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The BibleTexts.com Bible Commentary Copyright 1996-2005 Robert Nguyen Cramer THE BOOK OF PSALMS |
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The Hebrew word translated right (tsedeq) is a legal term and means defense or vindication against the charges brought by one's accuser.
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Thy form recalls Num 12:8, where Yahweh [Jehovah] states that Moses has spoken to him face to face and has seen his "form." It is doubtful the psalmist thought of Yahweh as having a material body; so TEV "your presence"; NEB "a vision of thee"; NJV "the vision of You." The Septuagint translated "and I shall be filled at the appearance of your glory." TEV's "your presence" may need to be rendered "where you are." In some languages line 15b may be rendered idiomatically as "When I awake, my heart will sit cool because I am in the place where you are" or, nonfiguratively, "When I awake, I will be happy because I am near you."
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The verb "to tell" (are telling) and its parallel proclaims poetically attribute human functions to the created universe, which makes known to all humankind God's greatness.
In line a of verse 4 the Hebrew text has "their line"; following ancient versions, many commentaries and translations understand the text to say "their voice." Dahood and HOTTP, however, maintain that the Hebrew word means "their call." NEB interprets "line" as the string of a musical instrument and tanslates "their music" (so TOB). Since the report is soundless, something like "message, report" is better than voice (some may have "their testimony").
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Psa 46:10 - KJV & NRSV wording: Be still... - TEV wording: Stop fighting... - Old Testament Library: Psalms wording: Leave off (from waging war)... - all versions: ...and know that I am God
Be still. Namely, do nothing; do not enter into military alliances with other nations, since Yahweh controls history. This is the military policy advocated by Isa. xxx 15, "By sitting still and keeping quiet will you be saved."
In verse 10 God himself speaks to the nations (Anderson thinks the words are addressed to the people of Israel): "Stop fighting" is what he commands. The traditional Be still is widely misunderstood as a command to be reverent (in church) and meditate on God's blessings. The Hebrew verb means to cease, be inactive. APCL has "Surrender!"; BJ, FRCL "Stop"; NAB, NJV "Desist!"; TOB "Drop your weapons!"; GECL "Make peace." Know is used in the sense of acknowledge, recognize, admit, confess. Know that I am God can sometimes be translated "learn that I am God" or "see that I am God." I am exalted in verse 10b,c means "I rule" (FRCL), "I am above" (SPCL), "I dominate" (NJV). Some take it as a future: "I will be exalted" (NIV). The expression I am exalted among the nations must be shifted to an active construction in many languages; for example, "The nations praise me, the people of the world say that I am great."
Be still: this may addressed to the nations who are exhorted to abandon their futile hostilities against God (2:10), or, more likely, it is a command directed to the people of God who are counselled to reject all foreeign alliances and to depend entirely upon Yahweh (cf. Isa 30:15).
I am exalted: i.e. Yahweh is 'the high and lofty one' (Isa 57:15; cf. also Isa. 6:1, 52:13), and he will be experienced as such by all the peoples of the earth.
[10] God himself appears and speaks his Word to the nations. That Word is a command; it is even something more: as the Word of God it carries with it the power and the guarantee of its fulfilment. 'Leave off (from waging war) and know that I am God'; it is the aim of the kingdom of peace that the world may know God and submit to him. As the Lord of the world God 'rises' above the nations and the earth in order that he may be the One who alone is exalted above the whole world. The theophany ('arum), which is experienced by the festival congregation as the revelation of God when the celebration has reached its climax, signifies at the same time the culminating point and ultimate goal of his redemptive work for the whole world. What we are here presented with is not the blissful dream of eternal peace, dreamt by human beings belonging to an age that has got tired of wars and hoping for earthly happiness or yearning for rest and peace, but the strong faith which has made God's cause wholly its own and, because it has experienced the divine love, knows that the world will find its consummation in the peace of God. The ultimate goal of everything which comes to pass is not the fulfilment of human desires but the revelation and self-glorification of God. That his kingdom come and that his will be done is at the motive and the goal of the faith pictured in this psalm.
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Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, Volume II (edited by Harris, Archer, and Waltke, Chicago: Moody Press, 1980, pages 877-878, explains:
maskil. The Hiphil participle used as a noun appears in the titles of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, 142. In addition, Ps 47:7 [H 8] emphasizes that one is to sing praises in accordance with a maskil psalm. Some have considered a maskil to be a didactic poem which causes consideration or gives insight. Others have suggested it to be an artistic song having insight. More probably this can be considered a contemplative poem, with elements of the other two... Except for its first occurence (Ps 32) maskil is always linked with an individual or the Sons of Korah. David is included in Ps 52-55 and 142, Asaph in 74 and 78 and Heman in 88 and 89. The root, skl, denotes "insight" or "wisdom," so these psalms may be noted for their special instruction or their musical difficulty.
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Psa 52:1 - KJV wording: the goodness of God endureth continually - NRSV wording: ...against the godly? All day long... - NAB wording: ... scandalous liar? All day long...
Robert G. Bratcher and WIlliam D. Reyburn (A Handbook on Psalms, New York: United Bible Societies, 1991, p. 479) comment:
...The Masoretic Text is literally "the constant love of God (is) all day," which TEV has translated "God's faithfulness is eternal" (similarly Weiser; TOB, NJV, AT, GECL, SPCL). But this statement seems inappropriate in the context, and other translations are proposed. There are several ways in which the text has been changed:
(3) delete "the constant love of God" as a later gloss (Briggs).
The Masoretic Text can be translated, but the meaning it provides does not seem as appropriate to the context as that supplied by the proposed changes in the Hebrew text.
A.A. Anderson (New Century Bible: The Book of Psalms, Volume 1, Attic Press, Greenwood, SC: 1972, page 404) comments:
against the godly: so RSV following S [Syriac] and reading 'el hasid; M.T. [Masoretic Text] has 'the mercy of God' (RV). If M.T. has preserved the original text, we could render: 'Why do you brag about evil, O man of (ruthless) might? (Don't you see that) the Covenant loyalty of God (lasts) continually?' C. Schedl (BZ, N.F, v (1961), pp. 259f.) links the Hebrew hsd with its Syriac cognate which comes from 'to revile, scorn', and M.T. could be rendered '(why do you ) revile God all day long?', regarding hsd as a pi'el infinitive absolute used instead of a finite verb (cf. GK 113y).