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Psalm 42
New English Translation

Book 2 (Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42[a]

For the music director, a well-written song[b] by the Korahites.

42 As a deer[c] longs[d] for streams of water,
so I long[e] for you, O God!
2 I thirst[f] for God,
for the living God.
I say,[g] “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?”[h]
3 I cannot eat; I weep day and night.[i]
All day long they say to me,[j] “Where is your God?”
4 I will remember and weep.[k]
For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,
shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival.[l]
5 Why are you depressed,[m] O my soul?[n]
Why are you upset?[o]
Wait[p] for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.[q]
6 I am depressed,[r]
so I will pray to you while in the region of the upper Jordan,[s]
from Hermon,[t] from Mount Mizar.[u]
7 One deep stream calls out to another[v] at the sound of your waterfalls;[w]
all your billows and waves overwhelm me.[x]
8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love,[y]
and by night he gives me a song,[z]
a prayer[aa] to the God of my life.
9 I will pray[ab] to God, my high ridge:[ac]
“Why do you ignore[ad] me?
Why must I walk around mourning[ae]
because my enemies oppress me?”
10 My enemies’ taunts cut me to the bone,[af]
as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?”[ag]
11 Why are you depressed,[ah] O my soul?[ai]
Why are you upset?[aj]
Wait for God!
For I will again give thanks
to my God for his saving intervention.[ak]

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 42:1 sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalms 42 and 43 into a single psalm.
  2. Psalm 42:1 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.
  3. Psalm 42:1 tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (ʾayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (ʾayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.
  4. Psalm 42:1 tn Or “pants [with thirst].”
  5. Psalm 42:1 tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
  6. Psalm 42:2 tn Or “my soul thirsts.”
  7. Psalm 42:2 tn The words “I say” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons and for clarification.
  8. Psalm 42:2 tn Heb “When will I go and appear [to] the face of God?” Some emend the Niphal verbal form אֵרָאֶה (ʾeraʾeh, “I will appear”) to a Qal אֶרְאֶה (ʾerʾeh, “I will see”; see Gen 33:10), but the Niphal can be retained if one understands ellipsis of אֶת (ʾet) before “face” (see Exod 34:24; Deut 31:11).
  9. Psalm 42:3 tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”
  10. Psalm 42:3 tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (beʾemor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (beʾomram, “when they say”) in v. 10.
  11. Psalm 42:4 tn Heb “These things I will remember and I will pour out upon myself my soul.” “These things” are identified in the second half of the verse as those times when the psalmist worshiped in the Lord’s temple. The two cohortative forms indicate the psalmist’s resolve to remember and weep. The expression “pour out upon myself my soul” refers to mourning (see Job 30:16).
  12. Psalm 42:4 tc Heb “for I was passing by with the throng [?], I was walking with [?] them to the house of God; with a voice of a ringing shout and thanksgiving a multitude was observing a festival.” The Hebrew phrase בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם (bassakh ʾeddaddem, “with the throng [?] I was walking with [?]”) is particularly problematic. The noun סָךְ (sakh) occurs only here. If it corresponds to הָמוֹן (hamon, “multitude”) then one can propose a meaning “throng.” The present translation assumes this reading (cf. NIV, NRSV). The form אֶדַּדֵּם (“I will walk with [?]”) is also very problematic. The form can be taken as a Hitpael from דָּדָה (dadah; this verb possibly appears in Isa 38:15), but the pronominal suffix is problematic. For this reason many emend the form to ם[י]אַדִּרִ (ʾaddirim, “nobles”) or ר[י]אַדִּ (ʾaddir, “great,”) plus enclitic ם (mem). The present translation understands the latter and takes the adjective “great” as modifying “throng.” If one emends סָךְ (sakh, “throng [?]”) to סֹךְ (sokh, “shelter”; see the Qere of Ps 27:5), then ר[י]אַדִּ (ʾaddir) could be taken as a divine epithet, “[in the shelter of] the majestic one,” a reading which may find support in the LXX and Syriac Peshitta.
  13. Psalm 42:5 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
