The God Who Judges the Earth Against Unjust Rulers

Psa 58:6-9 The verb הרס is used much in the same way in Psa 58:7 as ἀράσσειν (e. g. , Iliad , xiii. 577, ἀπὸ δὲ τρυφάλειαν ἄραξεν), which presents a similar onomatope. The form ימּאסוּ is, as in Job 7:5, = ימּסּוּ. The Jewish expositors, less appropriately, compare צנאכם, Num 32:24, and בּזאוּ = בּזזוּ, Isa 18:2, Isa 18:7; שׁאסיך, Chethîb , Jer 30:16, and ראמה, Zec 14:10, more nearly resemble it.

The treading (bending) of the bow is here, as in Psa 64:4, transferred to the arrows (= כּונן, Psa 11:2): he bends and shoots off his arrows, they shall be as though cut off in the front, i. e. , as inoperative as if they had no heads or points (כּמו as in Isa 26:18). In Psa 58:9 follow two figures to which the apprecatory “let them become” is to be supplied.

Or is it perhaps to be rendered: As a snail, which Thou causest to melt away, i. e. , squashest with the foot (תּמס, as in Psa 39:12, fut . Hiph . of מסה = מסס), let him perish? The change of the number does not favour this; and according to the usage of the language, which is fond of construing הלך with gerunds and participles, and also with abstract nouns, e.

g. , הלך תּם, הלך קרי, the words תּמס יהלך belong together, and they are also accented accordingly: as a snail or slug which goes along in dissolution, goes on and dissolves as it goes (תּמס after the form תּבל form בּלל. The snail has received its name from this apparent dissolving into slime. For שׁבּלוּל (with Dag. dirimens for שׁבלוּל) is the naked slimy snail or slug (Targum, according to ancient conception, זחיל תּבללא “the slimeworm”), from שׁבלל, to make wet, moist.

In the second figure, the only sense in which נפל אשׁת belong together is “the untimely birth of a woman;” and rather than explain with the Talmud ( B. Môed katan 6 b ) and Targum (contrary to the accents): as an abortion, a mole, one would alter אשׁת into אשׁה. But this is not necessary, since the construct form אשׁת is found also in other instances (Deu 21:11; 1Sa 28:7) out of the genitival relation, in connection with a close coordinate construction.

So here, where בּל־הזוּ שׁמשׁ, according to Job 3:16; Ecc 6:3-5, is an attributive clause to נפל אשׁת (the falling away of a woman = abortions), which is used collectively (Ew. §176, b ). The accentuation also harmonizes here with the syntactic relation of the words. In Psa 58:10, אטד (plural in African, i. e. , Punic, in Dioscorides atadi'n) is the rhamnus or buckthorn, which, like רתם, the broom, not only makes a cheerful crackling fire, but also produces an ash that retains the heat a long time, and is therefore very useful in cooking.

The alternative כּמו - כּמו signifies sive, sive , whether the one or the other. חי is that which is living, fresh, viz. , the fresh, raw meat still having the blood in it, the opposite of מבשּׁל (1Sa 2:15); חרון, a fierce heat or fire, here a boiling heat. There is no need to understand חרון metonymically, or perhaps as an adjective = charrôn , of boiled meat: it is a statement of the condition.

The suffix of ישׁערנּוּ, however, refers, as being neuter, to the whole cooking apparatus, and more especially to the contents of the pots. The rendering therefore is: whether raw or in a state of heat, i. e. , of being cooked through, He (Jahve) carries it away as with a whirlwind. Hengstenberg rightly remarks, “To the raw meat correspond the immature plots, and to the cooked the mature ones.

” To us, who regard the Psalm as belonging to the time of Absalom, and not, like Hengstenberg, to the time of Saul, the meat in the pots is the new kingship of Absalom. The greater the self-renunciation with which David at that time looked on at the ripening revolt, disclaiming all action of his own, the stronger the confidence with which he expected the righteous interposition of God that did actually follow, but (as he here supposes possible) not until the meat in the pot was almost done through; yet, on the other side, so quickly, that the pots had scarcely felt the crackling heat which should fully cook the meat.

Psa 58:6-9 The verb הרס is used much in the same way in Psa 58:7 as ἀράσσειν (e. g. , Iliad , xiii. 577, ἀπὸ δὲ τρυφάλειαν ἄραξεν), which presents a similar onomatope. The form ימּאסוּ is, as in Job 7:5, = ימּסּוּ. The Jewish expositors, less appropriately, compare צנאכם, Num 32:24, and בּזאוּ = בּזזוּ, Isa 18:2, Isa 18:7; שׁאסיך, Chethîb , Jer 30:16, and ראמה, Zec 14:10, more nearly resemble it.

The treading (bending) of the bow is here, as in Psa 64:4, transferred to the arrows (= כּונן, Psa 11:2): he bends and shoots off his arrows, they shall be as though cut off in the front, i. e. , as inoperative as if they had no heads or points (כּמו as in Isa 26:18). In Psa 58:9 follow two figures to which the apprecatory “let them become” is to be supplied.

Or is it perhaps to be rendered: As a snail, which Thou causest to melt away, i. e. , squashest with the foot (תּמס, as in Psa 39:12, fut . Hiph . of מסה = מסס), let him perish? The change of the number does not favour this; and according to the usage of the language, which is fond of construing הלך with gerunds and participles, and also with abstract nouns, e.

g. , הלך תּם, הלך קרי, the words תּמס יהלך belong together, and they are also accented accordingly: as a snail or slug which goes along in dissolution, goes on and dissolves as it goes (תּמס after the form תּבל form בּלל. The snail has received its name from this apparent dissolving into slime. For שׁבּלוּל (with Dag. dirimens for שׁבלוּל) is the naked slimy snail or slug (Targum, according to ancient conception, זחיל תּבללא “the slimeworm”), from שׁבלל, to make wet, moist.

