Beginning

Footnotes

1. Psalm 96:1 sn Psalm 96. The psalmist summons everyone to praise the Lord, the sovereign creator of the world who preserves and promotes justice in the earth.
2. Psalm 96:1 sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See also Pss 33:3; 40:3; 98:1.
3. Psalm 96:2 tn Heb “announce from day to day his deliverance.”
4. Psalm 96:3 tn The verb “tell” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
5. Psalm 96:4 tn Or perhaps “and feared by all gods.” See Ps 89:7.
6. Psalm 96:5 tn The Hebrew term אֱלִילִים (ʾelilim, “worthless”) sounds like אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim, “gods”). The sound play draws attention to the statement.
7. Psalm 96:6 tn Heb “majesty and splendor [are] before him.”
8. Psalm 96:6 tn Heb “strength and beauty [are] in his sanctuary.”
9. Psalm 96:8 tn Heb “the splendor of [i.e., “due”] his name.”
10. Psalm 96:9 tn Or “in holy splendor.”
11. Psalm 96:13 tn The verbal forms in v. 13 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions, in which case they could be translated “will judge the world.”
12. Psalm 96:13 tn Heb “and the nations with his integrity.”
13. Psalm 97:1 sn Psalm 97. The psalmist depicts the Lord as the sovereign, just king of the world who comes in power to vindicate his people.
14. Psalm 97:2 sn The Lord’s throne symbolizes his kingship.
15. Psalm 97:3 tn Heb “all around.”
16. Psalm 97:7 tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the Lord’s mighty theophany on those who witness it (see vv. 5, 8). Another option is to take the prefixed form in the first line as a jussive (“let all who worship idols be ashamed”) and the ambiguous form in the third line as an imperative (“All you gods, bow down before him!”; cf. NIV).
17. Psalm 97:8 tn Heb “daughters.” The term “daughters” refers to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 48:11 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).
18. Psalm 97:9 sn The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן ʿelyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.
19. Psalm 97:10 tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the Lord.” In this case one could translate, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, the one who protects the lives…and delivers them.”
20. Psalm 97:10 tn Heb “hand.”
21. Psalm 97:11 tn Heb “Light is planted for the godly, and for the upright of heart joy.” The translation assumes an emendation of זָרַע (zaraʿ, “planted”) to זָרַח (zarakh, “shines”) which collocates more naturally with “light.” “Light” here symbolizes the joy (note the following line) that accompanies deliverance and the outpouring of divine favor.
22. Psalm 97:12 tn Heb “to his holy remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זָכַר (zakhar, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 6:5; 30:4. The Lord’s “name” is “holy” in the sense that it is a reminder of his uniqueness and greatness.
23. Psalm 98:1 sn Psalm 98. The psalmist summons the whole earth to praise God because he reveals his justice and delivers Israel.
24. Psalm 98:1 sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See Ps 96:1.
25. Psalm 98:1 tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 1-3 are understood here as describing characteristic divine activities. Another option is to translate them as present perfects, “has performed…has accomplished deliverance, etc.” referring to completed actions that have continuing results.
26. Psalm 98:1 tn Heb “his right hand delivers for him and his holy arm.” The right hand and arm symbolize his power as a warrior-king (see Isa 52:10). His arm is “holy” in the sense that it is in a category of its own; God’s power is incomparable.
27. Psalm 98:2 tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”
28. Psalm 98:3 tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”
29. Psalm 98:3 tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).
30. Psalm 98:9 tn The verbal forms in v. 9 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions (“will judge…”).
31. Psalm 99:1 sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.
32. Psalm 99:1 tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 1 are understood here as indicating the nations’ characteristic response to the reality of the Lord’s kingship. Another option is to take them as jussives: “let the nations tremble…let the earth shake!”
33. Psalm 99:1 sn Cherubim are winged angels. As depicted in the OT, they possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubim suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubim in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.
34. Psalm 99:1 tn The Hebrew verb נוּט (nut) occurs only here in the OT, but the meaning can be determined on the basis of the parallelism with רָגַז (ragaz, “tremble”) and evidence from the cognate languages (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 121).
35. Psalm 99:2 tn Heb “great.”
36. Psalm 99:3 tn The pronoun refers to the Lord himself (see vv. 5, 9).
37. Psalm 99:4 tn Heb “and strength, a king, justice he loves.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation assumes that two affirmations are made about the king, the Lord (see v. 1, and Ps 98:6). The noun עֹז (ʿoz, “strength”) should probably be revocalized as the adjective עַז (ʿaz, “strong”).
