common root for “dwell” and places an emphasis on the more temporary nature of the dwelling. See comments on 5:4 and Wilson, “,” 4:109–11.
30. The verb pdh is used primarily in the context of redeeming the firstborn from sacrifice to Yahweh (Ex. 13:15).
31. While it seems most likely in this context that the covenant broken is that assumed in a close relationship of friendship, it is possible that the larger covenant with Yahweh is also intended, since any unwarranted attack on others within that relationship would be considered a violation of the appropriate relation intended by Yahweh.
32. Rather than the smoothness of “butter” (as in the NIV), ḥemʾah refers to a type of “curdled milk”—probably something like yogurt.
33. Rather than the usual word for “war” (milḥamah), the psalmist speaks both here and in 55:18 of qerab (“[hostile] approach; battle”)—possibly a reference to grappling in hand-to-hand combat.
34. To add just two more examples, Samson hid out in the “cave in the rock of Etam” (Judg. 15:8, 15). David utilized the caves and wilderness of Judea in his flight from Saul (1 Sam. 23–26).
1. See comments on the heading to Ps. 16, where miktam first occurs.
2. On “the director of music,” see comments on the heading to Ps. 4; on “David,” see comments on Ps. 3.
3. The first such historical notice occurs in the heading of Ps. 3 (see comments there).
4. The three central psalms in this grouping (57; 58; 59) share what appears to be a common reference to a tune for singing: ʾal tašḥet (“Do Not Destroy),” while the outer two psalms (56; 60) bear tune names that are distinct—from each other as well as this central phrase. The constellation of so many common elements leaves a strong impression that these psalms constitute a purposeful collection and arrangement.
5. The Heb. šʾp means “pant, gasp (for breath),” suggesting the breathless hunt of the dog for its prey.
6. The enemy is described with singular nouns and verbs in this verse, contrary to the NIV and the plural reference used in the rest of the psalm. BHS rearranges the first two verses to achieve two affirmingly parallel verses with plural reference to the enemy. This requires deletion (as duplications) of the phrases “for men hotly pursue me; all day long they press their attack,” and the transposition of the root consonants in yilḥaṣeni (“he presses me”) to haṣṣileni (“Deliver me [O God]!).” The emendation seems unnecessary, since it is perfectly possible for the psalmist to individualize the enemy, and the emendation greatly reduces the urgency created by the frequent repetition of the phrase “all day long” (56:1b, 2a, 5a). Later in the psalm the opposition is referred to in single terms as “flesh” (56:4c; NIV “mortal man”) and “man” (56:11b).
7. Here, as in Ps. 47, the Hebrew is not the usual term for “[pagan] nations” (goyim) but the word that normally describes tribal and ethnic relationships (ʿammim), often translated “peoples” (see comments on Ps. 47).
8. The Heb. baśar can be used to describe “meat” for eating or the “flesh” of the body. In some contexts, however, the term by extension refers to “living beings,” including animals and humans (cf. Num. 18:15 and “all flesh” in Gen. 7:21; Job 34:15). On other occasions baśar is used to emphasize the transitory mortality of humans in comparison to God. In Gen. 6:3, God says (lit.): “My spirit [ruaḥ] will not contend with man [ʾadam] forever, for he is mortal [baśar]; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.” In Isa. 31:3, the Egyptians are “men [(ʾadam)] and not God; their horses are flesh [(baśar)] and not spirit [ruaḥ].” Because of its transitory nature, “flesh” (mortal humanity) is not a valid source of security. Cf. Jer. 17:5: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man [ʾadam], who depends on flesh [baśar] for his strength and whose heart turns away from the LORD.”
9. Cf. Josh. 9:4, 13; Judg. 4:19; 1 Sam. 16:20; Ps. 119:83, where noʾd is regularly considered a skin for holding wine, water, or even milk.
10. In spite of there being no evidence for preserving tears, this passage has spawned a product in the tourist industry. I have purchased beautiful, thin, blown-glass “tear bottles” as a souvenir of a visit to the Holy Land. This practical interpretation comes from the KJV of Ps. 56:8: “Thou tellest my wanderings: put thou my tears into thy bottle: are they not in thy book?” Related to this idea of collecting the precious tears of suffering is the reference to God’s having “made [his people] drink tears by the bowlful” (80:5; cf. 42:3; 102:9).
11. Daniel C. Snell, Life in the Ancient Near East (New Haven, Conn.: Yale Univ. Press, 1997), 16, 64.
12. Other accounts of recording information for later retrieval can be found in Ex. 32:32–33; Josh. 18:9; 1 Sam. 10:25; Job 19:23–24; Isa. 34:16; Dan. 12:1; Mal. 3:16.
13. This book may contain an account of one’s life before it occurs: “Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be” (Ps. 139:16).
14. Cf. Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5; 13:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27, where the operative phrase is to biblion tes zoes. The LXX of Ps. 68:28 is biblou zonton, reflecting the plural of ḥayyim (“life”) in the underlying Hebrew.
15. Luke’s account of this saying is slightly different in context than Matthew and is directed primarily in the context of the Pharisees (see Luke 12:1–5).
16. In Matthew’s account, Jesus’ statement is preceded by his caution that “a student is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master,” implying that to experience suffering, rejection, and even death is to be “like Jesus.”
17. See also the Contemporary Significance section for Ps. 49.
1. See the comments on the heading of Ps. 56.
2. See Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 530; Tate, Psalms 51–100, 77; see also comments on 17:8 and 36:7.
3. See comments on this term at 52:2.
4. This unusual root translated “hotly pursue” (šʾp) occurs twice in 56:1, 2 and otherwise in the Psalter only in 119:131, where it describes the positive desire of the faithful for God’s commandments. The presence of such an unusual root in two consecutive psalms suggests a purposeful placement.
5. The alliteration created in this passage by the use of words beginning with the letter ḥ (ḥanit, ḥiṣṣim, ḥereb ḥaddah) is exceptional. Note also the similar likening of the enemy’s slanderous words to swords in 55:21.
6. For a discussion of the poetic technique of merism, see “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction.
7. The Niphal of kwn has the sense of “stand firm, fast” and suggests enduring stability and reliability.
8. See Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 531.
9. As noted elsewhere in this commentary, the emphasis here is more on tribal and ethnic communities rather than national entities. See comments on Ps. 47.
10. See comments on ḥesed at 17:7 and on ʾemet at 15:2; 19:9. Perhaps the poet intends another merism here by juxtaposing šamayim and šeḥaqim. If the latter is taken as “dust,” the expression may represent the opposite end of the continuum from “heavens”—thus meaning something like “God’s ḥesed and ʾemet encompass the whole of the known creation.” Note also the assonance in the similar sounding pairs šamayim/šeḥaqim and ḥesed/ʾemet.
11. Ps. 96:10 affirms the emphasis on divine deeds with its statement that “the world is firmly established, it cannot be moved”—an oblique reference to Yahweh’s creative and sustaining deeds.
12. Yahweh’s name is connected with almost all of the verses in which the phrase “among the nations/peoples” is found. Besides those already mentioned, the name is referenced in 2 Sam. 22:50 = Ps. 18:49 and Ps. 9:11. In two other places the phrase “among the nations/people” is surrounded with multiple repetitions of the actual divine name Yahweh although the Heb. word šem (“name”) is not found. Cf. 126:2 surrounded by four repetitions of Yahweh; 46:10 with three repetitions of Yahweh in the context. In 57:9, neither šem nor Yahweh appear. Instead, God is addressed as “Lord” (ʾadonay). But in the duplicate version of this psalm outside the Elohistic Psalter, Yahweh does appear in the place of ʾadonay (108:3).
13. Note the connection between Ps. 138:2 (“your love and faithfulness”) and 57:3 (“God sends his love and his faithfulness”). The reason for praise is the same in both contexts: God’s loyalty to his covenant commitment (ḥesed) and his enduring faithfulness (ʾemet).
14. See the discussion of refuge in the comments on 2:12; 5:11; 18:2.
15. For a complete analysis and discussion of God’s will and its place in our lives, see Jerry Sittser, Discovering God’s Will (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000).
1. For these three terms, consult comments on the heading of Pss. 3; 4; 16.
2. For this term, consult comments on the heading of Ps. 57.
3. See comments on the headings of Pss. 56 and 57.
4. The translation “rulers” must be established by an emendation of the text from ʾelem (“silence”) to a supposed ʾelîm (“rams; men of power”). Another possible reading would be ʾelim meaning “gods,” so that the author’s sarcastic comments represent a denigration of the justice and power of the pagan deities. For references to Yahweh’s superiority over pagan gods, see Pss. 82; 86:8; 95:3; 96:4–5; 97:7, 9; 135:5. Cf. notes in BHS.
5. See comments on the term ṣedeq (“rightly”) at 4:1–2. The parallel word mešarim (“uprightly”) has the sense of putting things “in order” as they should be and may have legal connotations of rendering proper judgments.