In the second figure, the only sense in which נפל אשׁת belong together is “the untimely birth of a woman;” and rather than explain with the Talmud ( B. Môed katan 6 b ) and Targum (contrary to the accents): as an abortion, a mole, one would alter אשׁת into אשׁה. But this is not necessary, since the construct form אשׁת is found also in other instances (Deu 21:11; 1Sa 28:7) out of the genitival relation, in connection with a close coordinate construction.

So here, where בּל־הזוּ שׁמשׁ, according to Job 3:16; Ecc 6:3-5, is an attributive clause to נפל אשׁת (the falling away of a woman = abortions), which is used collectively (Ew. §176, b ). The accentuation also harmonizes here with the syntactic relation of the words. In Psa 58:10, אטד (plural in African, i. e. , Punic, in Dioscorides atadi'n) is the rhamnus or buckthorn, which, like רתם, the broom, not only makes a cheerful crackling fire, but also produces an ash that retains the heat a long time, and is therefore very useful in cooking.

The alternative כּמו - כּמו signifies sive, sive , whether the one or the other. חי is that which is living, fresh, viz. , the fresh, raw meat still having the blood in it, the opposite of מבשּׁל (1Sa 2:15); חרון, a fierce heat or fire, here a boiling heat. There is no need to understand חרון metonymically, or perhaps as an adjective = charrôn , of boiled meat: it is a statement of the condition.

The suffix of ישׁערנּוּ, however, refers, as being neuter, to the whole cooking apparatus, and more especially to the contents of the pots. The rendering therefore is: whether raw or in a state of heat, i. e. , of being cooked through, He (Jahve) carries it away as with a whirlwind. Hengstenberg rightly remarks, “To the raw meat correspond the immature plots, and to the cooked the mature ones.

” To us, who regard the Psalm as belonging to the time of Absalom, and not, like Hengstenberg, to the time of Saul, the meat in the pots is the new kingship of Absalom. The greater the self-renunciation with which David at that time looked on at the ripening revolt, disclaiming all action of his own, the stronger the confidence with which he expected the righteous interposition of God that did actually follow, but (as he here supposes possible) not until the meat in the pot was almost done through; yet, on the other side, so quickly, that the pots had scarcely felt the crackling heat which should fully cook the meat.

Psa 58:6-9 The verb הרס is used much in the same way in Psa 58:7 as ἀράσσειν (e. g. , Iliad , xiii. 577, ἀπὸ δὲ τρυφάλειαν ἄραξεν), which presents a similar onomatope. The form ימּאסוּ is, as in Job 7:5, = ימּסּוּ. The Jewish expositors, less appropriately, compare צנאכם, Num 32:24, and בּזאוּ = בּזזוּ, Isa 18:2, Isa 18:7; שׁאסיך, Chethîb , Jer 30:16, and ראמה, Zec 14:10, more nearly resemble it.

The treading (bending) of the bow is here, as in Psa 64:4, transferred to the arrows (= כּונן, Psa 11:2): he bends and shoots off his arrows, they shall be as though cut off in the front, i. e. , as inoperative as if they had no heads or points (כּמו as in Isa 26:18). In Psa 58:9 follow two figures to which the apprecatory “let them become” is to be supplied.

Or is it perhaps to be rendered: As a snail, which Thou causest to melt away, i. e. , squashest with the foot (תּמס, as in Psa 39:12, fut . Hiph . of מסה = מסס), let him perish? The change of the number does not favour this; and according to the usage of the language, which is fond of construing הלך with gerunds and participles, and also with abstract nouns, e.

g. , הלך תּם, הלך קרי, the words תּמס יהלך belong together, and they are also accented accordingly: as a snail or slug which goes along in dissolution, goes on and dissolves as it goes (תּמס after the form תּבל form בּלל. The snail has received its name from this apparent dissolving into slime. For שׁבּלוּל (with Dag. dirimens for שׁבלוּל) is the naked slimy snail or slug (Targum, according to ancient conception, זחיל תּבללא “the slimeworm”), from שׁבלל, to make wet, moist.

In the second figure, the only sense in which נפל אשׁת belong together is “the untimely birth of a woman;” and rather than explain with the Talmud ( B. Môed katan 6 b ) and Targum (contrary to the accents): as an abortion, a mole, one would alter אשׁת into אשׁה. But this is not necessary, since the construct form אשׁת is found also in other instances (Deu 21:11; 1Sa 28:7) out of the genitival relation, in connection with a close coordinate construction.

So here, where בּל־הזוּ שׁמשׁ, according to Job 3:16; Ecc 6:3-5, is an attributive clause to נפל אשׁת (the falling away of a woman = abortions), which is used collectively (Ew. §176, b ). The accentuation also harmonizes here with the syntactic relation of the words. In Psa 58:10, אטד (plural in African, i. e. , Punic, in Dioscorides atadi'n) is the rhamnus or buckthorn, which, like רתם, the broom, not only makes a cheerful crackling fire, but also produces an ash that retains the heat a long time, and is therefore very useful in cooking.

