Psalm 73:19-21

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 73:19 tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”
2. Psalm 73:20 tn Heb “like a dream from awakening.” They lack any real substance; their prosperity will last for only a brief time.
3. Psalm 73:20 sn When you awake. The psalmist compares God’s inactivity to sleep and the time of God’s judgment to his awakening from sleep.
4. Psalm 73:20 tn Heb “you will despise their form.” The Hebrew term צֶלֶם (tselem, “form; image”) also suggests their short-lived nature. Rather than having real substance, they are like the mere images that populate one’s dreams. Note the similar use of the term in Ps 39:6.
5. Psalm 73:21 tn Or perhaps “when.”
6. Psalm 73:21 tn The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing attitude in a past time frame.
7. Psalm 73:21 tn Heb “and [in] my kidneys I was pierced.” The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing condition in a past time frame.