¹tn Heb “shine forth” (see Pss 50:2; 80:1).
²tn Or “exult.”
³tn Heb “they gush forth [words].”
⁴tn The Hitpael of rma occurs only here (and perhaps in Isa 61:6).
⁵tn Or “your inheritance.”
⁶tn The Hebrew noun <wty refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).
⁷tn Heb “does not understand.”
⁸tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.
⁹tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”
¹⁰tn Heb “The one who plants an ear, does he not hear? The one who forms an eye, does he not see?”
¹¹tn Heb “the Lord knows the thoughts of man, that they are emptiness.” The psalmist thinks specifically of the “thoughts” expressed in v. 7.
¹²tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in v. 2.
¹³tn Heb “to give him rest from the days of trouble.”
¹⁴tn Heb “until a pit is dug for the wicked.”
¹⁵tn Or “for.”
¹⁶tn Or “his inheritance.”
¹⁷tn Heb “for judgment will return to justice.”
¹⁸tn Heb “all the pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 97:11).
¹⁹tn Heb “and after it [are] the pure of heart.”
²⁰tn Heb “for me.”
²¹sn Who will stand up for me…? The questions anticipate the answer, “No one except God” (see v. 17).
²²tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term ylwl (“if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.
²³tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”
²⁴tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”
²⁵tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.
²⁶tn Heb “Is a throne of destruction united to you, one that forms trouble upon a statute?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course not!” The translation, while not preserving the interrogative form of the statement, reflects its rhetorical force.
²⁷tn Or “attack.”
²⁸tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”
²⁹tn Heb “and the blood of the innocent they declare guilty.”
³⁰tn Heb “and the Lord has become my elevated place.” The prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
³¹tn Heb “and my God [has become] a rocky summit of my safety.”
³²tn The prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
³³tn Or “in.”
³⁴sn Psalm 95. The psalmist summons Israel to praise God as the creator of the world and the nation’s protector, but he also reminds the people not to rebel against God.