The alternative כּמו - כּמו signifies sive, sive , whether the one or the other. חי is that which is living, fresh, viz. , the fresh, raw meat still having the blood in it, the opposite of מבשּׁל (1Sa 2:15); חרון, a fierce heat or fire, here a boiling heat. There is no need to understand חרון metonymically, or perhaps as an adjective = charrôn , of boiled meat: it is a statement of the condition.

The suffix of ישׁערנּוּ, however, refers, as being neuter, to the whole cooking apparatus, and more especially to the contents of the pots. The rendering therefore is: whether raw or in a state of heat, i. e. , of being cooked through, He (Jahve) carries it away as with a whirlwind. Hengstenberg rightly remarks, “To the raw meat correspond the immature plots, and to the cooked the mature ones.

” To us, who regard the Psalm as belonging to the time of Absalom, and not, like Hengstenberg, to the time of Saul, the meat in the pots is the new kingship of Absalom. The greater the self-renunciation with which David at that time looked on at the ripening revolt, disclaiming all action of his own, the stronger the confidence with which he expected the righteous interposition of God that did actually follow, but (as he here supposes possible) not until the meat in the pot was almost done through; yet, on the other side, so quickly, that the pots had scarcely felt the crackling heat which should fully cook the meat.

Psa 58:6-9 The verb הרס is used much in the same way in Psa 58:7 as ἀράσσειν (e. g. , Iliad , xiii. 577, ἀπὸ δὲ τρυφάλειαν ἄραξεν), which presents a similar onomatope. The form ימּאסוּ is, as in Job 7:5, = ימּסּוּ. The Jewish expositors, less appropriately, compare צנאכם, Num 32:24, and בּזאוּ = בּזזוּ, Isa 18:2, Isa 18:7; שׁאסיך, Chethîb , Jer 30:16, and ראמה, Zec 14:10, more nearly resemble it.

The treading (bending) of the bow is here, as in Psa 64:4, transferred to the arrows (= כּונן, Psa 11:2): he bends and shoots off his arrows, they shall be as though cut off in the front, i. e. , as inoperative as if they had no heads or points (כּמו as in Isa 26:18). In Psa 58:9 follow two figures to which the apprecatory “let them become” is to be supplied.

Or is it perhaps to be rendered: As a snail, which Thou causest to melt away, i. e. , squashest with the foot (תּמס, as in Psa 39:12, fut . Hiph . of מסה = מסס), let him perish? The change of the number does not favour this; and according to the usage of the language, which is fond of construing הלך with gerunds and participles, and also with abstract nouns, e.

g. , הלך תּם, הלך קרי, the words תּמס יהלך belong together, and they are also accented accordingly: as a snail or slug which goes along in dissolution, goes on and dissolves as it goes (תּמס after the form תּבל form בּלל. The snail has received its name from this apparent dissolving into slime. For שׁבּלוּל (with Dag. dirimens for שׁבלוּל) is the naked slimy snail or slug (Targum, according to ancient conception, זחיל תּבללא “the slimeworm”), from שׁבלל, to make wet, moist.

In the second figure, the only sense in which נפל אשׁת belong together is “the untimely birth of a woman;” and rather than explain with the Talmud ( B. Môed katan 6 b ) and Targum (contrary to the accents): as an abortion, a mole, one would alter אשׁת into אשׁה. But this is not necessary, since the construct form אשׁת is found also in other instances (Deu 21:11; 1Sa 28:7) out of the genitival relation, in connection with a close coordinate construction.

So here, where בּל־הזוּ שׁמשׁ, according to Job 3:16; Ecc 6:3-5, is an attributive clause to נפל אשׁת (the falling away of a woman = abortions), which is used collectively (Ew. §176, b ). The accentuation also harmonizes here with the syntactic relation of the words. In Psa 58:10, אטד (plural in African, i. e. , Punic, in Dioscorides atadi'n) is the rhamnus or buckthorn, which, like רתם, the broom, not only makes a cheerful crackling fire, but also produces an ash that retains the heat a long time, and is therefore very useful in cooking.

The alternative כּמו - כּמו signifies sive, sive , whether the one or the other. חי is that which is living, fresh, viz. , the fresh, raw meat still having the blood in it, the opposite of מבשּׁל (1Sa 2:15); חרון, a fierce heat or fire, here a boiling heat. There is no need to understand חרון metonymically, or perhaps as an adjective = charrôn , of boiled meat: it is a statement of the condition.

The suffix of ישׁערנּוּ, however, refers, as being neuter, to the whole cooking apparatus, and more especially to the contents of the pots. The rendering therefore is: whether raw or in a state of heat, i. e. , of being cooked through, He (Jahve) carries it away as with a whirlwind. Hengstenberg rightly remarks, “To the raw meat correspond the immature plots, and to the cooked the mature ones.

” To us, who regard the Psalm as belonging to the time of Absalom, and not, like Hengstenberg, to the time of Saul, the meat in the pots is the new kingship of Absalom. The greater the self-renunciation with which David at that time looked on at the ripening revolt, disclaiming all action of his own, the stronger the confidence with which he expected the righteous interposition of God that did actually follow, but (as he here supposes possible) not until the meat in the pot was almost done through; yet, on the other side, so quickly, that the pots had scarcely felt the crackling heat which should fully cook the meat.

Psa 58:10-11 Finally, we have a view of the results of the judicial interposition of God. The expression made use of to describe the satisfaction which this gives to the righteous is thoroughly Old Testament and warlike in its tone (cf. Psa 68:24). David is in fact king, and perhaps no king ever remained so long quiet in the face of the most barefaced rebellion, and checked the shedding of blood, as David did at that time.

