translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PSA

label: NET translator note

text: Or “good.”


text: The words “it is fitting” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Verses 1-3 are actually one long sentence in the Hebrew text, but this has been divided up into two shorter sentences in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.


text: Heb “the works of your hands.”


text: Heb “very deep [are] your thoughts.” God’s “thoughts” refer here to his moral design of the world, as outlined in vv. 6-15 .


text: Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר ( ba ’ ar , “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22 ; Prov 12:1; 30:2 , as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8 ).


text: Or “flourish.”


text: Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.” sn God allows the wicked to prosper temporarily so that he might reveal his justice. When the wicked are annihilated , God demonstrates that wickedness does not pay off.


text: Heb “[are elevated] on high.”


text: Or “for.”


text: The Hebrew verb בָּלַל ( balal ) usually has the nuance “to mix.” Here it seems to mean “to smear” or “to anoint.” Some emend the form to בַּלֹּתַנִי ( ballotaniy ; a second person form of the verb with a first person suffix) and read, “you anoint me.”


text: Heb “my eye gazes upon those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2 . The form שׁוּרָי ( shuray ) should be emended to שׁוֹרְרָי ( shorÿray ).


text: Heb “those who rise up against me, evil [foes], my ears hear.”


text: The singular is used in a representative sense, with the typical godly person being in view.


text: Heb “they are juicy and fresh.”


text: Heb “so that [they] proclaim that upright [is] the Lord , my rocky summit, and there is no injustice in him.”