6. The terms in these two verses are intended to counter one another. Righteousness (ṣedeq) is frustrated by perversity/injustice (ʿawlah, pl. ʿolot), while appropriate order (mešarim) is replaced by violent disorder (ḥamas). See additional comments on ḥamas at 25:16–21.
7. The two words used in 58:3 are synonyms for the human womb or uterus. The first (reḥem) is a direct reference to that organ, while the second (beṭen) is the more general designation for the “belly” or abdomen. The first verb (zrr; NIV “go astray”) is graphically descriptive, also having the meaning “be pressed out” as pus from a wound or a child in the birth canal.
8. The root of the word for “charmer; enchanter; conjurer” (lḥš) seems to imply “whispering” as the means of charming rather than our contemporary image of snake charming with a flute or pipe instrument. The charmer is the “most skillful of all charmers,” which uses the common superlative construction “charmer of charmers” (ḥober ḥabarim), intensified by the Pual participle of ḥkm (“be instructed; expert”) as a further modifier.
9. Cf. comments on 3:7, which discusses the similar image of God breaking the teeth of the wicked.
10. Verse 9 is difficult and literally says something like: “Before your cooking pots can perceive the thorn(s), like life or like anger they will be swept away (in a gale).” A variety of translations and emendations are offered by the translators and commentators, but none with any particular persuasiveness. In any case, the main idea that the wicked will be swept away is clear.
11. It is generally accepted that nqm has the meaning of “defensive or punitive vindication” rather than vengeance. See G. Mendenhall, The Tenth Generation: The Origins of the Biblical Tradition (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1973), 69–104. The utter defeat of the enemy is seen as public confirmation of the cause and claims of the righteous.
12. Dahood, Psalms, 2:63; 3:391–93. He also mentions the similar description of Anath cleansing herself after battle. Cf. the Egyptian text in which the goddess Hathor is tricked into thinking beer dyed red and poured out ankle deep on the fields is human blood. When she drinks this liquid, she becomes drunk and is unable to carry out her intentions to destroy humankind. An English translation of this last text is available in ANETP, 1:3–5.
13. Again in Revelation, the figure of Christ is depicted as wearing clothes stained with blood, having tread the enemies of God in the “winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty” (19:13–15).
14. Cf. Ps. 82.
15. Lest the reference in 58:3 to “birth” and “from the womb” cause confusion, many (if not all) of the gods in Mesopotamia (in particular) and in Egypt were understood to originate through sexual intercourse, conception, pregnancy, and birth.
16. See the discussion of henotheism and monotheism in the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 29.
17. See also comments on Ps. 54:5 and the Bridging Contexts and Contemporary Significance sections of that psalm.
1. God as “refuge” and “fortress” is a common theme in the psalms. See esp. comments on 18:2, where a number of related terms are used. Within the Psalter, manos appears only here and at 142:4. The underlying meaning is “place of fleeing” from the verbal root nws (“flee, escape”).
2. Tate (Psalms 51–100, 96) offers a variety of possible structural divisions of this psalm and remarks that the selah indicators do seem in this case to reflect points of literary division of the text.
3. The term ʾelohim seems to intrude here into the more normal phrase yhwh ṣebaʾot (“Yahweh of hosts”).
4. On these three terms, see the headings of Pss. 3; 4; 16.
5. See the commentary on the heading of Ps. 57, where this phrase first occurs.
6. The verb śgb shares the same root as the noun miśgab (“fortress”), which appears later in v. 16. The base meaning is to “make high/inaccessible” so that one cannot be reached or touched by attackers.
7. See comments on 14:4, 6.
8. See comments on 5:5–6 (where the singular form ʾišhdamim occurs along with poʿale ʾawen); also 26:9.
9. The second of these verbs is particularly difficult. Holladay (CHALOT, 153) takes the form as an unusual Hithpolel form, in which the infixed taw of the expected form yitkonanu has assimilated to the following kap and now appears as a doubled kap: yikkonanu. According to Holladay, the meaning of the Hithpolel of kwn is “draw oneself up (in battle array).”
10. By far the more common and widespread appellation of God is yhwh ṣebaʾot (“Yahweh of hosts”). This title occurs some 259 times scattered through the historical books and esp. the prophetic literature. The phrase occurs eight times in the psalms (Pss. 24:10; 46:7, 11; 48:8; 69:6; 84:1, 3; 84:12). Alternative forms of this epithet also occur, but much less frequently: e.g., ʾelohim ṣebaʾot (2x in Ps. 80:8, 15). Combinations of these forms include yhwh ʾelohe ṣebaʾot (15x) and yhwh ʾelohim ṣebaʾot (4x in Pss. 59:6; 80:5, 20; 84:9). It is interesting to note that in all its forms, this designation of the God of Israel as the leader of its military host is concentrated in the first three books of the Psalter with no mention coming after Ps. 89. See the discussion of “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
11. Tate, Psalms 51–100, 94–95.
12. See comments of P. K. McCarter, 1 Samuel (AB; New York: Doubleday, 1980), 384–85; idem, 2 Samuel (AB; New York: Doubleday, 1980), 261.
13. See esp. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 540.
14. Tate, Psalms 51–100, 97.
15. Cf. similar examples of bravado of being able to escape detection in 12:4; 64:5; 73:11; 94:7.
16. The verbs used here for “laugh” and “scoff” are the same ones used in 2:4. The latter verb (lʿg) means to stammer derisively in another’s face.
17. The NIV takes the phrase ʾelohe ḥasdo to mean “loving God” and shifts it from the beginning of verse 10 to complete the preceding verse. The phrase is difficult and variously rendered in the versions (see the BHS textual apparatus), but it could begin verse 10 with the sense “My loving/faithful God goes before me.”
18. See the discussion of this and other words for “shield” in the comments on 3:3; 5:12. As the NIV note indicates, the term magen can sometimes be used metaphorically for “ruler(s),” but here the idea of divine protection seems to be foremost.
19. The verse is difficult because of the uncertainty surrounding the interpretation of the consonantal text of the opening phrase ʾlhy ḥsdw. The Kethib suggests “My God, his loyal love goes before me,” while the Qere implies “My loyal loving God goes before me.” The LXX supports the reading of the Kethib, although this may represent the translators’ choice between existing alternatives. Tate (Psalms 51–100, 94) also reminds us that the verb qdm (“go before”) can also have the sense “meet” and understands the context as describing the psalmist’s hope for a theophanic appearance of God to “meet” his needs.
20. Cf. the similar use of the verb rʾh (“see”) in 22:17.
21. For the use of this word, see comments on 54:5.
22. Alternatively this may refer to being “taken down a peg or two,” having their prideful stature reduced.
23. Cf. 1 Sam. 17:43; 24:14; 2 Sam. 16:9; Eccl. 9:4.
24. Cf. 2 Sam. 9:8; 2 Kings 8:13.
25. See also 1 Kings 16:4; 21:19, 23–24; 22:38; 2 Kings 9:10, 36; Ps. 68:23.
26. A Babylonian text has survived listing the provisions set aside for the support of Jehoiachin and his retinue. See W. F. Albright, “King Joiachin in Exile,” in The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, ed. G. Ernest Wright and David Noel Freedman (Garden City, N.Y.: Anchor Books, 1961), 1:106–12.
27. See God’s commitment graphically displayed in the prophecy of Hosea, esp. chs. 1–3!
1. See comments on 57:7–11.
2. Some commentators (including those in the notes of The NIV Study Bible, 846) conclude the first section with verse 3. The lament certainly ends there. However, in my opinion, verse 4 provides a questioning foil for the sense of rejection the community was feeling and should be included here rather than with what follows. The appearance of selah at the end of v. 4, while not conclusive, is certainly supportive of such a division (see comments on selah in Ps. 3). The sense would be: “You have rejected us, even though your normal and expected procedure is to provide military leadership and protection for those who fear you.”
3. The term that the NIV translates “covenant” is not the traditional word for covenant (berit), but the word ʿedut (“testimony, witness”). The idea is of an almost visible reminder/memorial that serves as a “warning sign” (Holladay, CHALOT, 266) against breaking a commitment. Cf. references to the tablets of the law as luḥot haʿedut (“the tablets of the Testimony,” Ex. 31:18) and the ark of the covenant as haʾaron laʿedut (“the ark of the Testimony,” 31:7)—presumably because it contained the tablets of the law (Deut. 10:1–5).
4. See comments on the heading of Ps. 56.
5. The events mentioned may be those recounted in 2 Sam. 8; 1 Chron. 18, although there is some difference in those accounts and the psalm heading over how many Edomites were struck down (2 Sam. 8 and 1 Chron. 18 say 18,000, while the psalm heading mentions 12,000) and who did the deed (2 Sam. 8 says David, 1 Chron. 18 mentions Joab’s brother Abishai, while the psalm heading says Joab).