If, however, blood must nevertheless flow in streams, he knows full well that it is the blood of the partisans of his deluded son; so that the men who were led the further astray in their judgment concerning him, the more inactive he remained, will at last be compelled to confess that it does really repay one to be just, and that there is really one higher than the high ones (Ecc 5:7[8]), a deity (אלהים) above the gods (אלים( sdog) who, though not forthwith, will nevertheless assuredly execute judgment in the earth. אך here, as in Job 18:21; Isa 45:14, retains its originally affirmative signification, which it has in common with אכן.

אלהים is construed with the plural (Ges. §112, rem. 3), as is frequently the case, e. g. , 2Sa 7:23 (where, however, the chronicler, in 1Ch 17:21, has altered the older text). This is not because the heathen are speaking (Baur), but in order to set the infinite majesty and omnipotence of the heavenly Judge in contrast with these puffed-up “gods. ” Prayer of an innocent Man Whom Men Are Trying to Take This Michtam , after the melody Al-tashcheth , coinciding with Psa 57:5 and Psa 58:7 in the figure used in Psa 59:8, is the earliest among the Davidic Psalms which are dated from the time of Saul’s persecution.

When Saul sent and they (those who were sent by him) watched the house in order to slay him (David); it therefore belongs to the time spoken of in 1Sa 19:11. This inscription is no more intended to imply that the Psalm was composed on that night before the flight, which was rendered possible by the artifice of Michal, than the inscription of Ps 51 is meant to imply that the origin of the Psalm was coincident with the arrival of Nathan.

The בּ of such inscriptions only sets forth in a general way the historical groundwork of the song. If we consider the contents of the Psalm from this point of view, we shall obtain a tolerably distinct picture of the situation. We must imagine that Saul, even before he issued that command to watch David’s house the night through and to slay him in the morning, i.

e. , to assassinate him behind Michal’s back (1Sa 19:11), sought to get rid of him in some more secret way; that the venal men of his court, themselves not less ill-disposed towards David, had offered him their hand for the deed; and that in consequence of this, great activity, which was probably seen through by him whose life was threatened, was observable in Gibea, and that more especially every evening, when the bandits strolled through the city in order to meet with the dreaded rival and give him his deathblow.

The Psalms and the Prophets are often the medium through which we gain a deeper insight into events which are only sketched in the historical books after their most prominent outward features. In consideration of the fact that the description of the nightly proceedings of the enemies is repeated after the manner of a refrain, and that the poet in Psa 59:17 contrasts his believingly joyous prospects for the coming morning with the ineffectual ardour with which they pass the night patrolling the streets, Psalms 59 seems to be an evening song belonging to those perilous days spent in Gibea.

Psa 58:10-11 Finally, we have a view of the results of the judicial interposition of God. The expression made use of to describe the satisfaction which this gives to the righteous is thoroughly Old Testament and warlike in its tone (cf. Psa 68:24). David is in fact king, and perhaps no king ever remained so long quiet in the face of the most barefaced rebellion, and checked the shedding of blood, as David did at that time.

If, however, blood must nevertheless flow in streams, he knows full well that it is the blood of the partisans of his deluded son; so that the men who were led the further astray in their judgment concerning him, the more inactive he remained, will at last be compelled to confess that it does really repay one to be just, and that there is really one higher than the high ones (Ecc 5:7[8]), a deity (אלהים) above the gods (אלים( sdog) who, though not forthwith, will nevertheless assuredly execute judgment in the earth. אך here, as in Job 18:21; Isa 45:14, retains its originally affirmative signification, which it has in common with אכן.

אלהים is construed with the plural (Ges. §112, rem. 3), as is frequently the case, e. g. , 2Sa 7:23 (where, however, the chronicler, in 1Ch 17:21, has altered the older text). This is not because the heathen are speaking (Baur), but in order to set the infinite majesty and omnipotence of the heavenly Judge in contrast with these puffed-up “gods. ” Prayer of an innocent Man Whom Men Are Trying to Take This Michtam , after the melody Al-tashcheth , coinciding with Psa 57:5 and Psa 58:7 in the figure used in Psa 59:8, is the earliest among the Davidic Psalms which are dated from the time of Saul’s persecution.

When Saul sent and they (those who were sent by him) watched the house in order to slay him (David); it therefore belongs to the time spoken of in 1Sa 19:11. This inscription is no more intended to imply that the Psalm was composed on that night before the flight, which was rendered possible by the artifice of Michal, than the inscription of Ps 51 is meant to imply that the origin of the Psalm was coincident with the arrival of Nathan.

The בּ of such inscriptions only sets forth in a general way the historical groundwork of the song. If we consider the contents of the Psalm from this point of view, we shall obtain a tolerably distinct picture of the situation. We must imagine that Saul, even before he issued that command to watch David’s house the night through and to slay him in the morning, i.

e. , to assassinate him behind Michal’s back (1Sa 19:11), sought to get rid of him in some more secret way; that the venal men of his court, themselves not less ill-disposed towards David, had offered him their hand for the deed; and that in consequence of this, great activity, which was probably seen through by him whose life was threatened, was observable in Gibea, and that more especially every evening, when the bandits strolled through the city in order to meet with the dreaded rival and give him his deathblow.

The Psalms and the Prophets are often the medium through which we gain a deeper insight into events which are only sketched in the historical books after their most prominent outward features. In consideration of the fact that the description of the nightly proceedings of the enemies is repeated after the manner of a refrain, and that the poet in Psa 59:17 contrasts his believingly joyous prospects for the coming morning with the ineffectual ardour with which they pass the night patrolling the streets, Psalms 59 seems to be an evening song belonging to those perilous days spent in Gibea.

