Net English TranslationPsalms 92 =

Psalm 921

92

1 A psalm; a song for the Sabbath day.

It is fitting2 to thank the Lord,
and to sing praises to your name, O sovereign One!3
2 It is fitting4 to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,
and your faithfulness during the night,
3 to the accompaniment of a ten-stringed instrument and a lyre,
to the accompaniment of the meditative tone of the harp.
4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.
I will sing for joy because of what you have done.5
5 How great are your works, O Lord!
Your plans are very intricate!6
6 The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this;
the fool does not understand this.7
7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,
and all the evildoers glisten,8
it is so that they may be annihilated.9
8 But you, O Lord, reign10 forever!
9 Indeed,11 look at your enemies, O Lord!
Indeed,12 look at how your enemies perish!
All the evildoers are scattered!
10 You exalt my horn like that of a wild ox.13
I am covered14 with fresh oil.
11 I gloat in triumph over those who tried to ambush me;15
I hear the defeated cries of the evil foes who attacked me.16
12 The godly17 grow like a palm tree;
they grow high like a cedar in Lebanon.18
13 Planted in the Lord’s house,
they grow in the courts of our God.
14 They bear fruit even when they are old;
they are filled with vitality and have many leaves.19
15 So they proclaim that the Lord, my protector,
is just and never unfair.20
1sn Psalm 92. The psalmist praises God because he defeats the wicked and vindicates his loyal followers. 2tn Or “good.” 3tn Traditionally “O Most High.” 4tn The words “it is fitting” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Verses 1-3 are actually one long sentence in the Hebrew text, but this has been divided up into two shorter sentences in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style. 5tn Heb “the works of your hands.” 6tn Heb “very deep [are] your thoughts.” God’s “thoughts” refer here to his moral design of the world, as outlined in vv. 6-15. 7tn Heb “the brutish man does not know, and the fool does not understand this.” The adjective בַּעַר (ba’ar, “brutish”) refers to spiritual insensitivity, not mere lack of intelligence or reasoning ability (see Pss 49:10; 73:22; Prov 12:1; 30:2, as well as the use of the related verb in Ps 94:8). 8tn Or “flourish.” 9tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”sn God allows the wicked to prosper temporarily so that he might reveal his justice. When the wicked are annihilated, God demonstrates that wickedness does not pay off. 10tn Heb “[are elevated] on high.” 11tn Or “for.” 12tn Or “for.” 13sn The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “to exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:24; Lam 2:17). 14tn The Hebrew verb בָּלַל (balal) usually has the nuance “to mix.” Here it seems to mean “to smear” or “to anoint.” Some emend the form to בַּלֹּתַנִי (ballotaniy; a second person form of the verb with a first person suffix) and read, “you anoint me.” 15tn Heb “my eye gazes upon those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2. The form שׁוּרָי (shuray) should be emended to שׁוֹרְרָי (shorÿray). 16tn Heb “those who rise up against me, evil [foes], my ears hear.” 17tn The singular is used in a representative sense, with the typical godly person being in view. 18sn The cedars of the Lebanon forest were well-known in ancient Israel for their immense size. 19tn Heb “they are juicy and fresh.” 20tn Heb “so that [they] proclaim that upright [is] the Lord, my rocky summit, and there is no injustice in him.”
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