translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PSA

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “lift up [their] head[s].” The phrase “lift up [the] head” here means “to threaten; to be hostile,” as in Judg 8:28 .


text: Heb “they make crafty a plot.”


text: Heb “and consult together against.”


text: The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן ( tsafan , “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”


text: Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”


text: Or “for.”


text: Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”


text: Heb “cut a covenant.”


text: The words “it includes” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: For location see Map1-A2 ; Map2-G2 ; Map4-A1 ; JP3-F3 ; JP4-F3 .


text: Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might. sn The descendants of Lot were the Moabites and Ammonites.


text: Heb “do to them like Midian.”


text: Heb “they were manure.” In addition to this passage, corpses are compared to manure in 2 Kgs 9:37 ; Jer 8:2; 9:21; 16:4; 25:33 .


text: The translation assumes that “Zebah and Zalmunna” are the antecedents of the relative pronoun (“who [said]”). Another option is to take “their nobles…all their rulers” as the antecedent and to translate, “those who say.”


text: Heb “let’s take possession for ourselves.”


text: Or “tumbleweed.” The Hebrew noun גַּלְגַּל ( galgal ) refers to a “wheel” or, metaphorically, to a whirling wind (see Ps 77:18 ). If taken in the latter sense here, one could understand the term as a metonymical reference to dust blown by a whirlwind (cf. NRSV “like whirling dust”). However, HALOT 190 s.v. II גַּלְגַּל understands the noun as a homonym referring to a “dead thistle” here and in Isa 17:13 . The parallel line, which refers to קַשׁ ( qash , “chaff”), favors this interpretation.


text: Heb “before.”


text: The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 15 express the psalmist’s wish or prayer.


text: Heb “fill.”


text: After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav ( ו ) indicates purpose or result (“then they will seek”).


text: Heb “your name,” which stands here for God’s person.


text: Heb “and may they be terrified to perpetuity.” The Hebrew expression עֲדֵי־עַד (’ adey- ’ ad , “to perpetuity”) can mean “forevermore” (see Pss 92:7; 132:12, 14 ), but here it may be used hyperbolically, for the psalmist asks that the experience of judgment might lead the nations to recognize (v. 18 ) and even to seek (v. 16 ) God.


text: Heb “may they be ashamed and perish.” The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling severe judgment down on his enemies. The strong language of the imprecation seems to run contrary to the positive outcome of divine judgment envisioned in v. 16 b. Perhaps the language of v. 17 is overstated for effect. Another option is that v. 16 b expresses an ideal, while the strong imprecation of vv. 17-18 anticipates reality. It would be nice if the defeated nations actually pursued a relationship with God, but if judgment does not bring them to that point, the psalmist asks that they be annihilated so that they might at least be forced to acknowledge God’s power.


text: After the preceding jussives (v. 17 ), the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav ( ו ) indicates purpose (“so that they may know”) or result.


text: Heb “that you, your name [is] the Lord , you alone.”


text: Traditionally “the Most High.”