Psa 59:1-9 First part. As far as Psa 59:4 we recognise strains familiar in the Psalms. The enemies are called מתקוממי as in Job 27:7, cf. Psa 17:7; עזּים as shameless, עזּי פנים or עזּי נפשׁ; as in Isa 56:11, on account of their bold shameless greediness, dogs. On לא in a subordinate clause, vid. , Ewald, §286, g : without there being transgression or sin on my side, which might have caused it.

The suffix (transgression on my part) is similar to Psa 18:24. בּליּ־עון (cf. Job 34:6) is a similar adverbial collateral definition: without there existing any sin, which ought to be punished. The energetic future jeruzûn depicts those who servilely give effect to the king’s evil caprice; they run hither and thither as if attacking and put themselves in position.

הכונן = התכונן, like the Hithpa . הכּסּה, Pro 26:26, the Hothpa . הכּבּס, Lev 13:55. , and the Hithpa. נכּפּר, Deu 21:8. Surrounded by such a band of assassins, David is like one besieged, who sighs for succour; and he calls upon Jahve, who seems to be sleeping and inclined to abandon him, with that bold עוּרה לקראתי וּראה, to awake to meet him, i. e. , to join him with His help like a relieving army, and to convince Himself from personal observation of the extreme danger in which His charge finds himself.

The continuation was obliged to be expressed by ואתּה, because a special appeal to God interposes between עוּרה and הקיצה. In the emphatic “Thou,” however, after it has been once expressed, is implied the conditional character of the deliverance by the absolute One. And each of the divine names made use of in this lengthy invocation, which corresponds to the deep anxiety of the poet, is a challenge, so to speak, to the ability and willingness, the power and promise of God.

The juxtaposition Jahve Elohim Tsebaoth (occurring, besides this instance, in Psa 80:5, 20; Psa 84:9), which is peculiar to the Elohimic Psalms, is to be explained by the consideration that Elohim had become a proper name like Jahve , and that the designation Jahve Tsebaoth , by the insertion of Elohim in accordance with the style of the Elohimic Psalms, is made still more imposing and solemn; and now צבאות is a genitive dependent not merely upon יהוה but upon יהוה אלהים (similar to Psa 56:1 , Isa 28:1 ; Symbolae , p. 15).

אלהי ישׂראל is in apposition to this threefold name of God. The poet evidently reckons himself as belonging to an Israel from which he excludes his enemies, viz. , the true Israel which is in reality the people of God. Among the heathen, against whom the poet invokes God’s interposition, are included the heathen-minded in Israel; this at least is the view which brings about this extension of the prayer.

Also in connection with the words און כּל־בּגדי the poet, in fact, has chiefly before his mind those who are immediately round about him and thus disposed. It is those who act treacherously from extreme moral nothingness and worthlessness (און genit. epexeg .) The music, as Sela directs, here becomes more boisterous; it gives intensity to the strong cry for the judgment of God; and the first unfolding of thought of this Michtam is here brought to a close.

The second begins by again taking up the description of the movements of the enemy which was begun in Psa 59:4, Psa 59:5. We see at a glance how here Psa 59:7 coincides with Psa 59:5, and Psa 59:8 with Psa 59:4, and Psa 59:9 with Psa 59:6. Hence the imprecatory rendering of the futures of Psa 59:7 is not for a moment to be entertained. By day the emissaries of Saul do not venture to carry out their plot, and David naturally does not run into their hands.

They therefore come back in the evening, and that evening after evening (cf. Job 24:14); they snarl or howl like dogs (המה, used elsewhere of the growling of the bear and the cooing of the dove; it is distinct from נבח, Arab. nbb , nbḥ , to bark, and כלב, to yelp), because they do not want to betray themselves by loud barking, and still cannot altogether conceal their vexation and rage; and they go their rounds in the city (like סובב בּעיר, Sol 3:2, cf.

supra Psa 55:11), in order to cut off their victim from flight, and perhaps, what would be very welcome to them, to run against him in the darkness. The further description in Psa 59:8 follows them on this patrol. What they belch out or foam out is to be inferred from the fact that swords are in their lips, which they, as it were, draw so soon as they merely move their lips.

Their mouth overflows with murderous thoughts and with slanders concerning David, by which they justify their murderous greed to themselves as if there were no one, viz. , no God, who heard it. But Jahve, from whom nothing, as with men, can be kept secret, laughs at them, just as He makes a mockery of all heathen, to whom this murderous band, which fears the light and in unworthy of the Israelitish name, is compared.

This is the primary passage to Psa 37:13; Psa 2:4; for Ps 59 is perhaps the oldest of the Davidic Psalms that have come down to us, and therefore also the earliest monument of Israelitish poetry in which the divine name Jahve Tsebaoth occurs; and the chronicler, knowing that it was the time of Samuel and David that brought it into use, uses this name only in the life of David. Just as this strophe opened in Psa 59:7 with a distich that recurs in Psa 59:15, so it also closes now in Psa 59:10 with a distich that recurs below in v.

18, and that is to be amended according to the text of that passage. For all attempts to understand עזּי as being genuine prove its inaccuracy. With the old versions it has to be read עזּי; but as for the rest, אשׁמרה must be retained in accordance with the usual variation found in such refrains: my strength, Thee will I regard (1Sa 26:15; observe, 2Sa 11:16), or upon Thee will I wait (cf.

