translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PSA

label: NET translator note

text: Or “give glory.”


text: The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2 ).


text: Heb “the work of the hands of man.”


text: Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5 a refers to speaking, v. 7 c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).


text: Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.” sn 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.


text: Or “[source of] help.”


text: Heb “and their shield.”


text: Heb “house.”


text: Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord .” See Ps 15:4 .


text: Or “remembers us.”


text: 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 ).


text: Heb “the fearers of the Lord .”


text: 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. NEB “high and low alike”).


text: Heb “may he add to you, to you and your sons.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating this is a prayer.


text: Or “maker.”


text: Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord .”


text: Heb “to the sons of man.”


text: Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17 ).