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August 6, 2017

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Psalm 70-71

Psalm 70^[a]

For the music director, by David; written to get God’s attention.^[b]

70 O God, please be willing to rescue me.^[c]
O Lord, hurry and help me.^[d]
²May those who are trying to take my life
be embarrassed and ashamed.^[e]
May those who want to harm me
be turned back and ashamed.^[f]
³May those who say, “Aha! Aha!”
be driven back^[g] and disgraced.^[h]
⁴May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you.
May those who love to experience^[i] your deliverance say continually,^[j]
“May God^[k] be praised!”^[l]
⁵I am oppressed and needy.^[m]
O God, hurry to me.^[n]
You are my helper and my deliverer.
O Lord,^[o] do not delay.

Psalm 71^[p]

71 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter.
Never let me be humiliated.
²Vindicate me by rescuing me.^[q]
Listen to me.^[r] Deliver me.^[s]
³Be my protector and refuge,^[t]
a stronghold where I can be safe.^[u]
For you are my high ridge^[v] and my stronghold.
⁴My God, rescue me from the power^[w] of the wicked,
from the hand of the cruel oppressor.
⁵For you are my hope;
O Sovereign Lord, I have trusted in you since I was young.^[x]
⁶I have leaned on you since birth;^[y]
you pulled me^[z] from my mother’s womb.
I praise you continually.^[aa]
⁷Many are appalled when they see me,^[ab]
but you are my secure shelter.
⁸I praise you constantly
and speak of your splendor all day long.^[ac]
⁹Do not reject me in my old age.^[ad]
When my strength fails, do not abandon me.
¹⁰For my enemies talk about me;
those waiting for a chance to kill me plot my demise.^[ae]
¹¹They say,^[af] “God has abandoned him.
Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him.”
¹²O God, do not remain far away from me.
My God, hurry and help me.^[ag]
¹³May my accusers be humiliated and defeated.
May those who want to harm me^[ah] be covered with scorn and disgrace.
¹⁴As for me, I will wait continually,
and will continue to praise you.^[ai]
¹⁵I will tell about your justice,
and all day long proclaim your salvation,^[aj]
though I cannot fathom its full extent.^[ak]
¹⁶I will come and tell about^[al] the mighty acts of the Sovereign Lord.
I will proclaim your justice—yours alone.
¹⁷O God, you have taught me since I was young,
and I am still declaring^[am] your amazing deeds.
¹⁸Even when I am old and gray,^[an]
O God, do not abandon me,
until I tell the next generation about your strength,
and those coming after me about your power.^[ao]
¹⁹Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above;^[ap]
you have done great things.^[aq]
O God, who can compare to you?^[ar]
²⁰Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress,^[as]
revive me once again.^[at]
Bring me up once again^[au] from the depths of the earth.
²¹Raise me to a position of great honor.^[av]
Turn and comfort me.^[aw]
²²I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument,
praising^[ax] your faithfulness, O my God.
I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp,
O Holy One of Israel.^[ay]
²³My lips will shout for joy. Yes,^[az] I will sing your praises.
I will praise you when you rescue me.^[ba]
²⁴All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,
for those who want to harm me^[bb] will be embarrassed and ashamed.^[bc]