ל, Psa 130:6); i. e. , in the consciousness of my own feebleness, tranquil and resigned, I will look for Thine interposition on my behalf.

Psa 59:1-9 First part. As far as Psa 59:4 we recognise strains familiar in the Psalms. The enemies are called מתקוממי as in Job 27:7, cf. Psa 17:7; עזּים as shameless, עזּי פנים or עזּי נפשׁ; as in Isa 56:11, on account of their bold shameless greediness, dogs. On לא in a subordinate clause, vid. , Ewald, §286, g : without there being transgression or sin on my side, which might have caused it.

The suffix (transgression on my part) is similar to Psa 18:24. בּליּ־עון (cf. Job 34:6) is a similar adverbial collateral definition: without there existing any sin, which ought to be punished. The energetic future jeruzûn depicts those who servilely give effect to the king’s evil caprice; they run hither and thither as if attacking and put themselves in position.

הכונן = התכונן, like the Hithpa . הכּסּה, Pro 26:26, the Hothpa . הכּבּס, Lev 13:55. , and the Hithpa. נכּפּר, Deu 21:8. Surrounded by such a band of assassins, David is like one besieged, who sighs for succour; and he calls upon Jahve, who seems to be sleeping and inclined to abandon him, with that bold עוּרה לקראתי וּראה, to awake to meet him, i. e. , to join him with His help like a relieving army, and to convince Himself from personal observation of the extreme danger in which His charge finds himself.

The continuation was obliged to be expressed by ואתּה, because a special appeal to God interposes between עוּרה and הקיצה. In the emphatic “Thou,” however, after it has been once expressed, is implied the conditional character of the deliverance by the absolute One. And each of the divine names made use of in this lengthy invocation, which corresponds to the deep anxiety of the poet, is a challenge, so to speak, to the ability and willingness, the power and promise of God.

The juxtaposition Jahve Elohim Tsebaoth (occurring, besides this instance, in Psa 80:5, 20; Psa 84:9), which is peculiar to the Elohimic Psalms, is to be explained by the consideration that Elohim had become a proper name like Jahve , and that the designation Jahve Tsebaoth , by the insertion of Elohim in accordance with the style of the Elohimic Psalms, is made still more imposing and solemn; and now צבאות is a genitive dependent not merely upon יהוה but upon יהוה אלהים (similar to Psa 56:1 , Isa 28:1 ; Symbolae , p. 15).

אלהי ישׂראל is in apposition to this threefold name of God. The poet evidently reckons himself as belonging to an Israel from which he excludes his enemies, viz. , the true Israel which is in reality the people of God. Among the heathen, against whom the poet invokes God’s interposition, are included the heathen-minded in Israel; this at least is the view which brings about this extension of the prayer.

Also in connection with the words און כּל־בּגדי the poet, in fact, has chiefly before his mind those who are immediately round about him and thus disposed. It is those who act treacherously from extreme moral nothingness and worthlessness (און genit. epexeg .) The music, as Sela directs, here becomes more boisterous; it gives intensity to the strong cry for the judgment of God; and the first unfolding of thought of this Michtam is here brought to a close.

The second begins by again taking up the description of the movements of the enemy which was begun in Psa 59:4, Psa 59:5. We see at a glance how here Psa 59:7 coincides with Psa 59:5, and Psa 59:8 with Psa 59:4, and Psa 59:9 with Psa 59:6. Hence the imprecatory rendering of the futures of Psa 59:7 is not for a moment to be entertained. By day the emissaries of Saul do not venture to carry out their plot, and David naturally does not run into their hands.

They therefore come back in the evening, and that evening after evening (cf. Job 24:14); they snarl or howl like dogs (המה, used elsewhere of the growling of the bear and the cooing of the dove; it is distinct from נבח, Arab. nbb , nbḥ , to bark, and כלב, to yelp), because they do not want to betray themselves by loud barking, and still cannot altogether conceal their vexation and rage; and they go their rounds in the city (like סובב בּעיר, Sol 3:2, cf.

supra Psa 55:11), in order to cut off their victim from flight, and perhaps, what would be very welcome to them, to run against him in the darkness. The further description in Psa 59:8 follows them on this patrol. What they belch out or foam out is to be inferred from the fact that swords are in their lips, which they, as it were, draw so soon as they merely move their lips.

Their mouth overflows with murderous thoughts and with slanders concerning David, by which they justify their murderous greed to themselves as if there were no one, viz. , no God, who heard it. But Jahve, from whom nothing, as with men, can be kept secret, laughs at them, just as He makes a mockery of all heathen, to whom this murderous band, which fears the light and in unworthy of the Israelitish name, is compared.

This is the primary passage to Psa 37:13; Psa 2:4; for Ps 59 is perhaps the oldest of the Davidic Psalms that have come down to us, and therefore also the earliest monument of Israelitish poetry in which the divine name Jahve Tsebaoth occurs; and the chronicler, knowing that it was the time of Samuel and David that brought it into use, uses this name only in the life of David. Just as this strophe opened in Psa 59:7 with a distich that recurs in Psa 59:15, so it also closes now in Psa 59:10 with a distich that recurs below in v.

18, and that is to be amended according to the text of that passage. For all attempts to understand עזּי as being genuine prove its inaccuracy. With the old versions it has to be read עזּי; but as for the rest, אשׁמרה must be retained in accordance with the usual variation found in such refrains: my strength, Thee will I regard (1Sa 26:15; observe, 2Sa 11:16), or upon Thee will I wait (cf.

ל, Psa 130:6); i. e. , in the consciousness of my own feebleness, tranquil and resigned, I will look for Thine interposition on my behalf.