38. Psalm 99:4 tn Heb “you establish fairness.”
39. Psalm 99:5 tn Or “exalt.”
40. Psalm 99:5 tn Or “bow down.”
41. Psalm 99:6 tn Heb “among those who called on his name.”
42. Psalm 99:6 tn Heb “those who.” The participle is in apposition to the phrase “those who called on his name” in the preceding line.
43. Psalm 99:7 sn A pillar of cloud. The psalmist refers to the reality described in Exod 33:9-10; Num 12:5; and Deut 31:15.
44. Psalm 99:8 tn Heb “a God of lifting up [i.e., forgiveness] you were to them, and an avenger concerning their deeds.” The present translation reflects the traditional interpretation, which understands the last line as qualifying the preceding one. God forgave Moses and Aaron, but he also disciplined them when they sinned (cf. NIV, NRSV). Another option is to take “their deeds” as referring to harmful deeds directed against Moses and Aaron. In this case the verse may be translated, “and one who avenged attacks against them.” Still another option is to emend the participial form נֹקֵם (noqem, “an avenger”) to נֹקָם (noqam), a rare Qal participial form of נָקַה (naqah, “purify”) with a suffixed pronoun. In this case one could translate, “and one who purified them from their [sinful] deeds” (cf. NEB “and held them innocent”).
45. Psalm 99:9 tn Or “exalt.”
46. Psalm 100:1 sn Psalm 100. The psalmist celebrates the fact that Israel has a special relationship to God and summons worshipers to praise the Lord for his faithfulness.
47. Psalm 100:2 tn Or “serve.”
48. Psalm 100:3 tn The present translation (like most modern translations) follows the Qere (marginal reading), which reads literally, “and to him [are] we.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “and not we.” The suffixed preposition לוֹ (lo, “to him”) was confused aurally with the negative particle לֹא (loʾ, “not”) because the two sound identical.
49. Psalm 100:5 tn Or “is forever.”
50. Psalm 100:5 tn Heb “and to a generation and a generation [is] his faithfulness.”
51. Psalm 101:1 sn Psalm 101. The psalmist, who appears to be a king, promises to promote justice in his land and vows to rid his royal court of evildoers.
52. Psalm 101:2 tn Heb “take notice of.”
53. Psalm 101:2 tn Heb “I will walk about in the integrity of my heart in the midst of my house.”
54. Psalm 101:3 tn Heb “I will not set before my eyes a thing of worthlessness.”
55. Psalm 101:3 tn Heb “the doing of swerving [deeds] I hate.” The Hebrew term סֵטִים (setim) is probably an alternate spelling of שֵׂטִים (setim), which appears in many medieval Hebrew mss. The form appears to be derived from a verbal root שׂוּט (sut, “to fall away; to swerve”; see Ps 40:4).
56. Psalm 101:3 tn Heb “it [i.e., the doing of evil deeds] does not cling to me.”
57. Psalm 101:4 tn Heb “a perverse heart will turn aside from me.” The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (ʿiqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted; crooked” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse (see Ps 18:26). It appears frequently in the Book of Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5), speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20), and life styles (2:15; 28:6).
58. Psalm 101:4 tn Heb “know.” The king will not willingly allow perverse individuals to remain in his royal court.
59. Psalm 101:5 tn Heb “[one who has] pride of eyes and wideness [i.e., arrogance] of heart, him I will not endure.”
60. Psalm 101:6 tn Heb “my eyes [are] on the faithful of the land.”
61. Psalm 101:6 tn The Hebrew text simply reads, “in order to live with me.”
62. Psalm 101:6 tn Heb “one who walks in the way of integrity, he will minister to me.”
63. Psalm 101:7 tn Heb “he will not live in the midst of my house, one who does deceit.”
64. Psalm 101:7 tn Heb “one who speaks lies will not be established before my eyes.”
65. Psalm 102:1 sn Psalm 102. The psalmist laments his oppressed state, but longs for a day when the Lord will restore Jerusalem and vindicate his suffering people.
66. Psalm 102:1 tn Heb “and may my cry for help come to you.”
67. Psalm 102:2 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me in the day of my trouble.” The idiom “to hide the face” can mean “to ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “to reject” (see Pss 29:7; 30:7; 88:14).
68. Psalm 102:2 tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”
69. Psalm 102:3 tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”
70. Psalm 102:3 tn The Hebrew noun קֵד (qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.
71. Psalm 102:4 tn Heb “struck, attacked.”
72. Psalm 102:4 tn Heb “I forget.”
73. Psalm 102:4 sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.
74. Psalm 102:5 tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated—he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.