Footnotes

Psalm 70:1 sn Psalm 70. This psalm is almost identical to Ps 40:13-17. The psalmist asks for God’s help and for divine retribution against his enemies.
Psalm 70:1 tn Heb “to cause to remember.” The same form, a Hiphil infinitive of זָכַר (zakhar, “remember”), also appears in the superscription of Ps 38. Some understand this in the sense of “for the memorial offering,” but it may carry the idea of bringing one’s plight to God’s attention (see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 303).
Psalm 70:1 tn Heb “O God, to rescue me.” A main verb is obviously missing. The verb רָצָה (ratsah, “be willing”) should be supplied (see Ps 40:13). Ps 40:13 uses the divine name “Lord” rather than “God.”
Psalm 70:1 tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Pss 22:19; 38:22.
Psalm 70:2 tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed, the ones seeking my life.” Ps 40:14 has “together” after “ashamed,” and “to snatch it away” after “my life.”
Psalm 70:2 tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.
Psalm 70:3 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive in this imprecation.
Psalm 70:3 tn Heb “May they be turned back according to their shame, those who say, ‘Aha! Aha!’” Ps 40:15 has the verb “humiliated” instead of “turned back” and adds “to me” after “say.”
Psalm 70:4 tn Heb “those who love,” which stands metonymically for its cause, the experience of being delivered by God.
Psalm 70:4 tn The three prefixed verbal forms prior to the quotation are understood as jussives. The psalmist balances out his imprecation against his enemies with a prayer of blessing on the godly.
Psalm 70:4 tn Ps 40:16 uses the divine name “Lord” here instead of “God.”
Psalm 70:4 tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great.” See Ps 35:27.
Psalm 70:5 sn See Pss 35:10; 37:14.
Psalm 70:5 tn Ps 40:17 has “may the Lord pay attention to me.”
Psalm 70:5 tn Ps 40:17 has “my God” instead of “Lord.”
Psalm 71:1 sn Psalm 71. The psalmist prays for divine intervention and expresses his confidence that God will protect and vindicate him. The first three verses are very similar to Ps 31:1-3a.
Psalm 71:2 tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me and deliver me.” Ps 31:1 omits “and deliver me.”
Psalm 71:2 tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”
Psalm 71:2 tn Ps 31:2 adds “quickly” before “deliver.”
Psalm 71:3 tc Heb “become for me a rocky summit of a dwelling place.” The Hebrew term מָעוֹן (maʿon, “dwelling place”) should probably be emended to מָעוֹז (maʿoz, “refuge”; see Ps 31:2).
Psalm 71:3 tc Heb “to enter, continually you commanded to deliver me.” The Hebrew phrase לָבוֹא תָּמִיד צִוִּיתָ (lavoʾ tamid tsivvita) should be emended to לְבֵית מְצוּדוֹת (l^evet m^etsudot, “a house of strongholds”; see Ps 31:2).
Psalm 71:3 sn You are my high ridge. 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.
Psalm 71:4 tn Heb “hand.”
Psalm 71:5 tn Heb “O Lord Yahweh, my source of confidence from my youth.”
Psalm 71:6 tn Heb “from the womb.”
Psalm 71:6 tc The form in the MT is derived from גָּזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhi), from גוּח (gukh) or גִּיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (ʿuzzi, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).
Psalm 71:6 tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”
Psalm 71:7 tn Heb “like a sign [i.e., portent or bad omen] I am to many.”
Psalm 71:8 tn Heb “my mouth is filled [with] your praise, all the day [with] your splendor.”
Psalm 71:9 tn Heb “do not cast me away at the time of old age.”
Psalm 71:10 tn Heb “those who watch for my life consult together.”
Psalm 71:11 tn Heb “saying.”
Psalm 71:12 tn Heb “hurry to my help.”
Psalm 71:13 tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”
Psalm 71:14 tn Heb “and I add to all your praise.”
Psalm 71:15 tn Heb “my mouth declares your vindication, all the day your deliverance.”
Psalm 71:15 tn Heb “though I do not know [the] numbers,” that is, the tally of God’s just and saving acts. HALOT 768 s.v. סְפֹרוֹת understands the plural noun to mean “the art of writing.”
Psalm 71:16 tn Heb “I will come with.”
Psalm 71:17 tn Heb “and until now I am declaring.”
Psalm 71:18 tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”
Psalm 71:18 tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.
Psalm 71:19 tn Heb “your justice, O God, [is] unto the height.” The Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) is here a title for the sky/heavens.sn Extends to the skies above. Similar statements are made in Pss 36:5 and 57:10.
Psalm 71:19 tn Heb “you who have done great things.”
Psalm 71:19 tn Or “Who is like you?”
Psalm 71:20 tn Heb “you who have caused me to see many harmful distresses.”
Psalm 71:20 tn Heb “you return, you give me life.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will revive me once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
Psalm 71:20 tn Heb “you return, you bring me up.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used adverbially to indicate repetition of the action in the next verb. See previous note. If understood as a statement of confidence, it would say, “you will bring me up once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).
Psalm 71:21 tn Heb “increase my greatness.” The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive, indicating this is a prayer or wish. The psalmist’s request for “greatness” (or “honor”) is not a boastful, self-serving prayer for prominence, but, rather, a request that God would vindicate by elevating him over those who are trying to humiliate him.
Psalm 71:21 tn The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.)
Psalm 71:22 tn The word “praising” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
Psalm 71:22 sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior.
Psalm 71:23 tn Or “when.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) has an emphasizing (asseverative) function here.
Psalm 71:23 tn Heb “and my life [or “soul”] which you will have redeemed.” The perfect verbal form functions here as a future perfect. The psalmist anticipates praising God, for God will have rescued him by that time.
Psalm 71:24 tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”
Psalm 71:24 tn Heb “will have become embarrassed and ashamed.” The perfect verbal forms function here as future perfects, indicating future actions which will precede chronologically the action expressed by the main verb in the preceding line.

Romans 8:22-39

²²For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. ²³Not only this, but we ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit,^[a] groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption,^[b] the redemption of our bodies.^[c] ²⁴For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with endurance.^[d]

²⁶In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how we should pray,^[e] but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. ²⁷And he^[f] who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit^[g] intercedes on behalf of the saints according to God’s will. ²⁸And we know that all things work together^[h] for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, ²⁹because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son^[i] would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.^[j] ³⁰And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.