Psa 59:1-9 First part. As far as Psa 59:4 we recognise strains familiar in the Psalms. The enemies are called מתקוממי as in Job 27:7, cf. Psa 17:7; עזּים as shameless, עזּי פנים or עזּי נפשׁ; as in Isa 56:11, on account of their bold shameless greediness, dogs. On לא in a subordinate clause, vid. , Ewald, §286, g : without there being transgression or sin on my side, which might have caused it.

The suffix (transgression on my part) is similar to Psa 18:24. בּליּ־עון (cf. Job 34:6) is a similar adverbial collateral definition: without there existing any sin, which ought to be punished. The energetic future jeruzûn depicts those who servilely give effect to the king’s evil caprice; they run hither and thither as if attacking and put themselves in position.

הכונן = התכונן, like the Hithpa . הכּסּה, Pro 26:26, the Hothpa . הכּבּס, Lev 13:55. , and the Hithpa. נכּפּר, Deu 21:8. Surrounded by such a band of assassins, David is like one besieged, who sighs for succour; and he calls upon Jahve, who seems to be sleeping and inclined to abandon him, with that bold עוּרה לקראתי וּראה, to awake to meet him, i. e. , to join him with His help like a relieving army, and to convince Himself from personal observation of the extreme danger in which His charge finds himself.

The continuation was obliged to be expressed by ואתּה, because a special appeal to God interposes between עוּרה and הקיצה. In the emphatic “Thou,” however, after it has been once expressed, is implied the conditional character of the deliverance by the absolute One. And each of the divine names made use of in this lengthy invocation, which corresponds to the deep anxiety of the poet, is a challenge, so to speak, to the ability and willingness, the power and promise of God.

The juxtaposition Jahve Elohim Tsebaoth (occurring, besides this instance, in Psa 80:5, 20; Psa 84:9), which is peculiar to the Elohimic Psalms, is to be explained by the consideration that Elohim had become a proper name like Jahve , and that the designation Jahve Tsebaoth , by the insertion of Elohim in accordance with the style of the Elohimic Psalms, is made still more imposing and solemn; and now צבאות is a genitive dependent not merely upon יהוה but upon יהוה אלהים (similar to Psa 56:1 , Isa 28:1 ; Symbolae , p. 15).

אלהי ישׂראל is in apposition to this threefold name of God. The poet evidently reckons himself as belonging to an Israel from which he excludes his enemies, viz. , the true Israel which is in reality the people of God. Among the heathen, against whom the poet invokes God’s interposition, are included the heathen-minded in Israel; this at least is the view which brings about this extension of the prayer.

Also in connection with the words און כּל־בּגדי the poet, in fact, has chiefly before his mind those who are immediately round about him and thus disposed. It is those who act treacherously from extreme moral nothingness and worthlessness (און genit. epexeg .) The music, as Sela directs, here becomes more boisterous; it gives intensity to the strong cry for the judgment of God; and the first unfolding of thought of this Michtam is here brought to a close.

The second begins by again taking up the description of the movements of the enemy which was begun in Psa 59:4, Psa 59:5. We see at a glance how here Psa 59:7 coincides with Psa 59:5, and Psa 59:8 with Psa 59:4, and Psa 59:9 with Psa 59:6. Hence the imprecatory rendering of the futures of Psa 59:7 is not for a moment to be entertained. By day the emissaries of Saul do not venture to carry out their plot, and David naturally does not run into their hands.

They therefore come back in the evening, and that evening after evening (cf. Job 24:14); they snarl or howl like dogs (המה, used elsewhere of the growling of the bear and the cooing of the dove; it is distinct from נבח, Arab. nbb , nbḥ , to bark, and כלב, to yelp), because they do not want to betray themselves by loud barking, and still cannot altogether conceal their vexation and rage; and they go their rounds in the city (like סובב בּעיר, Sol 3:2, cf.

supra Psa 55:11), in order to cut off their victim from flight, and perhaps, what would be very welcome to them, to run against him in the darkness. The further description in Psa 59:8 follows them on this patrol. What they belch out or foam out is to be inferred from the fact that swords are in their lips, which they, as it were, draw so soon as they merely move their lips.

Their mouth overflows with murderous thoughts and with slanders concerning David, by which they justify their murderous greed to themselves as if there were no one, viz. , no God, who heard it. But Jahve, from whom nothing, as with men, can be kept secret, laughs at them, just as He makes a mockery of all heathen, to whom this murderous band, which fears the light and in unworthy of the Israelitish name, is compared.

This is the primary passage to Psa 37:13; Psa 2:4; for Ps 59 is perhaps the oldest of the Davidic Psalms that have come down to us, and therefore also the earliest monument of Israelitish poetry in which the divine name Jahve Tsebaoth occurs; and the chronicler, knowing that it was the time of Samuel and David that brought it into use, uses this name only in the life of David. Just as this strophe opened in Psa 59:7 with a distich that recurs in Psa 59:15, so it also closes now in Psa 59:10 with a distich that recurs below in v.

18, and that is to be amended according to the text of that passage. For all attempts to understand עזּי as being genuine prove its inaccuracy. With the old versions it has to be read עזּי; but as for the rest, אשׁמרה must be retained in accordance with the usual variation found in such refrains: my strength, Thee will I regard (1Sa 26:15; observe, 2Sa 11:16), or upon Thee will I wait (cf.

ל, Psa 130:6); i. e. , in the consciousness of my own feebleness, tranquil and resigned, I will look for Thine interposition on my behalf.

