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Psalms 28:2 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

2 Hear the voice of my supplications, In my crying unto Thee, In my lifting up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

Cross Reference

Psalms 141:2 YLT

My prayer is prepared -- incense before Thee, The lifting up of my hands -- the evening present.

Psalms 138:2 YLT

I bow myself toward Thy holy temple, And I confess Thy name, For Thy kindness, and for Thy truth, For Thou hast made great Thy saying above all Thy name.

Psalms 5:7 YLT

And I, in the abundance of Thy kindness, I enter Thy house, I bow myself toward Thy holy temple in Thy fear.

1 Timothy 2:8 YLT

I wish, therefore, that men pray in every place, lifting up kind hands, apart from anger and reasoning;

Psalms 134:2 YLT

Lift up your hands `in' the sanctuary, And bless ye Jehovah.

Psalms 140:6 YLT

I have said to Jehovah, `My God `art' Thou, Hear, Jehovah, the voice of my supplications.'

Psalms 143:6 YLT

I have spread forth my hands unto Thee, My soul `is' as a weary land for Thee. Selah.

Daniel 6:10 YLT

And Daniel, when he hath known that the writing is signed, hath gone up to his house, and the window being opened for him, in his upper chamber, over-against Jerusalem, three times in a day he is kneeling on his knees, and praying, and confessing before his God, because that he was doing `it' before this.

Lamentations 2:19 YLT

Arise, cry aloud in the night, At the beginning of the watches. Pour out as water thy heart, Over against the face of the Lord, Lift up unto Him thy hands, for the soul of thine infants, Who are feeble with hunger at the head of all out-places.

1 Kings 6:19 YLT

And the oracle in the midst of the house within he hath prepared, to put there the ark of the covenant of Jehovah.

Psalms 125:5 YLT

As to those turning `to' their crooked ways, Jehovah causeth them to go with workers of iniquity. Peace on Israel!

Psalms 63:4 YLT

So I bless Thee in my life, in Thy name I lift up my hands.

2 Chronicles 6:13 YLT

for Solomon hath made a scaffold of brass, and putteth it in the midst of the court, five cubits its length, and five cubits its breadth, and three cubits its height, and he standeth upon it, and kneeleth on his knees over-against all the assembly of Israel, and spreadeth forth his hands towards the heavens --

1 Kings 8:38 YLT

any prayer, any supplication that `is' of any man of all Thy people Israel, who know each the plague of his own heart, and hath spread his hands towards this house,

1 Kings 8:28-30 YLT

`Then thou hast turned unto the prayer of Thy servant, and unto his supplication, O Jehovah my God, to hearken unto the cry and unto the prayer which Thy servant is praying before Thee to-day, for Thine eyes being open towards this house night and day, towards the place of which Thou hast said, My Name is there; to hearken unto the prayer which Thy servant prayeth towards this place. `Then Thou hast hearkened unto the supplication of Thy servant, and of Thy people Israel, which they pray towards this place; yea, Thou dost hearken in the place of Thy dwelling, in the heavens -- and Thou hast hearkened, and hast forgiven,

1 Kings 8:6-8 YLT

And the priests bring in the ark of the covenant of Jehovah unto its place, unto the oracle of the house, unto the holy of holies, unto the place of the wings of the cherubs; for the cherubs are spreading forth two wings unto the place of the ark, and the cherubs cover over the ark, and over its staves from above; and they lengthen the staves, and the heads of the staves are seen from the holy `place' on the front of the oracle, and are not seen without, and they are there unto this day.

1 Kings 6:22-23 YLT

And the whole of the house he hath overlaid with gold, till the completion of all the house; and the whole of the altar that the oracle hath, he hath overlaid with gold. And he maketh within the oracle two cherubs, of the oil-tree, ten cubits `is' their height;

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 28

Commentary on Psalms 28 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Introduction

Cry for Help and Thanksgiving, in a Time of Rebellion

To Psalms 26:1-12 and Psalms 27:1-14 a third Psalm is here added, belonging to the time of the persecution by Absolom. In this Psalm, also, the drawing towards the sanctuary of God cannot be lost sight of; and in addition thereto we have the intercession of the anointed one, when personally imperilled, on behalf of the people who are equally in need of help, - an intercession which can only be rightly estimated in connection with the circumstances of that time. Like Psalms 27:1-14 this, its neighbour, also divides into two parts; these parts, however, though their lines are of a different order, nevertheless bear a similar poetic impress. Both are composed of verses consisting of two and three lines. There are many points of contact between this Psalm and Psalms 27:1-14; e.g., in the epithet applied to God, מעוז ; but compare also Psalms 28:3 with Psalms 26:9; Psalms 28:2 with Psalms 31:23; Psalms 28:9 with Psalms 29:11. The echoes of this Psalm in Isaiah are very many, and also in Jeremiah.


