¹tn Heb “lift up.”
²tn 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.
³tn Heb “at the full moon on the day of our festival.” The Hebrew word hsk is an alternate spelling of ask (“full moon”; see BDB 490; HALOT 487).
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.
⁴tn Heb “because a statute for Israel [is] it.”
⁵tn 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.”
⁶tn 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.
⁷tn The words “It said” are not included in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation for clarification.
⁸sn I removed the burden. The Lord speaks metaphorically of how he delivered his people from Egyptian bondage. The reference to a basket/burden probably alludes to the hard labor of the Israelites in Egypt, where they had to carry loads of bricks (see Exod 1:14).
⁹tn 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).
¹⁰sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but similar incidents at the place called Meribah are recorded in the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13). In both cases the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord miraculously provided for them.
¹¹tn 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.”
¹²tn Or perhaps “command.”
¹³tn The Hebrew particle <a (“if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (see BDB 50; HALOT 60; GKC §109.b). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.
¹⁴tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 have a modal function, expressing what is obligatory.
¹⁵tn Heb “different”; “illicit.”
¹⁶tn Heb “did not listen to my voice.”
¹⁷tn The Hebrew expression yl hba means “submit to me” (see Deut 13:8).
¹⁸tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”
¹⁹tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).
²⁰tn Heb “if only my people were listening to me.” The Hebrew particle wl (“if not”) introduces a purely hypothetical or contrary to fact condition (see 2 Sam 18:12).
²¹tn Heb “[and if only] Israel would walk in my ways.”
²²tn 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).
²³tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21.
²⁴tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb vjk 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.
²⁵tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term <tu (“their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord. Some propose an emendation to <ttub or <tub (“their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but the omission of bet 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.
²⁶tn 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 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.
²⁷tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.
²⁸sn The language in this verse, particularly the references to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.
²⁹sn Psalm 82. The psalmist pictures God standing in the “assembly of El” where he accuses the “gods” of failing to promote justice on earth. God pronounces sentence upon them, announcing that they will die like men. Having witnessed the scene, the psalmist then asks God to establish his just rule over the earth.