Note: This view shows ‘verses’ which are not natural language units and hence sometimes only part of a sentence will be visible—click on any Bible version abbreviation down the left-hand side to see the verse in more of its context. Normally the OET discourages the reading of individual ‘verses’, but this view is only designed as a tool for Bible-translators and others doing comparisons of different translations—the older translations are further down the page (so you can read up from the bottom to trace the English translation history). The OET segments on this page are still early looks into the drafted texts of the Open English Translation of the Bible—please double-check these texts in advance before using in public.

ULT To the music director. psalm David.

WEBBE For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.

WMBB (Same as above)

NET For the music director; a psalm of David.

FBV For the music director. A psalm of David.

BBE To the chief music-maker. A Psalm. Of David.

Moff From the Choirmaster’s collection. A song of David.

ASV For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Drby To the chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

RV For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

KJB-1769 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David.

KJB-1611 ¶ [fn]To the chiefe Musician. A Psalme of Dauid.
(Modernised spelling is same as from KJB-1769 above, apart from punctuation and footnotes)

20:1 Hebr. set thee on an high place.

UTN uW Translation Notes:

Psalm 20 Introduction

Structure and Formatting

Psalm 20 is considered to be one of the “royal psalms.” See the Introduction to Psalms for more information about the royal psalms. 1. Prayer for the king that Yahweh would protect and help him in battle (1–2) 2. Prayer that Yahweh would accept the king’s offerings (3) 3. Prayer that Yahweh would fulfill the king’s desires and plans (4) 4. Anticipation of Yahweh giving his king victory (5) 5. Expression of confidence in Yahweh (6–8) 6. Closing prayer (9)

Religious and Cultural Concepts in This Psalm

Trust

In verse 7 David asserts that trusting in Yahweh is better than trusting in military might. (See: trust)

Translation Issues in This Psalm

In verses 1–5 who do the pronouns “you” and “your” refer to?

In this psalm all occurrences of the pronouns “you” and “your” that occur in verses 1–5 are singular and refer to Yahweh’s anointed king mentioned in verse 6. Because verse 6 identifies who the pronouns “you” and “your” refer to, you do not need to make this explicit in your translation. Also, if your language has both singular and plural second person pronouns, you should use the singular forms each time you translate the pronouns “you” and “your” in verses 1–5.

Note 1 topic: translate-unknown

לַ⁠מְנַצֵּ֗חַ

(la⁠mənaʦʦēaḩ)