Verses 1-5

This first half of the Psalm (Psalms 28:1) is supplicatory. The preposition מן in connection with the verbs חרשׁ , to be deaf, dumb, and חשׁה , to keep silence, is a pregnant form of expression denoting an aversion or turning away which does not deign to give the suppliant an answer. Jahve is his צוּר , his ground of confidence; but if He continues thus to keep silence, then he who confides in Him will become like those who are going down (Psalms 22:30), or are gone down (Isaiah 14:19) to the pit. The participle of the past answers better to the situation of one already on the brink of the abyss. In the double sentence with פּן , the chief accent falls upon the second clause, for which the first only paratactically opens up the way (cf. Isaiah 5:4; Isaiah 12:1); in Latin it would be ne, te mihi non respondente, similis fiam . Olshausen, and Baur with him, believes that because ונמשׁלתּי has not the accent on the ultima as being perf. consec ., it must be interpreted according to the accentuation thus, “in order that Thou mayst no longer keep silence, whilst I am already become like...” But this ought to be ואני נמשׁל , or at least נמשׁלתּי ואני . And if ונמשלתי were to be taken as a real perfect, it would then rather have to be rendered “and I should then be like.” But, notwithstanding ונמשׁלתּי is Milel , it is still perf . consecuticum (“and I am become like”); for if, in a sentence of more than one member following upon פן , the fut ., as is usually the case (vid., on Psalms 38:17), goes over into the perf ., then the latter, in most instances, has the tone of the perf. consec . (Deuteronomy 4:19, Judges 18:25, Proverbs 5:9-12, Malachi 4:6), but not always. The penultima -accentuation is necessarily retained in connection with the two great pausal accents, Silluk and Athnach , Deuteronomy 8:12; Proverbs 30:9; in this passage in connection with Rebia mugrash , just as we may say, in general, the perf. consec . sometimes retains its penultima -accentuation in connection with distinctives instead of being accented on the ultima ; e.g., in connection with Rebia mugrash , Proverbs 30:9; with Rebia , Proverbs 19:14 (cf. Proverbs 30:9 with Ezekiel 14:17); with Zakeph . 1 Samuel 29:8; and even with Tiphcha Obad. Obadiah 1:10, Joel 3:21. The national grammarians are ignorant of any law on this subject.

(Note: Aben-Ezra ( Moznajim 36 b ) explains the perfect accented on the penult . in Proverbs 30:9 from the conformity of sound, and Kimchi ( Michlol 6 b ) simply records the phenomenon.)

The point towards which the psalmist stretches forth his hands in prayer is Jahve's holy דּביר . Such is the word (after the form בּריח , כּליא , עטין ) used only in the Books of Kings and Chronicles, with the exception of this passage, to denote the Holy of Holies, not as being χρηματιστήριον (Aquila and Symmachus), or λαλητήριον , oraculum (Jerome), as it were, Jahve's audience chamber (Hengstenberg) - a meaning that is not in accordance with the formation of the word, - but as the hinder part of the tent, from דּבר , Arabic dabara , to be behind, whence dubr (Talmudic דּוּבר ), that which is behind (opp. kubl . kibal , that which is in the front), cf. Jesurun p. 87f. In Psalms 28:3, Psalms 28:4 the prayer is expanded. משׁך (instead of which we find אסף in Psalms 26:9), to draw any one down forcibly to destruction, or to drag him to the place of judgment, Ezekiel 32:20, cf. Psalms 10:8; Job 24:22. The delineation of the ungodly David borrows from his actual foes, Should he succumb to them, then his fate would be like that which awaits them, to whom he is conscious that he is radically unlike. He therefore prays that God's recompensing justice may anticipate him, i.e., that He may requite them according to their desert, before he succumbs, to whom they have feigned שׁלום , a good understanding, or being on good terms, whereas they cherished in their heart the רעה that is now unmasked (cf. Jeremiah 9:7). נתן , used of an official adjudication, as in Hosea 9:14; Jeremiah 32:19. The epanaphora of תּן־להם is like Psalms 27:14.

