translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PSA

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “lift up.”


text: Heb “at the new moon.” sn New moon festivals were a monthly ritual in Israel (see R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel , 469-70). In this context the New Moon festival of the seventh month, when the Feast of Tabernacles was celebrated (note the reference to a “festival” in the next line), may be in view.


text: Heb “at the full moon on the day of our festival.” The Hebrew word כֶּסֶה ( keseh ) is an alternate spelling of כֶּסֶא ( kese ’, “full moon”). sn The festival in view is probably the Feast of Tabernacles (Booths), which began on the fifteenth day of the seventh month when the moon was full. See Lev 23:34 ; Num 29:12 .


text: Heb “because a statute for Israel [is] it.”


text: Heb “in his going out against the land of Egypt.” This apparently refers to the general time period of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The LXX reads, “from Egypt,” in which case “Joseph” (see the preceding line) would be the subject of the verb, “when he [Joseph = Israel] left Egypt.”


text: Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip” probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalmist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is recorded in the following verses.


text: The words “It said” are not included in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.


text: Heb “I answered you in the hidden place of thunder.” This may allude to God’s self-revelation at Mount Sinai, where he appeared in a dark cloud accompanied by thunder (see Exod 19:16 ).


text: The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Verses 8-10 appear to recall what the Lord commanded the generation of Israelites that experienced the events described in v. 7 . Note the statement in v. 11 , “my people did not listen to me.”


text: Or perhaps “command.”


text: The Hebrew particle אִם (“if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (GKC 321 §109. b ). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.


text: The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 have a modal function, expressing what is obligatory.


text: Heb “different”; “illicit.”


text: Heb “did not listen to my voice.”


text: The Hebrew expression אָבָה לִי (’ avah liy ) means “submit to me” (see Deut 13:8 ).


text: Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”


text: Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).


text: Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle לוּ ( lu , “if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12 ).


text: Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”


text: Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25 ; Ezek 38:12 ; Amos 1:8 ; Zech 13:7 ).


text: “Those who hate the Lord ” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21 .


text: See Deut 33:29 ; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ ( kakhash ) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24 ). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.


label: NET textual note

text: Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ ittam , “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord . Some propose an emendation to בַּעֲתָתָם ( ba ’ atatam ) or בִּעֻתָם ( bi ’ utam ; “their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but the omission of bet ( ב ) in the present Hebrew text is difficult to explain, making the proposed emendation unlikely. tn The verb form at the beginning of the line is jussive, indicating that this is a prayer. The translation assumes that v. 15 is a parenthetical “curse” offered by the psalmist. Having heard the reference to Israel’s enemies (v. 14 ), the psalmist inserts this prayer, reminding the Lord that they are God’s enemies as well.


text: Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav ( ו ) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14 . The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6 . sn I would feed . After the parenthetical “curse” in v. 15 , the Lord’s speech continues here.


text: Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10 .