6. See comments on the heading of Ps. 56.
7. See commentary on Ps. 42, at the beginning of the Elohistic Psalter.
8. The verb prṣ normally describes the breaching of a city or house wall by attackers or robbers—in which case God is viewed as acting like an enemy laying siege to his own people. On occasion it may also describe water that overflows and breaks out of its bounds (Prov. 3:10; Mic. 2:13).
9. Cf. Tate’s translation (Psalms 51–100, 100): “You who put up a banner for those who fear you—only to let them flee before the bowmen!”
10. The LXX and other versions (including the Syriac) understand qošet as “the bow,” indicating they were reading the text as qešet.
11. Cf. the NRSV: “You have set up a banner for those who fear you, to rally to it out of bowshot”; and the NIV: “But for those who fear you, you have raised a banner to be unfurled against the bow.”
12. It is also suggestive that the towns of Shechem and Succoth figure prominently in the narratives of Judg. 8–9. In Judg. 8, while Gideon is pursuing the fleeing kings of Midian, the citizens of Succoth incur his wrath when they refuse to feed his starving troops because he has yet to capture the kings of Midian. When he is successful in his pursuit, Gideon returns and teaches the men of Succoth a “lesson” with “desert thorns and briers.” In Judg. 9, it is Gideon’s son Abimelech who destroys the citizens of Shechem after they change from support to opposition for his ill-fated attempt at kingship.
13. “Helmet” is an interpretive translation of the Hebrew maʿoz roʾši (lit., “stronghold of my head”). Possibly this refers instead to “my chief [or foremost] stronghold.”
14. The job of washing feet was the task of menial servants and slaves. Jesus transported this act of humble servanthood into a voluntary act of love and submission to God when he washed his disciples’ feet (John 13:1–17).
15. Discussion continues regarding the precise understanding of this idiom. It may be another sign of menial servitude, as when the master tosses his sandals at a slave to be cared for. Or, following the lead of the story of Ruth (Ruth 4:7–10), it may represent a public claim of ownership. Alternatively, casting the sandal may be related to the acts of a conquering king over the defeated ruler of a conquered people. The triumphant king made the defeated ruler his “footstool,” placing his foot on the king’s neck as a public display of raw power and subjection. Of course, it may well be that in this passage a combination of all three of these is at work. These enemy nations are God’s possession, have been subdued by him, and will be forced to labor as the servants of his people.
16. The phrase naʿaśeh ḥayil probably means something more like “accomplish deeds of military prowess” than an actual claim of victory.
17. Cf. Pss. 6:3; 10:1; 13:1; 35:17; 44:23–24; 74:10–11; 79:5; 80:4; 89:46; 90:13; 119:84.
18. Here the term is yadid (“beloved”), which indicates that Yahweh’s relation is based on more than just loyalty and commitment.
19. Cf. the accounts of complete and incomplete conquests in Joshua and Judges. Josh. 1–11 describes what appears to be a completely successful conquest (10:40–43; 11:10–23). Josh. 12–24 and Judg. 2:1–3:6 make it clear, however, that the campaign was far from complete and that Israel’s failure of commitment had prevented their accomplishing a thorough conquest.
20. Anatoly Sharansky, Fear No Evil (New York: Public Affairs, 1998), 270.
1. Cf. comments on the heading of Ps. 4. The Hebrew in Ps. 61 is ʿal neginat (“on stringed instrument”), a singular construct phrase that lacks any concluding noun. BHS notes a number of manuscripts that use the plural absolute form instead. Ps. 4 has the alternative phrase binginot (“with stringed instruments”).
2. Deut. 28:63–64 warns the Israelites as they prepare to enter the Promised Land that failure to follow Yahweh’s commandments will result in their being “uprooted from the land” and that “the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.”
3. It is interesting that of eleven occurrences of the phrase “ends of the earth” in the Psalter, seven occur within the bounds of the Elohistic Psalter (46:9; 48:10; 59:13; 61:2; 65:5; 67:7; 72:8) and only four outside this collection (2:8; 22:27; 98:3; 135:7); this seems to represent part of the distinctive vocabulary of this section.
4. Cf. esp. 27:4–6, where the themes of dwelling with Yahweh, hiding in his “tent” (ʾohel; NIV “tabernacle”), and being set “high upon a rock” come together. In 27:5, the phrase “set me high upon a rock” is the Heb. beṣur yeromemeni, which is similar to 61:2 (beṣur yarum mimmenni). BHS also notes that the Greek text of 61:2 assumes an underlying Hebrew teromemeni (“you will set me high [on a rock]”).
5. For further discussion of God as “refuge,” see comments on 18:2.
6. For the theme of dwelling with Yahweh, see comments on 23:6. The theme receives expansion in 27:4–6 as well. The selah that occurs at the end of 61:4 seems misplaced if it is intended to mark a structural division. The particle ki (“for”) that begins 61:5 clearly links that verse with 61:4.
7. The NIV’s translation of yešeb (Qal imperfect of yšb) as the passive “be enthroned” rather than the more common “sit, dwell” obscures the intentional parallel between psalmist and king in these verses.
8. For further discussion of ḥesed, see comments on 17:7; for ʾemet, see comments on 15:2; 19:9. Ḥesed describes loyalty to obligations assumed as part of a covenant relationship, while ʾemet stresses enduring reliability, long-term trustworthiness. These terms are paired together throughout in the Psalter: 25:10; 26:3; 40:10–11; 57:3, 10; 61:7; 69:13; 85:10; 86:15; 89:14; 108:4; 115:1; 117:2; 138:2. (Note esp. 40:10–11, where the NIV translates ʾemet as “truth,” emphasizing the reliability of God and his utterance.) The NIV in 61:7 takes the uncertain Heb. verb man as an imperative of mnh (“count, apportion, appoint”). BHS, by contrast, suggests the word should be omitted as the result of dittography.
9. The Heb. zmr more normally describes performing instrumental musical accompaniment than singing.
10. Cf. “Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other. There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known” (Deut. 28:64). “At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere—from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground” (Jer. 25:33).
11. “The LORD will bring a nation against you from far away, from the ends of the earth, like an eagle swooping down, a nation whose language you will not understand” (Deut. 28:49).
12. “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth” (Isa. 43:6).
13. “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him” (Ps. 22:27; see also Isa. 42:10).
14. See esp. Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 248–49 (on Ps. 17:8). Cf. also comments above on 17:8; 57:1.
1. Alternatively the psalm could be divided into three stanzas of four verses each (vv. 1–4, 5–8, 9–12), with the first two introduced with the near duplicate statement of confidence and the last being a collection of aphorisms. This has the benefit of agreeing with the presence of selah at the end of vv. 4 and 8.
2. See comments on the heading to Ps. 4.
3. In Ps. 39, this term is presented as lidutun (“to/for/by Jeduthun”), and a few manuscripts of Psalms render the term in Ps. 62 as lidutun as well (see the critical apparatus in BHS). See also the comments on Jeduthun in the heading of Ps. 39.
4. Cf. (lit.) “According to the Lilies” in the heading of Ps. 45.
5. Cf. “According to sheminith” in the heading of Ps. 6, or “According to gittith [tuning]” in the heading of Ps. 8.
6. Besides these four appearances of ʾak, the word appears twice more—at the beginnings of vv. 4 and 9—for a total of six occurrences in this psalm.
8. There is another alternative, employing a different verb with the same root dmm. This alternative form has the root meaning “wail, lament,” which would provide the translation: “Lament to God, O my soul!” While this is a possible rendering, it undermines the apparent purpose of surrounding the threat of the enemy with the strength of divine protection in the inclusio. The apparatus of BHS notes that a few manuscripts have made the second appearance of the inclusio conform to the first, so that dumiyyah is found in both.
9. The NIV apparently takes rabbah as an emphatic and translates “I will never be shaken.”
10. Kraus, Psalms 60–150 (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1989), 11–12, drawing on Ps. 73:18.
11. Tate, Psalms 51–100, 117–18.
12. A Hiphil infinitive construct of ndḥ with the preposition le-, which in the Hiphil means “scatter, disperse” (Holladay, CHALOT, 229).
13. See the comments on kabod at 3:3–4.
14. The reference to “rock” (ṣur) and “refuge” (maḥsi) in 62:7 provides an effective link back to 61:2–3, where the psalmist seeks the “rock that is higher than I” to serve as “refuge” against the enemy.
15. A word commonly employed in Ecclesiastes, where it appears thirty-six times with the meaning “valueless, worthless.” The term also appears with basically the same meaning in Job (Job 7:16; 9:29; 21:34; 27:12; 35:16); Isaiah (Isa. 30:7; 49:4; 57:13); and Lamentations (Lam. 4:17). In Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13, 26; 2 Kings 17:15; and nine times in Jeremiah, hebel refers to pagan idols. In Proverbs, the predominant image is of an insubstantial “fleeting vapor” (Prov. 21:6) and extensions by analogy to dishonest gain (13:11) and beauty (31:30).
