Psalm 113–116

Footnotes

1. 21 Psalm 113. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign king of the world who reaches down to help the needy.
2. 1 Heb “from the rising of the sun to its setting.” The extent is not temporal (“from sunrise to sunset”) but spatial (“from the place where the sun rises [the east] to the place where it sets [the west].” In the phenomenological language of OT cosmology, the sun was described as rising in the east and setting in the west.
3. 2 Heb “above the sky [is] his splendor.”
4. 3 Heb “the one who makes high to sit.”
5. 4 Heb “the one who makes low to see.”
6. 5 The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.
7. 6 Heb “of the house.”
8. 7 Heb “sons.”
9. 8 Psalm 114. The psalmist recalls the events of the exodus and conquest and celebrates God’s kingship over his covenant people.
10. 1 Heb “the house of Jacob from a nation speaking a foreign language.” The Hebrew verb לָעַז (la’at, “to speak a foreign language”) occurs only here in the OT.
11. 2 The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).
12. 3 Heb “the Jordan” (also in v. 5). The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
13. 4 The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Jordan River (Josh 3:13, 16).
14. 5 The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. This may recall the theophany at Sinai when the mountain shook before God’s presence (Exod 19:18).
15. 6 In v. 8 the psalmist recalls the event(s) recorded in Exod 17:6 and/or Num 20:11 (see also Deut 8:15 and Ps 78:15–16, 20).
16. 7 Psalm 115. The psalmist affirms that Israel’s God is superior to pagan idols and urges Israel to place their confidence in him.
17. 1 Or “give glory.”
18. 2 The psalmist asks the Lord to demonstrate his loyal love and faithfulness, not simply so Israel may benefit, but primarily so that the Lord will receive honor among the nations, who will recognize, contrary to their present view (see v. 2), that Israel’s God is committed to his people.
19. 3 He does whatever he pleases. Such sovereignty is characteristic of kings (see Eccl 8:3).
20. 4 The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).
21. 5 Heb “the work of the hands of man.”
22. 6 Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [], 3:).
23. 7 Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.” Because the idols are lifeless, they cannot help their worshipers in times of crisis. Consequently the worshipers end up as dead as the gods in which they trust.
24. 8 Or “[source of] help.”
25. 9 Heb “and their shield.”
26. 10 Heb “house.”
27. 11 Or “[source of] help.”
28. 12 Heb “and their shield.”
29. 13 Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.
30. 14 Or “[source of] help.”
31. 15 Heb “and their shield.”
32. 16 Or “remembers us.”
33. 17 Another option is to translate the prefixed form of the verb “bless” in vv. 12–13 as a jussive, “may he bless” (see v. 14).
34. 18 Heb “house.”
35. 19 Heb “the fearers of the Lord.”
36. 20 Heb “the small along with the great.” The translation assumes that “small” and “great” here refer to age (see 2 Chr 15:13). Another option is to translate “both the insignificant and the prominent” (see Job 3:19; cf. “high and low alike”).
37. 21 Heb “may he add to you, to you and your sons.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating this is a prayer.
38. 22 Or “maker.”
39. 23 Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord.”
40. 24 Heb “to the sons of man.”
41. 25 Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).
42. 26 Psalm 116. The psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him from a life threatening crisis and promises to tell the entire covenant community what God has done for him.
43. 1 Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3–4).
44. 2 Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”
45. 3 Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”
46. 4 Heb “surrounded me.”
47. 5 The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. 865 מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; “the anguish of the grave”; “the pangs of Sheol”). However, מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (métsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.
48. 6 The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.
49. 7 Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.
50. 8 Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.
51. 9 Heb “I was low.”
52. 10 Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”
53. 11 The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).
54. 12 Or “for.”
55. 13 “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.
56. 14 Heb “walk before” (see Ps 56:13). On the meaning of the Hebrew idiom, see the notes at /.
57. 15 Heb “lands, regions.”
58. 16 Heb “I said in my haste.”
59. 17 Heb “a cup of deliverance I will lift up.” Perhaps this alludes to a drink offering the psalmist will present as he thanks the Lord for his deliverance. See v. 17.
60. 18 Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.
61. 19 Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.
62. 20 Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).