  14. Psalm 42:5 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
  15. Psalm 42:5 tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.
  16. Psalm 42:5 tn According to HALOT the term יָחַל (yakhal) means “to wait” in both the Piel and the Hiphil stems. The many contexts where the subjects are biding their time (e.g. Gen 8:10; Job 29:21; 1 Sam 10:8; 13:8; 2 Sam 18:14; 2 Kgs 6:33) suggest that simple waiting is its base meaning. In some contexts the person waiting is hopeful or expectant (Isa 42:4; Ezek 13:6). A number of translations use “hope” in Psalm 42:5, 11; 43:5 (NASB, NIV, NRSV, ESV). This makes assumptions about what the Psalmist says to himself. The Psalmist presents a mixture of emotions and is at odds within himself. Given his level of distress, it is very possible that he is telling himself (his soul) to just hang on and not give up, while another part of him is confident that he will have reason to praise God in the future. The translation “wait for God” invites more consideration of the possible emotional state of the Psalmist. The nuance may be to “hope against hope,” to “gut it out” in faith despite not feeling hopeful, to trust, or to have hope.
  17. Psalm 42:5 tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (ʾelohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (pene, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.
  18. Psalm 42:6 tn Heb “my God, upon me my soul bows down.” As noted earlier, “my God” belongs with the end of v. 6.
  19. Psalm 42:6 tn Heb “therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan.” The term זָכַר (zakhar) most frequently means “to remember” but can also mean “to mention.” “Mentioning” may be viewed as an act of remembering. Or this may stand metonymically for prayer (see vv. 8-9). Based on the geography of the next line, the region of the upper Jordan, where the river originates and receives tributaries from the Hermon range, is in view.
  20. Psalm 42:6 tc Heb “Hermons.” The plural form of the name occurs only here in the OT. Some suggest the plural refers to multiple mountain peaks (cf. NASB) or simply retain the plural in the translation (cf. NEB), but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note that the next form in the text begins with the letter mem) or enclitic. At a later time it was misinterpreted as a plural marker and vocalized accordingly.
  21. Psalm 42:6 tn The Hebrew term מִצְעָר (mitsʿar) is probably a proper name (“Mizar”), designating a particular mountain in the Hermon region. The name appears only here in the OT.
  22. Psalm 42:7 tn Heb “deep calls to deep.” The Hebrew noun תְּהוֹם (tehom) often refers to the deep sea, but here, where it is associated with Hermon, it probably refers to mountain streams. The word can be used of streams and rivers (see Deut 8:7; Ezek 31:4).
  23. Psalm 42:7 tn The noun צִנּוֹר (tsinnor, “waterfall”) occurs only here and in 2 Sam 5:8, where it apparently refers to a water shaft. The psalmist alludes to the loud rushing sound of mountain streams and cascading waterfalls. Using the poetic device of personification, he imagines the streams calling out to each other as they hear the sound of the waterfalls.
  24. Psalm 42:7 tn Heb “pass over me” (see Jonah 2:3). As he hears the sound of the rushing water, the psalmist imagines himself engulfed in the current. By implication he likens his emotional distress to such an experience.
  25. Psalm 42:8 sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).
  26. Psalm 42:8 tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”
  27. Psalm 42:8 tc A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (tehillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (tefillah, “prayer”).
  28. Psalm 42:9 tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.
  29. Psalm 42:9 tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.
  30. Psalm 42:9 tn Or “forget.”
  31. Psalm 42:9 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.
  32. Psalm 42:10 tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”
  33. Psalm 42:10 sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.
  34. Psalm 42:11 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
  35. Psalm 42:11 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
  36. Psalm 42:11 tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”
  37. Psalm 42:11 tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yeshuʿot feney ʾelohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.
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Psalm 103
New English Translation