16. From a verbal root gzl (“strip off/away; take by force”), the term describes “robbery” and is prohibited in Lev. 6:1–7.
17. See also Prov. 11:28; 27:24; Eccl. 7:7.
18. The term is ḥesed (“covenant loyalty; loyal love and commitment”).
19. A. Weiser, Psalms: A Commentary, trans. H. Hartwell (OTL: Philadelphia: Westminster, 1971), 452.
21. In some occurrences of ḥrš is a sense of “keep silent” (e.g., 2 Kings 18:36). See also Gen. 24:21; Num. 30:4.
22. See also Ps. 37:7; Isa. 23:2; Jer. 47:6.
23. See also Ex. 4:26; Judg. 8:3; 1 Sam. 15:16.
24. See Eccl. 5:3, 7; Matt. 6:7.
25. See also Judg. 3:19.
26. The verb ʾlm is found also in God’s warning to Ezekiel that “I will make your tongue stick to the roof of your mouth so that you will be silent”; as a result, Ezekiel was unable to prophesy against his people until released from his divinely imposed muteness (Ezek. 3:26; cf. 24:27; 33:32, where the prophet is at last allowed to speak). The noun of the same root describes those who are mute (cf. Ex. 4:11; Ps. 38:13; Isa. 35:6)
27. This does not, of course, mean that God expected Israel never to act or work to secure her life and well-being. The Sabbath rest did not preclude labor on the other six days. God’s action against Israel’s enemies did not eliminate the need for an army and fortress cities. The focus is on the source of ultimate security and the elimination of frantic activity as a result of reliance on faulty human power.
28. Though the NIV uses “Son” and “Father,” I have made them lowercase (see comments on 2:6–7).
29. Others would include the entrance liturgies (Pss. 12; 15; 24; 36; and others) in this group of extended divine pronouncements given by cult prophets in the context of worship. See esp. the commentary of C. Broyles on these psalms. Cf. also 82:2–7.
30. Other examples of brief divine utterances that may have been delivered by a cult prophet include: 75:3–5; 91:14–16; 95:8–11.
31. For a helpful summary, see the article on “Prophets” in ISBE2, 3:992–93.
32. Weiser, Psalms, 448.
33. Ex. 4:9; 1 Sam. 7:6; Ps. 22:14.
34. Judg. 6:20; Isa. 57:6.
35. Cf., e.g., Gen. 9:6; 37:22; Ex. 29:12; Lev. 4:7; 17:13.
36. Isa. 42:25; Ezek. 9:8.
37. Joel 2:28–29.
38. Ps. 42:4.
39. 1 Sam. 1:15; Lam. 2:19.
1. For further discussion of incubation, see comments on 57:6–11.
2. See the discussion of the divine name Yahweh in the comments on Ps. 8.
3. See also the similar reference in 57:1: “I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings.”
4. If the phrase, “O God, you are my God” seems a bit awkward and redundant, it is. Ps. 63 is part of what is called the Elohistic Psalter (see comments on Ps. 42), and the more generic term ʾelohim (God) often appears where the more specific divine name Yahweh is expected. Cf. Isa. 25:1, which begins with a similar affirmation of Yahweh as God (“O LORD, you are my God”), while in Ps. 140:6 the psalmist speaks of Yahweh using almost the exact phrase: (“O LORD, I say to you, ‘You are my God’ ”).
5. The two terms mean “waterless” (ṣiyyah) and “faint, exhausted” (ʿayep here probably “with thirst”).
6. Cf. the visions of Ezekiel in Ezek. 8. Amos received visions from Yahweh that are recorded in Amos 7–8. Note the reference to “vision” as the mode of prophetic reception in the opening verses of Isaiah, Obadiah, Micah, and Nahum.
7. A similar insight motivated Daniel’s three friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when confronted with the choice between bowing down to the pagan idol or being thrown into the fiery furnace (Dan. 3). Their response to the king exhibits a similar tension between hope and resolution: “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up” (3:17–18).
8. Once again the NIV demonstrates its hesitancy to ascribe to humans the ability to bless God, preferring instead to translate brk as “praise” (see comments on 16:7).
9. The act of “lifting up the hands” to God is a gesture of worship—primarily denoting prayer or direct communication with God. This can be supplication (cf. Ex. 17:16; Pss. 28:2; 141:2; Lam. 2:19), confession (Lam. 3:41), or (as here) praise (cf. Pss. 119:48; 134:2).
10. A probable reference to the “wings” of the seraphim that overshadow the ark of the covenant in the sanctuary (cf. comments on 57:1).
11. The first half of 63:9 is difficult and reads more literally, “and they to destruction [or ‘in vain’] they seek my life.” The difference in the consonantal text between “to destruction” (lšwʾh) and “in vain” (lšwʾ ) is the matter of a single final letter -h, which is in this case a mater lectionis added to mark a long vowel. The normal Hebrew phrase for the NIV’s “they who seek my life” is mebaqše napši rather than yebaqšu napši, as in this verse.
12. See comments on 61:6–7.
13. The NIV translation makes explicit what is left ambiguous in the Heb. text. In the Heb. the phrase reads: “All those who swear by him will praise,” so that it remains unclear whether the people are swearing by God or by the king. In addition, it is striking that in the consonantal text the Niphal participle from šbʿ (“those who swear”) would look identical to the Niphal participle from śbʿ (hanniśbaʿ, “those who are satisfied”)—a reading that would make important connections with the psalmist’s earlier phrase, “my soul will be satisfied” (tiśbaʿ napši), in 63:5.
14. Cf. Ex. 15:22–27; 17:1–6; Num. 20:2–11; 33:14; Deut. 8:15; 23:4.
15. Ps. 78:15–20; Neh. 9:15, 20.
16. Isa. 5:13; 50:2; Jer. 14:3; Hos. 2:3; Amos 8:13.
17. Pss. 65:9; 104:10–11; 105:41; 107:35; Isa. 44:3; 49:10.
18. It might be possible to trace this linkage all the way back to Ps. 44, near the beginning of Book 2.
19. See the discussion of the Elohistic Psalter in the comments on Pss. 42–43.
20. An alternative reading of this passage raises some question whether Job is expressing such a robust faith: “He will surely slay me; I have no hope—yet I will defend my ways to his face.”
21. Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 21.
1. Note the progression of praise begun esp. in 61:8 (I will “ever sing praise to your name”), continued in 63:11 (“all who swear by God’s name will praise him”), escalated in 64:9 (“all mankind will fear . . . proclaim . . . ponder . . . rejoice . . . take refuge . . . praise him”). This praise is anticipated in 65:1 and culminates in the two (non-Davidic) praise hymns, Pss. 66 and 67: “Shout with joy to God all the earth! Sing the glory of his name. . . . All the earth bows down to you” (66:1–4); “May the peoples . . . all the peoples praise you . . . nations of the earth . . . all the ends of the earth will fear him” (67:3–7). In this context Ps. 68, with its description of the triumphant Yahweh, fresh from subduing the nations and entering the sanctuary to the praise of the whole world, forms a fitting conclusion to this series of psalms.
2. See the comments on the heading of Ps. 4.
3. See the comments on the heading of Ps. 3.
4. The operative term for God in this psalm is ʾelohim, as is the tendency throughout the Elohistic Psalter (Pss. 42–83). This phenomenon (of using ʾelohim rather than the more personal divine name yhwh [Yahweh]) is particularly exaggerated in Pss. 60–67, where yhwh occurs only once (64:10). Nowhere else in the Elohistic Psalter does such a stretch of psalms with so few appearances of yhwh occur. This is particularly striking in this group of psalms since at the same time reference is made to the “name” (šem) of God—an oblique pointer to yhwh—on no fewer than five occasions (61:5, 8; 63:4; 66:2, 4). On either side of this group of eight psalms the reticence about the use of the name yhwh disappears. The name occurs three times in Ps. 59, five times in Ps. 68, five times in Ps. 69, and an additional five in the combined Pss. 70–71.
5. The word “deadly” does not actually appear in the Heb. text, either of this verse or the related reference to God’s arrows in 64:7a. For related imagery of attack with arrows—both divine and human—cf. Job 6:4; Ps. 7:13; Prov. 26:18; Jer. 9:8; Ezek. 5:16.
6. The same term is used by God of Job in his conversation with Satan (Job 1:8; 2:3) and is coupled there (and elsewhere) with the further descriptor of righteousness: yašar (“upright”). The word tam has the sense “complete, whole, right” and denotes life lived as God intends.
7. There is much in these verses that resonates with the grumbling conspiracy and association with the wicked that characterizes Pss. 1 and 2.
8. They cry out together: tamnu ḥepeś meḥupaś (lit., “We have perfected a well-researched plot”). It is striking that the enemy employ the verb tmm, which has the same root meaning (“whole, complete, perfect”) as the noun tam, used to describe the innocence of the psalmist (64:5a).
