Psalm 42:9-11

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Psalm 42:9 tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.
2. Psalm 42:9 tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.
3. Psalm 42:9 tn Or “forget.”
4. Psalm 42:9 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.
5. Psalm 42:10 tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”
6. Psalm 42:10 sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.
7. Psalm 42:11 tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”
8. Psalm 42:11 sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.
9. Psalm 42:11 tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”
10. Psalm 42:11 tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (y^eshuʿot f^eney ʾelohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.