Psalm 89:38-45
New English Translation
38 But you have spurned[a] and rejected him;
you are angry with your chosen king.[b]
39 You have repudiated[c] your covenant with your servant;[d]
you have thrown his crown to the ground.[e]
40 You have broken down all his[f] walls;
you have made his strongholds a heap of ruins.
41 All who pass by[g] have robbed him;
he has become an object of disdain to his neighbors.
42 You have allowed his adversaries to be victorious,[h]
and all his enemies to rejoice.
43 You turn back[i] his sword from the adversary,[j]
and have not sustained him in battle.[k]
44 You have brought to an end his splendor,[l]
and have knocked[m] his throne to the ground.
45 You have cut short his youth,[n]
and have covered him with shame. (Selah)
Footnotes
- Psalm 89:38 tn The Hebrew construction (conjunction + pronoun, followed by the verb) draws attention to the contrast between what follows and what precedes.
- Psalm 89:38 tn Heb “your anointed one.” The Hebrew phrase מְשִׁיחֶךָ (meshikhekha, “your anointed one”) refers here to the Davidic king (see Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 84:9; 132:10, 17).
- Psalm 89:39 tn The Hebrew verb appears only here and in Lam 2:7.
- Psalm 89:39 tn Heb “the covenant of your servant.”
- Psalm 89:39 tn Heb “you dishonor [or “desecrate”] on the ground his crown.”
- Psalm 89:40 tn The king here represents the land and cities over which he rules.
- Psalm 89:41 tn Heb “all the passersby on the road.”
- Psalm 89:42 tn Heb “you have lifted up the right hand of his adversaries.” The idiom “the right hand is lifted up” refers to victorious military deeds (see Pss 89:13; 118:16).
- Psalm 89:43 tn The perfect verbal form predominates in vv. 38-45. The use of the imperfect in this one instance may be for rhetorical effect. The psalmist briefly lapses into dramatic mode, describing the king’s military defeat as if it were happening before his very eyes.
- Psalm 89:43 tc Heb “you turn back, rocky summit, his sword.” The Hebrew term צוּר (tsur, “rocky summit”) makes no sense here, unless it is a divine title understood as vocative, “you turn back, O Rocky Summit, his sword.” Some emend the form to צֹר (tsor, “flint”) on the basis of Josh 5:2, which uses the phrase חַרְבוֹת צֻרִים (kharvot tsurim, “flint knives”). The noun צֹר (tsor, “flint”) can then be taken as “flint-like edge,” indicating the sharpness of the sword. Others emend the form to אָחוֹר (ʾakhor, “backward”) or to מִצַּר (mitsar, “from the adversary”). The present translation reflects the latter, assuming an original reading תָּשִׁיב מִצָּר חַרְבּוֹ (tashiv mitsar kharbo), which was changed to תָּשִׁיב צָר חַרְבּוֹ (tashiv tsar kharbo) by virtual haplography (confusion of bet/mem is well-attested) with צָר (tsar, “adversary”) then being misinterpreted as צוּר in the later tradition.
- Psalm 89:43 tn Heb “and you have not caused him to stand in the battle.”
- Psalm 89:44 tc Rather than the MT’s מִטְּהָרוֹ (mitteharo, “from his splendor”), the text should be read without the dagesh as מִטְהָרוֹ (mitharo, “his splendor”) or possibly as מַטֵּה טְהָרוֹ (matteh teharo, “the staff of his splendor”).
- Psalm 89:44 tn The Hebrew verb מָגַר (magar) occurs only here and perhaps in Ezek 21:17.
- Psalm 89:45 tn Heb “the days of his youth” (see as well Job 33:25).
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