Psalm 95:7–11

95:7 For he is our God;

we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep he owns.7

Today, if only you would obey him!8

95:8 He says,9 “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah,10

like they were that day at Massah11 in the wilderness,12

95:9 where your ancestors challenged my authority,13

and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted14 with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray;15

they do not obey my commands.’16

95:11 So I made a vow in my anger,

‘They will never enter into the resting place I had set aside for them.’ ”17

7	tn Heb “of his hand.”
8	tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “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.
9	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).
10	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.
11	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).
12	tn Heb “do not harden your heart[s] as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness.”
13	tn Heb “where your fathers tested me.”
14	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.
15	tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”
16	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.
17	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).