Psalm 93-95

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 93:1 sn Psalm 93. The psalmist affirms that the Lord is the king of the universe who preserves order and suppresses the destructive forces in the world.
2. Psalm 93:1 sn Strength is compared here to a belt that one wears for support. The Lord’s power undergirds his rule.
3. Psalm 93:2 tn Heb “from antiquity [are] you.” As the context suggests, this refers specifically to God’s royal position, not his personal existence.
4. Psalm 93:3 tn The Hebrew noun translated “waves” often refers to rivers or streams, but here it appears to refer to the surging waves of the sea (see v. 4, Ps 24:2).
5. Psalm 93:3 tn Heb “the waves lift up, O Lord, the waves lift up their voice, the waves lift up their crashing.”
6. Psalm 93:4 tn Heb “mighty waters.”sn The surging waters here symbolizes the hostile enemies of God who seek to destroy the order he has established in the world (see Pss 18:17; 29:3; 32:6; 77:20; 144:7; Isa 17:13; Jer 51:55; Ezek 26:19; Hab 3:15). But the Lord is depicted as elevated above and sovereign over these raging waters.
7. Psalm 93:4 tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the Lord.”
8. Psalm 93:5 tn Traditionally “your testimonies.” The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (ʿedut) refers here to the demands of God’s covenant law. See Ps 19:7.
9. Psalm 93:5 sn The rules you set down. God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.
10. Psalm 93:5 sn Holiness refers here to God’s royal transcendence (see vv. 1-4), as well as his moral authority and perfection (see v. 5a).
11. Psalm 93:5 tn Heb “for your house holiness is fitting, O Lord, for length of days.”
12. Psalm 94:1 sn Psalm 94. The psalmist asks God to judge the wicked and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.
13. Psalm 94:1 tn Heb “shine forth” (see Pss 50:2; 80:1).
14. Psalm 94:3 tn Or “exult.”
15. Psalm 94:4 tn Heb “they gush forth [words].”
16. Psalm 94:4 tn The Hitpael of אָמַר (ʾamar) occurs only here (and perhaps in Isa 61:6).
17. Psalm 94:5 tn Or “your inheritance.”
18. Psalm 94:6 tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).
19. Psalm 94:7 tn Heb “does not understand.”
20. Psalm 94:8 tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.
21. Psalm 94:8 tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”
22. Psalm 94:9 tn Heb “The one who plants an ear, does he not hear? The one who forms an eye, does he not see?”
23. Psalm 94:11 tn Heb “the Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are emptiness.” The psalmist thinks specifically of the “thoughts” expressed in v. 7.
24. Psalm 94:12 tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in v. 2.
25. Psalm 94:13 tn Heb “to give him rest from the days of trouble.”
26. Psalm 94:13 tn Heb “until a pit is dug for the wicked.”
27. Psalm 94:14 tn Or “for.”
28. Psalm 94:14 tn Or “his inheritance.”
29. Psalm 94:15 tn Heb “for judgment will return to justice.”
30. Psalm 94:15 tn Heb “all the pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 97:11).
31. Psalm 94:15 tn Heb “and after it [are] the pure of heart.”
32. Psalm 94:16 tn Heb “for me.”
33. Psalm 94:16 sn Who will stand up for me…? The questions anticipate the answer, “No one except God” (see v. 17).
34. Psalm 94:17 tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have dwelt in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (lule, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.
35. Psalm 94:19 tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”
36. Psalm 94:19 tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”
37. Psalm 94:20 tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.
38. Psalm 94:20 tn Heb “Is a throne of destruction united to you, one that forms trouble upon a statute?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course not!” The translation, while not preserving the interrogative form of the statement, reflects its rhetorical force.
39. Psalm 94:21 tn Or “attack.”
40. Psalm 94:21 tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”
41. Psalm 94:21 tn Heb “and the blood of the innocent they declare guilty.”
42. Psalm 94:22 tn Heb “and the Lord has become my elevated place.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
43. Psalm 94:22 tn Heb “and my God [has become] a rocky summit of my safety.”
44. Psalm 94:23 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
45. Psalm 94:23 tn Or “in.”
46. Psalm 95:1 sn Psalm 95. The psalmist summons Israel to praise God as the creator of the world and the nation’s protector, but he also reminds the people not to rebel against God.
47. Psalm 95:1 tn Heb “to the rocky summit of our deliverance.”
48. Psalm 95:2 tn Heb “meet his face.”
49. Psalm 95:2 tn Heb “with songs of joy.”
50. Psalm 95:3 tn Heb “above.”
51. Psalm 95:4 tn The phrase “in his hand” means within the sphere of his authority.
52. Psalm 95:6 tn Heb “kneel down.”
53. Psalm 95:7 tn Heb “of his hand.”
54. Psalm 95:7 tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (ʾim, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.
55. Psalm 95:8 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the following words are spoken by the Lord (see vv. 9-11).
56. Psalm 95:8 sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but similar incidents at Meribah are recorded in the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13, see also Pss 81:7; 106:32). In both cases the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord miraculously provided for them.
57. Psalm 95:8 sn The name Massah means “testing.” This was another name (along with Meribah) given to the place where Israel complained following the Red Sea Crossing (see Exod 17:1-7, as well as Deut 6:16; 9:22; 33:8).
58. Psalm 95:8 tn Heb “do not harden your heart[s] as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness.”
59. Psalm 95:9 tn Heb “where your fathers tested me.”
60. Psalm 95:10 tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.
61. Psalm 95:10 tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”
62. Psalm 95:10 tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.
63. Psalm 95:11 tn Heb “my resting place.” The promised land of Canaan is here viewed metaphorically as a place of rest for God’s people, who are compared to sheep (see v. 7).