Footnotes

1. Psalm 85:1 sn Psalm 85. God’s people recall how he forgave their sins in the past, pray that he might now restore them to his favor, and anticipate renewed blessings.
2. Psalm 85:1 tn Heb “you turned with a turning [toward] Jacob.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (sh^evut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv). See Pss 14:7; 53:6.
3. Psalm 85:2 tn Heb “lifted up.”
4. Psalm 85:2 tn Heb “covered over.”
5. Psalm 85:3 tn Heb “the rage of your anger.” The phrase “rage of your anger” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81. See Pss 69:24; 78:49.
6. Psalm 85:4 tn Heb “break your displeasure with us.” Some prefer to emend הָפֵר (hafer, “break”) to הָסֵר (haser, “turn aside”).
7. Psalm 85:5 tn Heb “Will your anger stretch to a generation and a generation?”
8. Psalm 85:8 sn I will listen. Having asked for the Lord’s favor, the psalmist (who here represents the nation) anticipates a divine word of assurance.
9. Psalm 85:8 tn Heb “speak.” The idiom “speak peace” refers to establishing or maintaining peaceful relations with someone (see Gen 37:4; Zech 9:10; cf. Ps 122:8).
10. Psalm 85:8 tn Heb “to his people and to his faithful followers.” The translation assumes that “his people” and “his faithful followers” are viewed as identical here.
11. Psalm 85:8 tn Or “yet let them not.” After the negative particle אֵל (ʾel), the prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating the speaker’s desire or wish.
12. Psalm 85:9 tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”
13. Psalm 85:9 tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with ל (lamed), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.
14. Psalm 85:10 tn The psalmist probably uses the perfect verbal forms in v. 10 in a dramatic or rhetorical manner, describing what he anticipates as if it were already occurring or had already occurred.
15. Psalm 85:10 sn Deliverance and peace greet each other with a kiss. The psalmist personifies these abstract qualities to emphasize that God’s loyal love and faithfulness will yield deliverance and peace for his people.
16. Psalm 85:11 sn The psalmist already sees undeniable signs of God’s faithfulness and expects deliverance to arrive soon.
17. Psalm 85:12 tn Heb “what is good.”
18. Psalm 85:12 tn Both “bestow” and “yield” translate the same Hebrew verb (נָתַן, natan). The repetition of the word emphasizes that agricultural prosperity is the direct result of divine blessing.
19. Psalm 85:13 tn Or “will go.”
20. Psalm 85:13 tn Or “will prepare.”
21. Psalm 85:13 tn Heb “and it prepares for a way his footsteps.” Some suggest emending וְיָשֵׂם (v^eyasem, “and prepares”) to וְשָׁלוֹם (v^eshalom, “and peace”) since “deliverance” and “peace” are closely related earlier in v. 13. This could be translated, “and peace [goes ahead, making] a pathway for his footsteps” (cf. NEB).