75. Psalm 102:6 tn The Hebrew term קָאַת (qaʾat) refers to some type of bird (see Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). Modern translations have frequently rendered this as some type of owl (NIV, REB “desert owl”; NRSV “owl”).
76. Psalm 102:6 tn The Hebrew term כוֹס (khos) refers to a bird (see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16), probably a type of owl (cf. NIV, REB “owl”; NRSV “little owl”).
77. Psalm 102:6 sn By comparing himself to a screech owl among the ruins, the psalmist may be highlighting his loneliness (see v. 7), though he may also be comparing his cries for help to the owl’s screech.
78. Psalm 102:7 tn This probably refers to the psalmist’s inability to sleep. Another option is to translate, “I keep watch,” in which case it might refer to watching for a response from the Lord (see vv. 1-2).
79. Psalm 102:8 tn Heb “by me they swear.” When the psalmist’s enemies call judgment down on others, they hold the psalmist up as a prime example of what they desire their enemies to become.
80. Psalm 102:9 sn Mourners would sometimes put ashes on their head or roll in ashes as a sign of mourning (see 2 Sam 13:19; Job 2:8; Isa 58:5).
81. Psalm 102:9 tn Heb “weeping.”
82. Psalm 102:10 tn Or “for.”
83. Psalm 102:11 tn Heb “my days [are] like an extended [or “lengthening”] shadow,” that is, like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness.
84. Psalm 102:12 tn Heb “sit” (i.e., sit enthroned, see Ps 9:7). The imperfect verbal form highlights the generalization.
85. Psalm 102:12 tn Heb “and your remembrance [is] for a generation and a generation.”
86. Psalm 102:13 tn The imperfect verbal forms are understood as expressing the psalmist’s confidence in God’s intervention. Another option is to take them as expressing the psalmist’s request or wish, “You, rise up and have compassion!”
87. Psalm 102:14 tn Or “for.”
88. Psalm 102:14 tn The Poel of חָנַן (khanan) occurs only here and in Prov 14:21, where it refers to having compassion on the poor.
89. Psalm 102:14 tn Heb “her dust,” probably referring to the dust of the city’s rubble.
90. Psalm 102:15 tn Heb “will fear the name of the Lord.” To “fear” God’s name means to have a healthy respect for his revealed reputation which in turn motivates one to obey God’s commands (see Ps 86:11).
91. Psalm 102:15 tn The verb “will fear” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the preceding line).
92. Psalm 102:17 tn The Hebrew adjective עַרְעָר (ʿarar, “destitute”) occurs only here in the OT. It is derived from the verbal root ערר (“to strip oneself”).
93. Psalm 102:17 tn Heb “despise.”
94. Psalm 102:17 tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 16-17 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 15.
95. Psalm 102:18 tn The Hebrew text has simply “this,” referring to the anticipated divine intervention on behalf of Zion (vv. 13, 16-17). The referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
96. Psalm 102:18 tn Or “created.”
97. Psalm 102:19 tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”
98. Psalm 102:19 tn The perfect verbal forms in v. 19 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 18.
99. Psalm 102:20 tn Heb “the sons of death.” The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 79:11) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.
100. Psalm 102:21 tn Heb “his praise.”
101. Psalm 102:22 tn “and the kingdoms to serve the Lord.”
102. Psalm 102:23 tn Heb “he has afflicted my strength in the way.” The term “way” refers here to the course of the psalmist’s life, which appears to be ending prematurely (vv. 23b-24).
103. Psalm 102:24 tn Heb “do not lift me up in the middle of my days.”
104. Psalm 102:24 tn Heb “in a generation of generations [are] your years.”
105. Psalm 102:26 tn Heb “stand.”
106. Psalm 102:26 tn The Hebrew verb חָלַף (khalaf) occurs twice in this line, once in the Hiphil (“you will remove them”) and once in the Qal (“they will disappear”). The repetition draws attention to the statement.
107. Psalm 102:27 tn Heb “you [are] he,” or “you [are] the one.” The statement may echo the Lord’s affirmation “I am he” in Isa 41:4; 43:10, 13; 46:10; 48:12. In each of these passages the affirmation emphasizes the fact that the Lord transcends time limitations, the very point being made in Ps 102:27.
108. Psalm 102:28 tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”
109. Psalm 102:28 tn Heb “before you will be established.”