Notes (NET Translation)
For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; a psalm of Asaph; a song.
1 We give thanks to you, O God! We give thanks! You reveal your presence; people tell about your amazing deeds.
The Hebrew literally reads “and near [is] your name” where the NET has “you reveal your presence.” The divine name stands for God. The “amazing deeds” of God are his acts in creation and salvation history.
2 God says, “At the appointed times, I judge fairly.
The words “God says” are not in the Hebrew text but provided to identify the speaker. This verse can be understood in an eschatological sense but need not be.
3 When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear, I make its pillars secure.” (Selah)
4 I say to the proud, “Do not be proud,” and to the wicked, “Do not be so confident of victory!
The Hebrew literally reads “do not lift up a horn” where the NET has “do not be so confident of victory.” The horn was a symbol of strength and victory.
5 Do not be so certain you have won! Do not speak with your head held so high!
The Hebrew of v. 5a is literally “do not lift up on high your horn.”
6 For victory does not come from the east or west, or from the wilderness.
It is not clear whether God’s words continue in vv. 6-8 or whether the psalmist is responding to God’s words. As opposed to the NET, I lean towards vv. 6-8 being the words of a human. Verse 6 means “search where you will, there is no other arbiter but God; therefore no worldly rank that is anything but provisional.”1
7 For God is the judge! He brings one down and exalts another.
8 For the LORD holds in his hand a cup full of foaming wine mixed with spices, and pours it out. Surely all the wicked of the earth will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.”
The figure of a cup of judgment meets us often elsewhere, and its final occurrence in Scripture presents it as retribution: in our phrase, a dose of one’s own medicine; ‘a double draught for her in the cup she mixed’ (Rev. 18:6). Other passages give further play to the metaphor, picturing the recipients reeling, vomiting, crazed, prostrate (e.g. Isa. 51:17; Jer. 25:15f., 27f.).2
9 As for me, I will continually tell what you have done; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob!
10 God says, “I will bring down all the power of the wicked; the godly will be victorious.”
The words “God says” are not in the Hebrew but provided to clarify that it is God who speaks in v. 10 (although Goldingay thinks a king or other leader could say these words). The Hebrew then literally reads, “and all the horns of the wicked I will cut off, the horns of the godly will be lifted up.”
Comment
The psalm’s theme and language overlap with those of Hannah’s song in 1 Sam. 2:1–10. Hannah begins by declaring that her horn has lifted up through Yhwh (contrast v. 5). She warns about “forwardness” (cf. v. 5). She describes Yhwh as one who puts down and lifts up (cf. v. 7). She refers to Yhwh’s having set in place the columns that support the earth (cf. v. 3, though the language is different). She refers to Yhwh’s making decisions in the world (cf. vv. 2, 7, though the verb is different). Comparison of the two highlights how Hannah’s song is simply her song of praise, whereas the psalm is a liturgy. Hannah’s song stands between the birth of her son and the event it will bring about, the anointing of Israel’s kings; the former is a promise of the latter. The psalm implies a different relationship between past and future. Past wonders are not continued in present acts of God, but God promises they will be, and thus the psalm’s closing praise resembles Hannah’s but offers it on the basis of Yhwh’s word rather than on the basis of having yet seen Yhwh act. Hannah’s song closes with a promise of Yhwh’s involvement with the anointed king; the psalm closes with such a leader speaking confidently of being able to fulfill the king’s role in putting down the faithless. One might thus see the psalm as taking up the issues raised in Hannah’s song and reformulating them in a different and more ambiguous context. It declares that Hannah will be proved right and that the leader will act in that conviction.3
One may also want to note similarities with Mary’s Magnificat (Lk 1:46-55).
Bibliography
Goldingay, John. Psalms: Volume 2: Psalms 42-89. Kindle Edition. Baker Academic, 2007.
Kidner, Derek. Psalms 73-150: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, Ill.: Inter-Varsity Press, 2008.
Tate, Marvin E. Psalms 51-100. Word Biblical Commentary 20. Dallas: Word Books, 1998.
VanGemeren, Willem A. Psalms. Revised Edition. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary 5. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2008.
Biblical Scholarship 