(Note: This repetition, at the end, of a significant word that has been used at the beginning of a verse, is a favourite custom of Isaiah's ( Comment . S. 387; transl. ii. 134).)

The phrase השׁיב גּמוּל ( שׁלּם ) , which occurs frequently in the prophets, signifies to recompense or repay to any one his accomplishing, his manifestation, that is to say, what he has done and merited; the thoughts and expression call to mind more particularly Isaiah 3:8-11; Isaiah 1:16. The right to pray for recompense (vengeance) is grounded, in Psalms 28:5, upon their blindness to God's just and merciful rule as it is to be seen in human history (cf. Isaiah 5:12; Isaiah 22:11). The contrast of בּנה and חרס , to pull down (with a personal object, as in Exodus 15:7), is like Jeremiah's style (Psalms 42:10, cf. 1:10; Psalms 18:9, and frequently, Sir. 49:7). In Psalms 28:5 , the prominent thought in David's mind is, that they shamefully fail to recognise how gloriously and graciously God has again and again acknowledged him as His anointed one. He has (2 Sam 7) received the promise, that God would build him a house, i.e., grant perpetual continuance to his kingship. The Absolomites are in the act of rebellion against this divine appointment. Hence they shall experience the very reverse of the divine promise given to David: Jahve will pull them down and not build them up, He will destroy, at its very commencement, this dynasty set up in opposition to God.


Verses 6-9

The first half of the Psalm prayed for deliverance and for judgment; this second half gives thanks for both. If the poet wrote the Psalm at one sitting then at this point the certainty of being answered dawns upon him. But it is even possible that he added this second part later on, as a memorial of the answer he experienced to his prayer (Hitzig, Ewald). It sounds, at all events, like the record of something that has actually taken place. Jahve is his defence and shield. The conjoined perfects in Psalms 28:7 denote that which is closely united in actual realisation; and in the fut . consec ., as is frequently the case, e.g., in Job 14:2, the historical signification retreats into the background before the more essential idea of that which has been produced. In משּׁירי , the song is conceived as the spring whence the הודות bubble forth; and instead of אודנּוּ we have the more impressive form אהודנּוּ , as in Ps 45:18; Psalms 116:6; 1 Samuel 17:47, the syncope being omitted. From suffering ( Leid ) springs song ( Lied ), and from song springs the praise ( Lob ) of Him, who has “turned” the suffering, just as it is attuned in Psalms 28:6 and Psalms 28:8.

(Note: There is a play of words and an alliteration in this sentence which we cannot fully reproduce in the English. - Tr.)

The αὐτοί , who are intended by למו in Psalms 28:8 , are those of Israel, as in Psalms 12:8; Isaiah 33:2 (Hitzig). The lxx ( κραταίωμα τοῦ λαοῦ αὐτοῦ ) reads לעמּו , as in Psalms 29:11, which is approved by Böttcher, Olshausen and Hupfeld; but למו yields a similar sense. First of all David thinks of the people, then of himself; for his private character retreats behind his official, by virtue of which he is the head of Israel. For this very reason his deliverance is the deliverance of Israel, to whom, so far as they have become unfaithful to His anointed, Jahve has not requited this faithlessness, and to whom, so far as they have remained true to him, He has rewarded this fidelity. Jahve is a עז a si evhaJ to them, inasmuch as He preserves them by His might from the destruction into which they would have precipitated themselves, or into which others would have precipitated them; and He is the מעוז ישׁוּעות of His anointed inasmuch as He surrounds him as an inaccessible place of refuge which secures to him salvation in all its fulness instead of the destruction anticipated. Israel's salvation and blessing were at stake; but Israel is in fact God's people and God's inheritance - may He, then, work salvation for them in every future need and bless them. Apostatised from David, it was a flock in the hands of the hireling - may He ever take the place of shepherd to them and carry them in His arms through the destruction. The נשּׂאם coupled with וּרעם (thus it is to be pointed according to Ben-Asher) calls to mind Deuteronomy 1:31, “Jahve carried Israel as a man doth carry his son,” and Exodus 19:4; Deuteronomy 32:11, “as on eagles' wings.” The Piel , as in Isaiah 63:9, is used of carrying the weak, whom one lifts up and thus removes out of its helplessness and danger. Psalms 3:1-8 closes just in the same way with an intercession; and the close of Psalms 29:1-11 is similar, but promissory, and consequently it is placed next to Psalms 28:1-9.