³¹What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³²Indeed, he who^[k] did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? ³³Who will bring any charge against God’s elect?^[l] It is God who justifies. ³⁴Who is the one who will condemn? Christ^[m] is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us. ³⁵Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?^[n] ³⁶As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”^[o] ³⁷No, in all these things we have complete victory^[p] through him^[q] who loved us! ³⁸For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers,^[r] nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Footnotes

Romans 8:23 tn Or “who have the Spirit as firstfruits.” The genitive πνεύματος (pneumatos) can be understood here as possessive (“the firstfruits belonging to the Spirit”) although it is much more likely that this is a genitive of apposition (“the firstfruits, namely, the Spirit”); cf. TEV, NLT.
Romans 8:23 tn See the note on “adoption” in v. 15.
Romans 8:23 tn Grk “body.”
Romans 8:25 tn Or “perseverance.”
Romans 8:26 tn Or “for we do not know what we ought to pray for.”
Romans 8:27 sn He refers to God here; Paul has not specifically identified him for the sake of rhetorical power (for by leaving the subject slightly ambiguous, he draws his audience into seeing God’s hand in places where he is not explicitly mentioned).
Romans 8:27 tn Grk “he,” or “it”; the referent (the Spirit) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Romans 8:28 tc ὁ θεός (ho theos, “God”) is found after the verb συνεργεῖ (sunergei, “work”) in v. 28 in P⁴⁶ A B 81 sa; the shorter reading is found in א C D F G Ψ 33 1175 1241 1505 1739 1881 2464 M latt sy bo. Although the inclusion is supported by a significant early papyrus, the alliance of significant Alexandrian and Western witnesses favors the shorter reading. As well, the longer reading is evidently motivated by a need for clarification. Since ὁ θεός is textually suspect, it is better to read the text without it. This leaves two good translational options: either “he works all things together for good” or “all things work together for good.” In the first instance the subject is embedded in the verb and “God” is clearly implied (as in v. 29). In the second instance, πάντα (panta) becomes the subject of an intransitive verb. In either case, “What is expressed is a truly biblical confidence in the sovereignty of God” (C. E. B. Cranfield, Romans [ICC], 1:427).
Romans 8:29 tn Grk “he”; the referent (God’s Son) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
Romans 8:29 tn Grk “brothers.” See note on the phrase “brothers and sisters” in 1:13.
Romans 8:32 tn Grk “[he] who.” The relative clause continues the question of v. 31 in a way that is awkward in English. The force of v. 32 is thus: “who indeed did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—How will he not also with him give us all things?”
Romans 8:33 sn An allusion to Isa 50:8 where the reference is singular; Paul applies this to all believers (“God’s elect” is plural here).
Romans 8:34 tc ‡ A number of significant and early witnesses, along with several others (P^46vid א A C F G L Ψ 6 33 81 104 365 1505 al lat bo), read ᾿Ιησοῦς (Iēsous, “Jesus”) after Χριστός (Christos, “Christ”) in v. 34. But the shorter reading is not unrepresented (B D 0289 1175 1241 1739 1881 M sa). Once ᾿Ιησοῦς got into the text, what scribe would omit it? Although the external evidence is on the side of the longer reading, internally such an expansion seems suspect. The shorter reading is thus preferred. NA²⁸ has the word in brackets, indicating doubt as to its authenticity.tn Grk “who also.”
Romans 8:35 tn Here “sword” is a metonymy that includes both threats of violence and acts of violence, even including death (although death is not necessarily the only thing in view here).
Romans 8:36 sn A quotation from Ps 44:22.
Romans 8:37 tn BDAG 1034 s.v. ὑπερνικάω states, “as a heightened form of νικᾶν prevail completely ὑπερνικῶμεν we are winning a most glorious victory Ro 8:37.”
Romans 8:37 tn Here the referent could be either God or Christ, but in v. 39 it is God’s love that is mentioned.
Romans 8:38 tn BDAG 138 s.v. ἀρχή 6 takes this term as a reference to angelic or transcendent powers (as opposed to merely human rulers). To clarify this, the adjective “heavenly” has been supplied in the translation. Some interpreters see this as a reference to fallen angels or demonic powers, and this view is reflected in some recent translations (NIV, NLT).

New English Translation (NET)

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Old/New Testament

Psalm 70[a]

For the music director, by David; written to get God’s attention.[b]

Psalm 71[p]

Footnotes

Footnotes

Psalm 70^[a]

For the music director, by David; written to get God’s attention.^[b]

Psalm 71^[p]