Psalm 103[a]

By David.

103 Praise the Lord, O my soul.
With all that is within me, praise[b] his holy name.
2 Praise the Lord, O my soul.
Do not forget all his kind deeds.[c]
3 He is the one who forgives all your sins,
who heals all your diseases,[d]
4 who delivers[e] your life from the Pit,[f]
who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your life with good things,[g]
so your youth is renewed like an eagle’s.[h]
6 The Lord does what is fair,
and executes justice for all the oppressed.[i]
7 The Lord revealed his faithful acts[j] to Moses,
his deeds to the Israelites.
8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;
he is patient[k] and demonstrates great loyal love.[l]
9 He does not always accuse,
and does not stay angry.[m]
10 He does not deal with us as our sins deserve;[n]
he does not repay us as our misdeeds deserve.[o]
11 For as the skies are high above the earth,
so his loyal love towers[p] over his faithful followers.[q]
12 As far as the eastern horizon[r] is from the west,[s]
so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions[t] from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,[u]
so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers.[v]
14 For he knows what we are made of;[w]
he realizes[x] we are made of clay.[y]
15 A person’s life is like grass.[z]
Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
16 but when the hot wind[aa] blows, it disappears,
and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.
17 But the Lord continually shows loyal love to his faithful followers,[ab]
and is faithful to their descendants,[ac]
18 to those who keep his covenant,
who are careful to obey his commands.[ad]
19 The Lord has established his throne in heaven;
his kingdom extends over everything.[ae]
20 Praise the Lord, you angels of his,
you powerful warriors who carry out his decrees
and obey his orders.[af]
21 Praise the Lord, all you warriors of his,[ag]
you servants of his who carry out his desires.[ah]
22 Praise the Lord, all that he has made,[ai]
in all the regions[aj] of his kingdom.
Praise the Lord, O my soul.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 103:1 sn Psalm 103. The psalmist praises God for his mercy and willingness to forgive his people.
  2. Psalm 103:1 tn The verb “praise” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the preceding line).
  3. Psalm 103:2 tn Or “his benefits” (see 2 Chr 32:25, where the noun is also used of kind deeds performed by the Lord).
  4. Psalm 103:3 tn This relatively rare noun refers to deadly diseases (see Deut 29:22; Jer 14:18; 16:4; 2 Chr 21:19).
  5. Psalm 103:4 tn Or “redeems.”
  6. Psalm 103:4 tn The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 55:24 HT [55:23 ET]).
  7. Psalm 103:5 tc Heb “who satisfies with the good of your ornaments.” The text as it stands makes little, if any, sense. The translation assumes an emendation of עֶדְיֵךְ (ʿedyekh, “your ornaments”) to עֹדֵכִי (ʿodekhi, “your duration; your continuance”), that is, “your life” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 18).
  8. Psalm 103:5 sn The expression your youth is renewed like an eagle’s may allude to the phenomenon of molting, whereby the eagle grows new feathers.
  9. Psalm 103:6 tn Heb “the Lord does fairness, and [acts of] justice for all the oppressed.”
  10. Psalm 103:7 tn Heb “made known his ways.” God’s “ways” in this context are his protective and salvific acts in fulfillment of his promise (see also Deut 32:4; Pss 18:30; 67:2; 77:13 [note vv. 11-12, 14]; 138:5; 145:17).
  11. Psalm 103:8 tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).
  12. Psalm 103:8 tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).
  13. Psalm 103:9 tn The Hebrew verb נָטַר (natar) is usually taken to mean “to keep; to guard,” with “anger” being understood by ellipsis. The idiom “to guard anger” is then understood to mean “to remain angry” (see Lev 19:18; Jer 3:5, 12; Nah 1:2). However, it is possible that this is a homonymic root meaning “to be angry” (see HALOT 695 s.v. נטר).
  14. Psalm 103:10 tn Heb “not according to our sins does he do to us.”
  15. Psalm 103:10 tn Heb “and not according to our misdeeds does he repay us.”
  16. Psalm 103:11 tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.
  17. Psalm 103:11 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
  18. Psalm 103:12 tn Heb “sunrise.”
  19. Psalm 103:12 tn Or “sunset.”
  20. Psalm 103:12 tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (peshaʿ, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.
  21. Psalm 103:13 tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.
  22. Psalm 103:13 tn Heb “those who fear him.”
  23. Psalm 103:14 tn Heb “our form.”
  24. Psalm 103:14 tn Heb “remembers.”
  25. Psalm 103:14 tn Heb “we [are] clay.”
  26. Psalm 103:15 tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (ʾenosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.
  27. Psalm 103:16 tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
  28. Psalm 103:17 tn Heb “but the loyal love of the Lord [is] from everlasting to everlasting over those who fear him.”
  29. Psalm 103:17 tn Heb “and his righteousness to sons of sons.”
  30. Psalm 103:18 tn Heb “to those who remember his precepts to do them.”
  31. Psalm 103:19 tn Heb “his kingdom rules over all.”
  32. Psalm 103:20 tn Heb “[you] mighty ones of strength, doers of his word, by listening to the voice of his word.”
  33. Psalm 103:21 tn Heb “all his hosts.”
  34. Psalm 103:21 tn Heb “his attendants, doers of his desire.”
  35. Psalm 103:22 tn Heb “all his works,” which includes mankind.
  36. Psalm 103:22 tn Heb “places.”
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Psalm 102
Psalm 104
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Romans 8:31-39
New English Translation

31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 Indeed, he who[a] did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?[b] It is God who justifies. 34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ[c] is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us. 35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?[d] 36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”[e] 37 No, in all these things we have complete victory[f] through him[g] who loved us! 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers,[h] nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 8:32 tn Grk “[he] who.” The relative clause continues the question of v. 31 in a way that is awkward in English. The force of v. 32 is thus: “who indeed did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—How will he not also with him give us all things?”
  2. Romans 8:33 sn An allusion to Isa 50:8 where the reference is singular; Paul applies this to all believers (“God’s elect” is plural here).
  3. Romans 8:34 tc ‡ A number of significant and early witnesses, along with several others (P46vid א A C F G L Ψ 6 33 81 104 365 1505 al lat bo), read ᾿Ιησοῦς (Iēsous, “Jesus”) after Χριστός (Christos, “Christ”) in v. 34. But the shorter reading is not unrepresented (B D 0289 1175 1241 1739 1881 M sa). Once ᾿Ιησοῦς got into the text, what scribe would omit it? Although the external evidence is on the side of the longer reading, internally such an expansion seems suspect. The shorter reading is thus preferred. NA28 has the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.tn Grk “who also.”
  4. Romans 8:35 tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).
  5. Romans 8:36 sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.
  6. Romans 8:37 tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”
  7. Romans 8:37 tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.
  8. Romans 8:38 tn BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 6 takes this term as a reference to angelic or transcendent powers (as opposed to merely human rulers). To clarify this, the adjective “heavenly” has been supplied in the translation. Some interpreters see this as a reference to fallen angels or demonic powers, and this view is reflected in some recent translations (NIV, NLT).
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