Font Size
Psalm 83:12-14
New English Translation
Psalm 83:12-14
New English Translation
12 who said,[a] “Let’s take over[b] the pastures of God.”
13 O my God, make them like dead thistles,[c]
like dead weeds blown away by[d] the wind.
14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,
or the flames that consume the mountainsides,[e]
Footnotes
- Psalm 83:12 tn The translation assumes that “Zebah and Zalmunna” are the antecedents of the relative pronoun (“who [said]”). Another option is to take “their nobles…all their rulers” as the antecedent and to translate, “those who say.”
- Psalm 83:12 tn Heb “let’s take possession for ourselves.”
- Psalm 83:13 tn Or “tumbleweed.” The Hebrew noun גַּלְגַּל (galgal) refers to a “wheel” or, metaphorically, to a whirling wind (see Ps 77:18). If taken in the latter sense here, one could understand the term as a metonymical reference to dust blown by a whirlwind (cf. NRSV “like whirling dust”). However, HALOT 190 s.v. II גַּלְגַּל understands the noun as a homonym referring to a “dead thistle” here and in Isa 17:13. The parallel line, which refers to קַשׁ (qash, “chaff”), favors this interpretation.
- Psalm 83:13 tn Heb “before.”
- Psalm 83:14 sn The imagery of fire and flames suggests unrelenting, destructive judgment.
New English Translation (NET)
NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.