translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PSA

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “the perfection of beauty.”


text: Or “shines forth.” sn Comes in splendor . The psalmist may allude ironically to Deut 33:2 , where God “shines forth” from Sinai and comes to superintend Moses’ blessing of the tribes.


text: According to GKC 322 §109. e , the jussive (note the negative particle אַל , ’ al ) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”


text: Or perhaps “to testify against his people.” sn The personified heavens and earth (see v. 1 as well) are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people (see Isa 1:2 ). Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1 ).


text: The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.


text: Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד ( khasid , “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3 ), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.


text: Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8 ).


text: Or “justice.”


text: Or “for God, he is about to judge.” The participle may be taken as substantival (as in the translation above) or as a predicate (indicating imminent future action in this context).


text: The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s charges against his people follow.


text: Heb “Israel, and I will testify against you.” The imperative “listen” is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).


text: Or “rebuking.”


text: Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”


text: Or “I will not take.”


text: Heb “[the] animals on a thousand hills.” The words “that graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The term בְּהֵמוֹה ( bÿhemot , “animal”) refers here to cattle (see Ps 104:14 ).


text: Heb “I know.”


text: The precise referent of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in Ps 80:13 , is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.


text: The rhetorical questions assume an emphatic negative response, “Of course not!”


text: Heb “Most High.” This divine title ( עֶלְיוֹן , ’ elyon ) 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 .


text: Heb “call [to] me in a day of trouble.”


text: Heb “evil [one].” The singular adjective is used here in a representative sense; it refers to those within the larger covenant community who have blatantly violated the Lord ’s commandments. In the psalms the “wicked” ( רְשָׁעִים , rÿsha ’ im ) are typically proud, practical atheists ( Ps 10:2, 4, 11 ) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander, and cheat others ( Ps 37:21 ).


text: Heb “What to you to declare my commands and lift up my covenant upon your mouth?” The rhetorical question expresses sarcastic amazement. The Lord is shocked that such evildoers would give lip-service to his covenantal demands, for their lifestyle is completely opposed to his standards (see vv. 18-20 ).


text: Heb “and throw my words behind you.”


text: Heb “you run with him.”


text: Heb “and with adulterers [is] your portion.”


text: Heb “your mouth you send with evil.”


text: Heb “and your tongue binds together [i.e., “frames”] deceit.”


text: Heb “you sit, against your brother you speak.” To “sit” and “speak” against someone implies plotting against that person (see Ps 119:23 ).


text: Heb “against the son of your mother you give a fault.”


text: Heb “these things you did and I was silent.” Some interpret the second clause (“and I was silent”) as a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, “[When you do these things], should I keep silent?” (cf. NEB). See GKC 335 §112. cc . sn The Lord was silent in the sense that he delayed punishment. Of course, God’s patience toward sinners eventually runs out. The divine “silence” is only temporary (see v. 3 , where the psalmist, having described God’s arrival, observes that “he is not silent”).


text: The Hebrew infinitive construct ( הֱיוֹת , heyot ) appears to function like the infinitive absolute here, adding emphasis to the following finite verbal form ( אֶהְיֶה , ’ ehyeh ). See GKC 339-40 §113. a . Some prefer to emend הֱיוֹת ( heyot ) to the infinitive absolute form הָיוֹ ( hayo ).


text: Or “rebuke” (see v. 8 ).


text: Heb “and I will set in order [my case against you] to your eyes.” The cohortative form expresses the Lord ’s resolve to accuse and judge the wicked.


text: Heb “[you who] forget God.” “Forgetting God” here means forgetting about his commandments and not respecting his moral authority.


text: Heb “and [to one who] sets a way I will show the deliverance of God.” Elsewhere the phrase “set a way” simply means “to travel” (see Gen 30:36 ; cf. NRSV). The present translation assumes an emendation of וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ ( vÿsam derekh ) to וְשֹׁמֵר דְּרָכַּי ( vÿshomer dÿrakhay , “and [the one who] keeps my ways” [i.e., commands, see Pss 18:21; 37:34 ). Another option is to read וְשֹׁמֵר דַּרְכּוֹ ( vÿshomer darko , “and [the one who] guards his way,” i.e., “the one who is careful to follow a godly lifestyle”; see Ps 39:1 ).