9. This difficult phrase assumes the verbal root ndd, with the meaning “wander, flee,” and it takes the phrase to describe society avoiding the discredited enemies, who have become pariahs. However, this root does not occur elsewhere in the Hithpael stem as here. More commonly the verb is taken from the root nwd with the meaning in the Hithpael of “shake in disapproval/disdain (or lament?)” concerning something.
10. Whether humanity will “fear” (yrʾ ) as in the text or “see” (rʾh) as BHS notes many manuscripts read, is a matter of uncertainty—and perhaps not of great significance ultimately.
11. See opening comments, above.
12. The appearance of the divine name “Yahweh” (yhwh; NIV “LORD”) is almost startling here since we have not encountered it at all since 59:8 and will not see it again until Ps. 68! See comments and notes on vv. 1–2, above.
1. Outside these psalms, the idea of making vows to God surfaces only six more times, widely scattered through the Psalter (22:25; 50:14; 76:12; 116:14, 18; 132:2). To find half of the twelve occurrences of this theme concentrated within a group of just ten psalms seems hardly coincidental.
2. Although this probably refers to distant, non-Israelite humanity drawn to praise God because of the blessings they see poured out on Israel, the phrase certainly must have resonated with the circumstances of the far-flung Diaspora community.
3. Within this group of psalms, references to the temple occur at 60:6; 63:2; 65:4; 66:13; 68:5, 17, 24, 29, 35; 69:9.
4. Legislation governing the giving of the offering of firstfruits is found in Ex. 23:16, 19; 34:22, 26; Lev. 2:12, 14; 23:17, 20; Num. 18:12, 13; 28:26; Deut. 26:2, 10.
5. For further comments on these notations, see the headings of Pss. 3 and 4.
6. The term šir first appears as a simple notation in the heading of Ps. 30.
7. Note how at the end of a series of four psalm headings (62–65) bearing the common phrase “psalm of David” (mizmor ledawid) the additional genre term šir is added to the heading of Ps. 65. This links forward to the non-Davidic Pss. 66 and 67, which contain both mizmor and šir in their headings. The linkage continues on to include the heading of the Davidic Ps. 68, which is also designated ledawid mizmor šir. For comments on this technique of binding psalms together employing similar phrases in the psalm headings, see Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 163–64, 190–91.
8. The passage is made difficult by the uncertainty of meaning attached to the word that the NIV translates “awaits” (dumiyyah). In Pss. 22:2 and 39:2 the same word is taken as a noun and seems to connote “silence.” That meaning makes little sense in our context, however. The note in BHS suggest emending on the basis of the Greek and Syriac to a Qal participial form with the meaning “silent one.” In that case the verse would mean something like: “To you, O silent one, [is] praise, O God in Zion.”
9. The Heb. actually says, “To you a vow will be fulfilled.” The NIV’s rendering is an interpretive expansion, based on the plural voice exhibited in the remainder of the psalm.
10. Even the Gentiles will be able to approach God effectively in his sanctuary (see Isa. 56:1–7).
11. See comments on 56:5–11.
12. Again, this is not “terror” but acknowledgment of one’s total dependence on God for all aspects of life.
13. The Greek word translated “nations” is ethne, a term related to the English adjective ethnic.
14. As I write, I have before me a brochure from CB International, in which these last two phrases are used (see www.cbi.org).
15. Read the statistics provided in Ray Bakke, “The Lord Is Shaking Up the City,” in The Urban Christian (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1987), 28–44; also the introduction in idem, A Theology as Big as the City (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 1997), 11–15. Also consider the excellent introduction to urban theology by Robert Linthicum, City of God, City of Satan: A Biblical Theology for the Urban Church (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1991).
1. See comments on the headings of Pss. 3; 4; 30; and 65.
2. See comments on the term selah at 3:1–2.
3. See comments on the Elohistic Psalter at Ps. 42; see also comments on the term “God” (ʾelohim) at 64:1–2.
4. As I have noted elsewhere in the commentary (see, e.g., comments on 16:7), the NIV has translated an original Hebrew brk (“bless”) as “praise,” revealing an interpretational reluctance to admit that humans can actually bless God in a way that truly affects him. Israel had no such reluctance, as this passage and many others attest.
5. Two idioms are used here for God’s preservation: He is (lit.) “the one who establishes our nepeš in life [baḥayyim]” and the one who “has not given/allowed our foot to slip [lammoṭ].” For other uses of moṭ (“totter, shake, slip”), see comments on Pss. 15–17.
6. For bḥn, see Pss. 7:9; 11:4, 5; 17:3; 81:7; Jer. 6:27; 11:20; 12:3. For ṣrp, see 2 Sam. 22:31; Pss. 12:6; 17:3; 18:30; Isa. 1:25; 40:19, among others.
7. Once again, the reference to “temple” links this psalm with Pss. 56–68 (cf. comments on these psalms).
8. It is probably futile to speculate on the nature of the psalmist’s sin based on the type and combination of sacrificial animals mentioned in this passage. Nowhere does such a constellation of offerings appear in association with a particular type of sin offering—or thanksgiving offering, for that matter. Also, the abundance of the offerings is probably no indication of the wealth or status of the offerer, since poetic hyperbole is most likely at work.
9. The verb rʾh (“look, see”) is used similarly in 22:17, where the enemies are described as staring and gloating (rʾh) over the narrator’s condition.
10. Cf. Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 164, 190–91. Pss. 51–64 and 69–71 are consistently pleas for deliverance or confrontation of evil that provide a contrasting backdrop for the brilliant praise profession concentrated in Pss. 65–68.
11. See the comments of Tate, Psalms 51–100, 147–48.
12. See comments on the image of God at Ps. 8.
13. See also Paul’s statement in Phil. 4:11–13.
1. See the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 66.
2. See comments on Ps. 3, where this term first appears.
3. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4.
4. See comments on the heading of Ps. 66.
5. See comments on the heading of Ps. 4, where this term first appears. The same term appears also in the headings of Pss. 6; 54; 55; 61; and 76.
6. Not only do the nations learn to “fear God” because Israel receives blessings from him, but they all experience the blessings of divine rule and are glad (67:4). Thus, the final result anticipated is not just awe or fear on the part of the nations (because of his protective care for Israel), but covenant commitment to God.
7. Cf. comments on 19:1–6; 50:1–6.
8. See esp. 31:16; 80:1, 3, 7, 19; 118:27.
9. See 50:1–6; 94:1–3.
10. See the discussion of repeated refrains in the introduction.
11. See comments of the various nouns for “people/nations” in Ps. 47.
12. See the discussion of salvation at 44:4–9. On the salvation of the nations, see 1 Chron. 16:23; Pss. 74:12; 98:3; Isa. 26:18; 45:8; 49:6; 52:10.
13. See discussion of the Elohistic Psalter in the comments on Pss. 42–43.
14. This one last psalm is Ps. 82, which focuses on interaction within the heavenly council of the many gods. Although the God of Israel is viewed in this psalm as the Most High God, there may have remained some reluctance to insert the name of the one true God, Yahweh, into this rather pagan, polytheistic environment.
15. This group may also have downplayed the negative associations of the name Yahweh with the defeat of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, which likely undermined the confidence of non-Israelite peoples in Yahweh’s power to save.
16. See the discussion of chiasm in the section on “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction.
17. Although the apparatus of BHS offers several textually supported alternatives, all of which are plural, the word as it stands in the MT is darkeka (“your way”), in the singular.
18. It is significant that in the Yahweh malak psalms (93, 95–98) the chief characteristic of Yahweh as king is his coming to judge the earth in “truth” and “righteousness” (96:13), in “righteousness” and “equity” (98:9). In both instances Yahweh’s judgment of the earth is the cause of universal joy and praise.
19. It is, of course, remarkable that the formative name Yahweh is not used in the benediction of Ps. 67—a further indication of the revisionist character of the Elohistic Psalter, of which it is a part.
20. See comments on the divine name at Ps. 8. See also the discussion of “name theology” in the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 63.
21. The final clause of the priestly benediction in Num. 6 does not appear in Ps. 67. In Num. 6:26, the benediction concludes: “[May] the LORD turn [lift up] his face toward you and give you peace.” Note the tension that underlies this statement: To “lift up” the divine face is to allow the full force of divine glory to be seen and directly experienced—a fearsome prospect for sinful humans, for “no one may see [God’s] face and live” (Ex. 33:19–20). Yet the benediction remains confident that when Yahweh “lifts his face” on Israel, he will give, not destruction and judgment, but “peace” (wholeness, completeness, communion) to the recipient. While this aspect of the benediction is not emphasized in Ps. 67, it must have formed a part of the background knowledge and understanding of the hearer/reader and would have informed the interpretation of the universal purposes of Yahweh. In this way the salvation of God would be known among all the nations on earth (67:3)—through the blessing of God poured out (67:6–7). The turn from judgment of the nations/peoples (66:7) to salvation may come as a result of confession of sin as described in 65:3 and 66:18. The ability to stand in God’s presence and share his “glory” without fear is expressed in the New Testament in Rom. 5:1–11.
