translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: PSA

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “meet his face.”


text: Heb “with songs of joy.”


text: Heb “above.”


text: The phrase “in his hand” means within the sphere of his authority.


text: Heb “kneel down.”


text: Heb “of his hand.”


text: Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’ im , “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8 ). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.


text: The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the following words are spoken by the Lord (see vv. 9-11 ).


text: Heb “do not harden your heart[s] as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness.”


text: Heb “where your fathers tested me.”


text: The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.


text: Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”


text: Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord ’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7 ), wander.


text: Heb “my resting place.” The promised land of Canaan is here viewed metaphorically as a place of rest for God’s people, who are compared to sheep (see v. 7 ).