Psa 59:1-9 First part. As far as Psa 59:4 we recognise strains familiar in the Psalms. The enemies are called מתקוממי as in Job 27:7, cf. Psa 17:7; עזּים as shameless, עזּי פנים or עזּי נפשׁ; as in Isa 56:11, on account of their bold shameless greediness, dogs. On לא in a subordinate clause, vid. , Ewald, §286, g : without there being transgression or sin on my side, which might have caused it.

The suffix (transgression on my part) is similar to Psa 18:24. בּליּ־עון (cf. Job 34:6) is a similar adverbial collateral definition: without there existing any sin, which ought to be punished. The energetic future jeruzûn depicts those who servilely give effect to the king’s evil caprice; they run hither and thither as if attacking and put themselves in position.

הכונן = התכונן, like the Hithpa . הכּסּה, Pro 26:26, the Hothpa . הכּבּס, Lev 13:55. , and the Hithpa. נכּפּר, Deu 21:8. Surrounded by such a band of assassins, David is like one besieged, who sighs for succour; and he calls upon Jahve, who seems to be sleeping and inclined to abandon him, with that bold עוּרה לקראתי וּראה, to awake to meet him, i. e. , to join him with His help like a relieving army, and to convince Himself from personal observation of the extreme danger in which His charge finds himself.

The continuation was obliged to be expressed by ואתּה, because a special appeal to God interposes between עוּרה and הקיצה. In the emphatic “Thou,” however, after it has been once expressed, is implied the conditional character of the deliverance by the absolute One. And each of the divine names made use of in this lengthy invocation, which corresponds to the deep anxiety of the poet, is a challenge, so to speak, to the ability and willingness, the power and promise of God.

The juxtaposition Jahve Elohim Tsebaoth (occurring, besides this instance, in Psa 80:5, 20; Psa 84:9), which is peculiar to the Elohimic Psalms, is to be explained by the consideration that Elohim had become a proper name like Jahve , and that the designation Jahve Tsebaoth , by the insertion of Elohim in accordance with the style of the Elohimic Psalms, is made still more imposing and solemn; and now צבאות is a genitive dependent not merely upon יהוה but upon יהוה אלהים (similar to Psa 56:1 , Isa 28:1 ; Symbolae , p. 15).

אלהי ישׂראל is in apposition to this threefold name of God. The poet evidently reckons himself as belonging to an Israel from which he excludes his enemies, viz. , the true Israel which is in reality the people of God. Among the heathen, against whom the poet invokes God’s interposition, are included the heathen-minded in Israel; this at least is the view which brings about this extension of the prayer.

Also in connection with the words און כּל־בּגדי the poet, in fact, has chiefly before his mind those who are immediately round about him and thus disposed. It is those who act treacherously from extreme moral nothingness and worthlessness (און genit. epexeg .) The music, as Sela directs, here becomes more boisterous; it gives intensity to the strong cry for the judgment of God; and the first unfolding of thought of this Michtam is here brought to a close.

The second begins by again taking up the description of the movements of the enemy which was begun in Psa 59:4, Psa 59:5. We see at a glance how here Psa 59:7 coincides with Psa 59:5, and Psa 59:8 with Psa 59:4, and Psa 59:9 with Psa 59:6. Hence the imprecatory rendering of the futures of Psa 59:7 is not for a moment to be entertained. By day the emissaries of Saul do not venture to carry out their plot, and David naturally does not run into their hands.

They therefore come back in the evening, and that evening after evening (cf. Job 24:14); they snarl or howl like dogs (המה, used elsewhere of the growling of the bear and the cooing of the dove; it is distinct from נבח, Arab. nbb , nbḥ , to bark, and כלב, to yelp), because they do not want to betray themselves by loud barking, and still cannot altogether conceal their vexation and rage; and they go their rounds in the city (like סובב בּעיר, Sol 3:2, cf.

supra Psa 55:11), in order to cut off their victim from flight, and perhaps, what would be very welcome to them, to run against him in the darkness. The further description in Psa 59:8 follows them on this patrol. What they belch out or foam out is to be inferred from the fact that swords are in their lips, which they, as it were, draw so soon as they merely move their lips.

Their mouth overflows with murderous thoughts and with slanders concerning David, by which they justify their murderous greed to themselves as if there were no one, viz. , no God, who heard it. But Jahve, from whom nothing, as with men, can be kept secret, laughs at them, just as He makes a mockery of all heathen, to whom this murderous band, which fears the light and in unworthy of the Israelitish name, is compared.

This is the primary passage to Psa 37:13; Psa 2:4; for Ps 59 is perhaps the oldest of the Davidic Psalms that have come down to us, and therefore also the earliest monument of Israelitish poetry in which the divine name Jahve Tsebaoth occurs; and the chronicler, knowing that it was the time of Samuel and David that brought it into use, uses this name only in the life of David. Just as this strophe opened in Psa 59:7 with a distich that recurs in Psa 59:15, so it also closes now in Psa 59:10 with a distich that recurs below in v.

18, and that is to be amended according to the text of that passage. For all attempts to understand עזּי as being genuine prove its inaccuracy. With the old versions it has to be read עזּי; but as for the rest, אשׁמרה must be retained in accordance with the usual variation found in such refrains: my strength, Thee will I regard (1Sa 26:15; observe, 2Sa 11:16), or upon Thee will I wait (cf.

ל, Psa 130:6); i. e. , in the consciousness of my own feebleness, tranquil and resigned, I will look for Thine interposition on my behalf.