22. Rom. 11:17–24.
1. W. F. Albright, “A Catalogue of Early Hebrew Lyric Poems,” HUCA 23 (1950–1951): 1–39.
2. F. M. Cross, Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard Univ. Press, 1973), 147–63.
3. See comments on the headings of Pss. 3; 4; 30; and 65.
4. We probably envision the wax of a candle shrinking away from the flame of the burning wick, but the early Israelites—to whom candles were unknown—more likely are thinking of the wax figures used to form a clay mold for casting metal. The wax was carved into the finished shape and then coated with the clay of the mold. After the clay was hardened, molten metal was poured into the mold through an opening left for this purpose. The wax model was vaporized as the hot metal replaced it. Alternatively, an Old Aramaic treaty from the mid-eighth century B.C. mentions the burning of a wax figure as part of a ritual of self-imprecation affirming the treaty relationship. See W. Beyerlin, Near Eastern Religious Texts Relating to the Old Testament (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1978), 259.
5. The same verb describes the joyous response of the “nations” to the just rule and guidance of God in 67:4.
6. Cf. Beyerlin, Near Eastern Texts Relating to the Old Testament, 196, note q; 210, note h.
7. This is the first appearance of the divine name Yahweh since 64:10 and only the third occurrence since 59:3. In light of the tendency of the Elohistic Psalter (Pss. 42–83) to omit reference to Yahweh, Ps. 68 (with five appearances of the name), Ps. 69 (an additional five occurrences), and the combined Pss. 70–71 (five more appearances of the name) mark a radical departure.
8. The story of the two widows Naomi and Ruth makes this point clearly.
9. Cf. Deut. 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17–21; 26:12, 13; 27:19. The fact that the preponderance of this legislation is found in Deuteronomy—which came to its final form and position in the Pentateuch in the Exile—suggests this problem of the rights and needs of the “fatherless and widows” is particularly acute in the late monarchical and early exilic period. This is borne out as well by the number of prophetic allusions to injustice and indignity visited on these marginalized people during this same period (cf. Isa. 1:17, 23; 9:17; 10:2; Jer. 7:6; 22:3; Ezek. 22:7; Zech. 7:10; Mal. 3:5). Any increase in the “fatherless and widows” during this period may well have been the result of the deaths or physical displacement of many males in the military engagements and resulting captivity of the Exile.
10. See esp. the condemnations of Isa. 1:17, 23; 10:2; Jer. 7:6; 22:3; and Ezek. 22:6–7. That even outside Israel kings were expected to protect the rights of widows and orphans is illustrated by the Epilogue to the Law Code of Hammurabi, where that great king takes care to proclaim that one reason for the promulgation of his law code was to ensure justice for orphans and widows (cf. G. R. Driver and J. C. Miles, The Babylonian Law [Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press, 1955], 2:95–99).
11. Again the circumstances described fit well with the devastation of the Exile: fathers killed in battle, or carried off to prison outside the homeland, and leaving their defenseless families bereft of protection and representation.
12. The word translated “sun-scorched” may mean instead “bare, barren,” indicating a desert or wilderness region devoid of vegetation. While this may be the result of intense sun, the emphasis here in on the barrenness of the landscape and not the heat.
13. (1) The phrase newat bayit (68:12b) lit. means something like “remote pasturage of a house.” The NIV’s translation as “in the camps” is speculative. (2) The reference to “among the campfires” (68:13a) has adapted the Hebrew text (ben šepatayim [“between two lips”]) in response to a similar phrase in Judg. 5:16 (ben hammišpetayim [“between the two saddlebags”; NIV “among the campfires”). (3) The meaning here of the reference in 68:13b–c to “the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold” remains opaque.
14. Zalmon (68:14b) is a mountain located near Shechem (cf. Judg. 9:48), while the mountains of Bashan (68:15) are situated east of the Sea of Galilee, on the eastern side of the Jordan River.
15. The phrase “the mountains of Bashan are majestic mountains” is an interesting one since it involves the use of the more generic word for God/god (ʾelohim) as a sort of superlative adjective. The passage literally reads: “[the] mountain of God [is] Mount Bashan” (har ʾelohim har bašan). The NIV’s translation “majestic” is most likely an interpretation taken from the parallel phrase har gabnunnim har bašan (“a mountain of high arches [is] Mount Bashan”).
16. The gifts are received “from men” (ʾadam), a more generic allusion to all humanity as is characteristic of this group of Pss. 56–68.
17. On this issue, see comments on 16:3–8.
18. See the discussion of merism in the section on “The Poetry of the Psalms” in the introduction.
19. Biblical texts include Ps. 58:10; Isa. 63:3, 6; Ezek. 28:23. Cf. the related passages in 2 Kings 21:16; Hos. 6:8; Prov. 1:12; Rev. 14:20. Outside the Bible, cf. Hathor in “The Deliverance of Mankind from Destruction,” ANETP, 1:3–5.
20. Just why the tribe of Benjamin is called “little” is not immediately clear. Benjamin is described as the youngest son of Jacob/Israel in the Joseph narratives (Gen. 37–50). Perhaps the intent is to enhance the stature of the Davidic homeland, Judah, which is described here as a “great throng.”
21. The latter half of verse 30 is particularly difficult. The Hithpael participle mitrappes means something like “muddy themselves”; depending on how one takes the following participle beraṣṣe (from rṣh or rwṣ) might suggest prostrating themselves in the dirt/mud or splashing mud on themselves while running in haste to deliver their tribute and entreaties for peace.
22. The latter phrase (bišme šeme qedem) is difficult, and BHS suggests a possible emendation to baššamayim qedem. While the parallel with 68:4 is not exact, it is sufficiently similar to suggest these verses serve as related expansions on the theme of Yahweh revealed in the power of the storm.
23. Once again, see comments on 16:3–8.
24. See the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 58.
25. An English translation of this text is found in ANETP, 1:92–118. For the section about the struggle between Baal, Mot, and Anat, see esp. 106–15.
26. In the legend of Aqhat, Anat is described as slaying Aqhat son of Danʾel by striking him on the head (roʾš) and pate (qdqd).
27. It is almost impossible to reduce the “offense” of God’s violent judgment of those who oppose him—whether in this world or cosmically—without undermining or ignoring altogether the justice of God, who does not wink at evil but must act in condemnation to what stands in adamant opposition to his essential character.
28. For fuller explanation of theophany read the helpful articles on the subject in IDB and ISBE2.
29. See the comments of Tate, Psalms 51–100, 185–86; Mays, Psalms, 225–29.
1. This reference in 72:8 links this psalm with the whole complex of Pss. 56–71, so that they represent a growing thematic unity.
2. See comments on the headings to Pss. 3 and 4.
3. See comments on the heading of Ps. 45; note also the related term šušan ʿedut in the heading to Ps. 60.
4. It is, of course, possible that a flashflood or deep river crossing is in mind, but the bottomless expanse of ocean water seems more expressive here.
5. For comments on the meaning of nepeš, see 3:2.
6. See also the discussion of “stuck in the muck” in the Bridging Contexts section of Ps. 40.
7. Heb. ʾiwwelet, which has the edge of impious folly; folly that is offensive to God.
8. The plural form of the word in Heb. suggests multiple offenses as the basis of the psalmist’s guilt.
9. See the similar sentiments expressed in Pss. 25:2–3; 34:5, and the counter claim for shame against the enemy in 35:4, 26 and 40:14, 15.
10. Cf. 69:6–7, 19 with 70:2; 71:1, 13.
11. See comments on 25:1–3, 16–22.
12. In this case “shame” (kelimmah) is said to “cover” the psalmist’s face—possibly a reference to the act of hiding his own face from public view, as prisoners in our own society often do to avoid a reporter’s camera. Or perhaps more likely, this refers to the act of spitting in the psalmist’s face by angry enemies as an indication of public disgrace and rejection (cf. Num. 12:14; Deut. 25:9; Job 20:15; 30:10; cf. the experience of Jesus in Matt. 26:67).
13. Heb. ḥerpot is stronger than “insult” and bears the meaning of a public “rebuke” or scathing “reproach.”
14. Were this interpretation of these verses correct, it would have the effect of dating this version of Ps. 69 to the period between the destruction of the first temple (587 B.C.) and its reconstruction in the postexilic period.
15. Those who “sit in the city gate” are not the homeless or unemployed who loiter because they have nowhere else to go. The city gate was the site for public administration of justice and community affairs (cf. Gen. 23:10; Ruth 4:1; 1 Kings 22:10; Est. 2:19, 21; 5:13; 6:10; Jer. 38:7). Those who “sit in the city gate” are the recognized elders and rulers of the people, who are responsible for governance and guidance.
