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19 Do not hand the life of your dove[a] over to a wild animal.
Do not continue to disregard[b] the lives of your oppressed people.
20 Remember your covenant promises,[c]
for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules.[d]
21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame.
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name.[e]

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 74:19 sn Your dove. The psalmist compares weak and vulnerable Israel to a helpless dove.
  2. Psalm 74:19 tn Heb “do not forget forever.”
  3. Psalm 74:20 tc Heb “look at the covenant.” The LXX reads “your covenant,” which seems to assume a second person pronominal suffix, which would be written with ך (kaf). The suffix may have been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word, כִּי (ki), begins with כ (kaf) .
  4. Psalm 74:20 tn Heb “for the dark places of the earth are full of dwelling places of violence.” The “dark regions” are probably the lands where the people have been exiled (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:157). In some contexts “dark regions” refers to Sheol (Ps 88:6) or to hiding places likened to Sheol (Ps 143:3; Lam 3:6).
  5. Psalm 74:21 sn Let the oppressed and poor praise your name. The statement is metonymic. The point is this: May the oppressed be delivered from their enemies. Then they will have ample reason to praise God’s name.