16. The same sort of thinking lies behind the legal determination of an individual’s righteous or sinful character. Once the “time” is properly understood, the appropriate course of action for all participants in an event can be determined and true judgment rendered. Those who have fulfilled the proper course of action are declared ṣedeq (“righteous”) while those who have not are pronounced ʾawen (“wicked”). See also comments on 4:1–2; 7:6–9.
17. Once again the Heb. ʾemet (“true, sure, established, firm”) has a sense of “enduring” and “trustworthy.” Compare the comments on this term in 25:4–7.
18. Cf. Paul’s pronouncement that “now is the time of God’s favor” (2 Cor. 6:2), which flows out of his study and quotation of Isa. 49:8: “In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you.” Paul’s quotation of Isaiah, however, renders “I will answer you” as “I heard you,” following the Greek epekousa (“I heard,” an aorist form).
19. The Heb. word for “compassion, mercy” here is raḥamim, which is related to the word reḥem (“womb”) and describes the “tender compassion” a mother experiences toward the child in her womb. This kind of compassion and tender mercy Yahweh expresses toward those who “fear him” or, in the words of this psalm, those who “hope in” him (69:6), “seek” him (69:6, 32), or “love his name” (69:36; cf. esp. Ps. 103:8–13; Ex. 34:7; Num. 14:18.)
20. While the two terms are different, the concept is the same; these two distinct words are also united in 40:2, where the psalmist celebrates a similar deliverance when God lifted him “out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire [miṭṭiṭ hayyawen].”
21. Canaanite mythology includes the graphic depiction of the god of death, Mot, who waits “one lip to earth and one to heaven” to swallow those who go down through his gullet to Sheol (cf. ANETP, 1:108).
22. Cf. esp. Deut. 31:17, 18; 32:20; Jer. 33:5; Mic. 3:4, and the related passages Job 13:24; Pss. 13:1; 27:9; 44:24; 88:14; 102:2; 104:29; 143:7.
23. Both terms translated in this verse as “rescue” (gʾl) and “redeem” (pdh) are used in the sense of “buy back” a person or item (such as a house) that has been sold or fallen in captivity. The verb gʾl has the additional association with the levirate marriage, in which the brother-in-law is said to “redeem” (gʾl) the right of the deceased brother by creating a son through the deceased man’s widow. In this light the term takes on the nuance “deliver.”
24. The New Testament writers use these verses to emphasize the intense agony of abandonment and betrayal Jesus experienced on the cross. Spectators mock him as he dies and respond to his acknowledgment of thirst with a sponge full of vinegar (cf. Matt. 27:48; Luke 23:36; John 19:29). The context of Ps. 69 sides against those who would understand this gesture in the New Testament passages as a “compassionate” attempt to relieve the final agony of Jesus by offering some sort of deadening drug.
25. With the exception of Pss. 23:5 and 69:22, the other references in the Old Testament to a “table set before someone” are consistently allusions to the Table of the Presence set before Yahweh in the temple (cf. Ex. 25:30; Lev. 24:6; Ezek. 23:41; 41:22; 44:16). In Ps. 23:5, the table set in the presence of the psalmist’s enemies is a sign of God’s protective care and concern that wards off enemy attack (cf. comments on this verse).
26. Following the suggested emendation in the BHS apparatus from šelomim (“kindnesses”) to šillumim (“retribution”), based on the Greek.
27. The NIV seems to reflect a reluctance to attribute “evil” to God, but in avoiding that offense it obscures the retributive content of the psalmist’s plea. When God allows someone to receive the due of their evil actions, this is just punishment in his view and not divinely fomented “evil.” Both Old and New Testaments assume that such retributive processes are at work in response to human evil. Cf. “those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it” (Job 4:8); “he who sows wickedness reaps trouble” (Prov. 22:8); “they sow the wind and reap the whirlwind” (Hos. 8:7); “whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously” (2 Cor. 9:6); “do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows” (Gal. 6:7).
28. It is striking that the increased use of the divine name, Yahweh, at the end of Book 2 is paralleled by a similar build-up at the conclusion of Book 3. While the first eleven psalms of the Book 3 (73–83) only sparsely use the name Yahweh (73–77, 79, one occurrence each; 78, 80–81, 83, two occurrences each; and 82, no occurrences), the increased use in the remaining psalms is immediate and obvious (84, seven occurrences; 85, four; 86, four; 87, two; 88, four; and 89, eleven including the doxology). This sudden shift is the reason the Elohistic Psalter is considered to conclude with Ps. 83. The parallel build-up at the ends of these two books does not appear accidental but may represent evidence of an editorial shaping of the older elohistic materials.
29. Cf. the similar response to the sacrificial ritual in 40:6; 51:16.
30. See comments on these terms at 10:16–18.
31. Similar hopes for a postexilic return to Zion and possession of the land are expressed in Isa. 65:9.
32. Note again the similarity of these sentiments with Isa. 65:9, where Yahweh will raise up a “seed” for Jacob and Judah who will “possess” the land so that God’s “servants” will “dwell” (škn) there.
33. Despite the NIV here, the more probable rendering of the central phrase is “put my tears in your (leather) waterbag.” See the comments on 56:8 and the extended discussion in the Bridging Contexts section of this psalm.
34. See also 23:6; 27:4; 37:18; 61:6; 89:45; 102:11, 23–24.
35. See 39:4–5; 90:3–12.
36. Cf. Phil. 4:3: “I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel, along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers, whose names are in the book of life.”
37. “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels” (Rev. 3:5).
38. Cf. Pss. 50:9–13; 51:16; Isa. 1:11–15; Jer. 7:21–23; Hos. 6:6; Amos 4:4–5; 5:21–25; Mic. 6:6–8.
39. See the discussion of the image of God in the comments on Ps. 8.
1. See comments on Ps. 40.
2. This term occurs in six consecutive psalms beginning with Ps. 69 and continuing through Ps. 74. Elsewhere in the psalms tamid appears in only eleven other psalms, never with more than two consecutive psalms involved (34:1 and 35:27; 50:8 and 51:3).
3. See comments on the headings of Pss. 3 and 4.
4. See the discussion in Kraus, Psalms 1–59, 29. It is also of note that in the Dead Sea scroll 4QPsa, fragment g, Pss. 38 and 71 are found written together as a single composition. An investigation of the phraseology of Ps. 38 reveals significant similarities with both Pss. 70 and 71. In particular, the phrase leʿezrati ḥušah (mentioned above as linking Pss. 70 and 71) also appears in Ps. 38:22. Another characteristic phrase, mebaqše napši . . . doreše raʿati (“those who seek my life . . . those who would harm me”), is used in 38:12.
5. It is interesting to note that even though this psalm stands within the putative Elohistic Psalter, the divine name Yahweh appears twice in these five verses, while Elohim is used but three. In the duplicate version found in 40:13–17, Yahweh appears three times (replacing Elohim in 40:13 = 70:1 and 40:16 = 70:4), and Adonai replaces Elohim once in 40:17 = 70:5. Elohim appears but once in 40:17 (“My God, do not delay”; cf. 70:5).
6. Tate, Psalms 51–100, 202–3, allows the text of Ps. 70 to stand unemended, while Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 60, and Rogerson and McKay, Psalms 51–100, 102–3, modify the verse on the basis of 40:13.
7. See comments on 10:16–18.
8. See comments on 2:12.
9. See my comments regarding the thematic function of “refuge” in The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 215–19. Cf. also the thorough study of this topic by Jerome F. D. Creach, in his revised doctoral dissertation, Yahweh as Refuge and the Editing of the Hebrew Psalter (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1996).
10. Kraus assumes a specific context of asylum in the temple precincts. While a plausible interpretation, this approach seems more specific than necessary here, esp. in light of the use elsewhere of other refuge terms (e.g., “my rock and my fortress”) that are more appropriate to military contexts.
11. The MT has maʿon (“dwelling”), but many other Heb. manuscripts, the LXX, and the Aramaic Targumim reflect maʿoz.
12. The variation is certainly artful, but it also creates a broad context for understanding the concept and experience of refuge. The breadth of terminology also opens up multiple connections with the theme of refuge as displayed in the rest of the Psalter.
13. Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 70, considers the phrase “senseless” and emends to lebet meṣudot (“a solid fortress”). See also the discussion in Tate, Psalms 51–100, 209.
14. The NIV’s translation “Sovereign LORD” reflects the appearance side-by-side of the term of respect ʾadonay (usually translated “Lord”) and the divine Tetragrammaton yhwh (usually translated “LORD”). Kraus, Psalms 60–150, 69–70, redivides the line to take ʾadonay with the first half of the sentence and Yahweh with the second half. This does produce poetic balance. The Masoretic pointing breaks the line after “my hope” and points the Tetragrammaton so that it will be pronounced ʾelohim immediately following ʾadonay (“Lord God”).
15. The phrase “those who wait to kill me” (lit., “those who carefully watch/guard my life”) is somewhat awkward as a description of the enemy, since šmr (“watch, guard”) almost always implies protective care. But it may be that the idea of watching carefully (as in guarding a prisoner) has allowed this extension of the meaning. Another slight possibility is that this may represent an error of textual transmission, in which šomere has been substituted for śoṭene (“accusers/haters”), as in the phrase śoṭene napši in 71:13.
16. The parallel between these phrases is remarkable. With the exception of the third phrase (tereb gedullati) where the second word is a noun construction, each phrase consists of two verbs of which the first (tašub twice in 71:20 and tissob in 71:21) provides the nuance of “do again,” which influences the second verb (restore again, raise again, comfort again). In the third phrase, the verb tereb carries the meaning “make great, increase,” which in this context is comparable to the other three. The repetition of the first common singular pronominal suffix in each phrase completes the parallelism.
17. For an English version see “The Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World,” in Pritchard, ANETP, 1:80–84.
18. The description of the abode of the dead in this text is instructive: “the Land of No Return . . . the dark house . . . the house which none leave who have entered it . . . the road from which there is no way back . . . the house wherein the entrants are bereft of light, where dust is their fare and clay their food, where they see no light, residing in darkness, where they are clothed like birds, with wings for garments, and where over door and bolt is spread dust.”
19. See the discussion of these and other instruments in the comments on Ps. 150.
20. In 71:22, the psalmist refers to God with the phrase “O Holy One of Israel.” This title appears some twenty-five times in Isaiah compared to three appearances in the Psalter (Pss. 71:22; 78:41; 89:18) and only three times elsewhere in the Old Testament (1 Kings 19:21; Jer. 50:29; 51:5). In Isa. 1–39, the title describes Yahweh in his role as judge of Israel/Judah. After Isa. 40, however, the term is unexpectedly coupled with the description of Yahweh as “redeemer,” so that the Holy One of Israel (who has judged and punished his people) is now the one who will also redeem his people. It is probably no coincidence that here in Ps. 71:22–23, the title is also connected with God’s role in redemption.
21. Deut. 21:8 describes the “redemption” of Israel from bloodguilt when a body is discovered in open country without the murderer being known.
22. Mays, Psalms, 235.
1. Solomon was the second son of David and Bathsheba and was called at birth Jedidiah (“beloved of Yahweh”). Most likely Solomon (“man of peace”) was a throne name adopted at his accession to the kingship and symbolizing the period of peace into which Israel had entered with his reign (cf. 2 Sam. 12:24–25; 1 Kings 1–2).
2. The doxology of 72:18–19 is by far the most expansive and developed of the doxologies at the ends of the first four books. Brueggemann (“Bounded by Obedience and Praise: The Psalms as Canon,” in The Psalms and the Life of Faith, ed. Patrick D. Miller (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 1995), 189–213) suggests this was a late development to set Pss. 72 and 73 apart as the central pivot around which the dual themes of the Psalter—obedience and praise—revolve.
3. See comments in Wilson, The Editing of the Hebrew Psalter, 139–41.
4. See comments on the “Royal Psalms” in the section on “Types of Psalms” in the introduction.
5. Whether this opening verse constitutes a separate section of the psalm as suggested here or is a part of the following four verses is a matter for continued discussion. I have chosen to separate it because (1) it is the only imperative verb form in the psalm, and (2) it appears to encapsulate the message of the whole poem: the God-given foundation for just and righteous rule over God’s people.
6. The reference here is in the plural “your judgments” rather than the NIV’s abstract idea of “justice.” A mišpaṭ is a judge’s decision regarding what ought to have occurred in a particular case—a decision against which the conduct of the involved parties is measured in order to determine whether they are “righteous” or “guilty.” The use of the plural “judgments” here indicates that “justice” is the end result of long-term consistent decisions for the right, not some intangible attitude. For further discussion of these terms see comments on Pss. 4:1–2; 7:6–9.
7. The passage has particularly in mind the “afflicted” (ʿaniyye ʿam) and the “needy” (ʾebyon)—here represented by their children; the most defenseless persons within Israelite society. These groups reappear in 72:12–13, where once again the king’s responsibility to protect those who are unable to protect themselves is emphasized. For further discussion of these classes of people, see comments on 10:16–18.
8. The Heb. here is a bit difficult and is more literally translated: “They will fear you with the sun, and before the moon. . . .” The NIV follows the emendation suggested by BHS and reads the verb as “he will endure.” The difference is replacing a waw by a yodh. These two characters are so similar in handwritten Hebrew that confusion is common.
9. See comments on 72:3, above.
10. Cf. Gerald H. Wilson, “Renewing the Image: Perspectives on a Biblical View of Creation,” Quaker Religious Thought 24/4 (1990): 11–21.
11. This final phrase, “the ends of the earth,” reprises a significant theme that binds together the group of psalms beginning with Ps. 56 and culminating here at the end of Book 2 of the Psalter. This segment presents a growing expectation of the divine rule of God in which all kings and nations will acknowledge his rule and will join in his praise.
12. The verb means “be troubled about; look compassionately on” someone. Here the “weak” (dal) and the “needy” (ʾebyon) are in view.
13. See comments on 3:1–2.
14. Cf. 1 Kings 6–10.
15. It did not turn out, however, that Solomon was universally loved and praised by his people. His policies of heavy taxation and forced labor, as well as the religious ambiguities introduced in deference to his many foreign wives, led ultimately to disapprobation and the division of the kingdom (cf. 1 Kings 10–12).
16. Note again the NIV’s peculiar avoidance of “blessing” God by translating the normal term for “blessed be” (baruk, from brk) with the unusual “Praise.” See the comments on 16:5–8.
17. See comments on 41:13 and the essay on “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
18. The following elements are shared by all four of the doxologies and appear in each in the same order: (1) baruk yhwh (lit., “blessed be Yahweh”); (2) a reference to endurance (mehaʿolam weʿad haʿolam or leʿolam); (3) a concluding affirmation (ʾamen weʾamen or simply ʾamen). Three of the four also include a reference to ʾelohe yiśaraʾel (“God of Israel”) immediately following the initial blessing. In addition to these regular elements, 72:20 adds (1) to the initial blessing the divine descriptor ʾelohim; (2) prior to the statement of endurance the extended expansion ʿośeh niplaʾot lebaddo ubaruk šem kebodos (“who alone does great wonders. And bless his glorious name”); (3) before the concluding affirmation, another extended expansion weyimmaleʾ kebodo ʾet kol haʾareṣ (“and may his glory fill the whole earth”).
19. Deeds that inspire awe and appropriate “fear” of Yahweh (see comments on Ps. 66).
20. See comments on 63:4, 11; 69:30–33.
21. Other phrases stand in final position but seem to participate in the message of the psalm to which they are attached. Most notable of these phrases is the frequently repeated halleluyah (lit., “Praise Yahweh!”). Occasionally the enigmatic term selah may appear at the end of a psalm (cf. Pss. 3 and 24), although this seems to be more accidental than purposeful. See the comments on postscripts in the introduction.
22. See the section on “The Shape of the Psalter” in vol. 2 of this commentary.
23. References to the name of God appear at Pss. 61:5, 8; 63:4, 11; 66:2, 4; 68:4 [2x]; 69:30, 36. In the core group of these psalms (56–67), while the name of God is mentioned five times, the actual name Yahweh is found only at 64:10.
24. See in particular the references to the king in 61:6 and 63:11.
25. It is also possible that the promise to Abraham that God will “make your name great” (Gen. 12:2) has played a significant part in interpreting the enduring name of the king in 72:17.
26. Although this term is traditionally translated “prince,” the root meaning is akin to neged (“in front of; over against”), the term that describes the woman’s relationship to the Adam in Gen. 2:18–25. There is in this term no sense of superiority as might be inferred from the translation “prince.”
27. See the account of the anointing of Saul in private as nagid (NIV “leader”) in 1 Sam. 9:15–10:1. Later Saul is acclaimed melek in a public ceremony (10:9–27). While the term nagid is never used in the description of the anointing of David in 1 Sam. 16:1–13 (neither is the term melek!), it becomes clear later that David himself understood his anointing to be as nagid: “The LORD, who chose me rather than [Saul] or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler [nagid] over the LORD’s people Israel” (2 Sam. 6:21). God affirms the same understanding of David’s anointing in 2 Sam. 7:8: “I took you from the pasture and from following the flock to be ruler [nagid] over my people Israel.”
28. Cf. Deut. 17:14–20.
29. That goes even for the modern secular state of Israel, which was founded in 1947 by mostly nonpracticing, unbelieving modernists of Jewish extraction. Some of the greatest struggles in Israeli political circles are between the secularists and the influence wielded by the small but vocal ultra-orthodox communities, who seek to shape modern Israel along the lines of the ancient theocracy.