1 Samuel 24:12-15

24:12 May the Lord judge between the two of us, and may the Lord vindicate me over you, but my hand will not be against you. 24:13 It’s like the old proverb says: ‘From evil people evil proceeds.’ But my hand will not be against you. 24:14 Who has the king of Israel come out after? Who is it that you are pursuing? A dead dog? A single flea? 24:15 May the Lord be our judge and arbiter. May he see and arbitrate my case and deliver me from your hands!”

1 Samuel 26:10-11

26:10 David went on to say, “As the Lord lives, the Lord himself will strike him down. Either his day will come and he will die, or he will go down into battle and be swept away. 26:11 But may the Lord prevent me from extending my hand against the Lord’s chosen one! Now take the spear by Saul’s head and the jug of water, and let’s get out of here!”

Mazmur 9:8

9:8 He judges the world fairly;

he makes just legal decisions for the nations. ¹ 

Mazmur 10:15-18

10:15 Break the arm ²  of the wicked and evil man!

Hold him accountable for his wicked deeds, ³ 

which he thought you would not discover. ⁴ 

10:16 The Lord rules forever! ⁵ 

The nations are driven out of his land. ⁶ 

10:17 Lord, you have heard ⁷  the request ⁸  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ⁹ 

10:18 You defend ¹⁰  the fatherless and oppressed, ¹¹ 

so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them. ¹² 

Mazmur 54:1-7

Psalm 54 ¹³ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a well-written song ¹⁴  by David. It was written when the Ziphites came and informed Saul: “David is hiding with us.” ¹⁵ 

54:1 O God, deliver me by your name! ¹⁶ 

Vindicate me ¹⁷  by your power!

54:2 O God, listen to my prayer!

Pay attention to what I say! ¹⁸ 

54:3 For foreigners ¹⁹  attack me; ²⁰ 

ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. ²¹  (Selah)

54:4 Look, God is my deliverer! ²² 

The Lord is among those who support me. ²³ 

54:5 May those who wait to ambush me ²⁴  be repaid for their evil! ²⁵ 

As a demonstration of your faithfulness, ²⁶  destroy them!

54:6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice ²⁷  to you!

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good!

54:7 Surely ²⁸  he rescues me from all trouble, ²⁹ 

and I triumph over my enemies. ³⁰ 

Yeremia 20:11-13

20:11 But the Lord is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. ³¹ 

Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me.

They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed.

Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

20:12 O Lord who rules over all, ³²  you test and prove the righteous.

You see into people’s hearts and minds. ³³ 

Pay them back for what they have done

because I trust you to vindicate my cause.

20:13 Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord!

For he rescues the oppressed from the clutches of evildoers. ³⁴ 

Yeremia 20:2

20:2 When he heard Jeremiah’s prophecy, he had the prophet flogged. ³⁵  Then he put him in the stocks ³⁶  which were at the Upper Gate of Benjamin in the Lord’s temple. ³⁷ 

Yeremia 1:6

1:6 I answered, “Oh, Lord God, ³⁸  I really ³⁹  do not know how to speak well enough for that, ⁴⁰  for I am too young.” ⁴¹ 

Wahyu 6:10

6:10 They ⁴²  cried out with a loud voice, ⁴³  “How long, ⁴⁴  Sovereign Master, ⁴⁵  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

Wahyu 18:20

18:20 (Rejoice over her, O heaven,

and you saints and apostles and prophets,

for God has pronounced judgment ⁴⁶  against her on your behalf!) ⁴⁷ 

[9:8]  ¹ tn Heb “the peoples.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 8 either describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions (“will judge…”).

[10:15]  ² sn The arm symbolizes the strength of the wicked, which they use to oppress and exploit the weak.

[10:15]  ³ tn Heb “you seek his wickedness.” As in v. 13, the verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as describing a fact, “you hold him accountable,” or as anticipating divine judgment, “you will hold him accountable.” However, since the verb is in apparent parallelism with the preceding imperative (“break”), it is better to understand the imperfect as expressing the psalmist’s desire or request.

[10:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will not find.” It is uncertain how this statement relates to what precedes. Some take בַל (bal), which is used as a negative particle in vv. 4, 6, 11, 18, as asseverative here, “Indeed find (i.e., judge his wickedness).” The translation assumes that the final words are an asyndetic relative clause which refers back to what the wicked man boasted in God’s face (“you will not find [i.e., my wickedness]”). See v. 13.

[10:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord is king forever and ever.”

[10:16]  ⁶ tn Or “the nations perish from his land.” The perfect verb form may express what is typical or it may express rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude that God’s deliverance is “as good as done.”

[10:16]  sn The nations may be the underlying reality behind the psalmist’s references to the “wicked” in the earlier verses. This reference to the nations may have motivated the combining of Ps 10 with Ps 9 (see Ps 9:5, 15, 19).

[10:17]  ⁷ sn You have heard. The psalmist is confident that God has responded positively to his earlier petitions for divine intervention. The psalmist apparently prayed the words of vv. 16-18 after the reception of an oracle of deliverance (given in response to the confident petition of vv. 12-15) or after the Lord actually delivered him from his enemies.

[10:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[10:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “to judge (on behalf of),” or “by judging (on behalf of).”

[10:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “crushed.” See v. 10.

[10:18]  ¹² tn Heb “he will not add again [i.e., “he will no longer”] to terrify, man from the earth.” The Hebrew term אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh, “man”) refers here to the wicked nations (v. 16). By describing them as “from the earth,” the psalmist emphasizes their weakness before the sovereign, eternal king.

[54:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 54. The psalmist asks God for protection against his enemies, confidently affirms that God will vindicate him, and promises to give thanks to God for his saving intervention.

[54:1]  ¹⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.

[54:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Is not David hiding with us?”

[54:1]  sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm during the period when Saul was seeking his life. On one occasion the Ziphites informed Saul that David was hiding in their territory (see 1 Sam 23:19-20).

[54:1]  ¹⁶ tn God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character, which would instill fear in the psalmist’s enemies (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:17).

[54:1]  ¹⁷ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[54:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to the words of my mouth.”

[54:3]  ¹⁹ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read זֵדִים (zedim, “proud ones”) rather than זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”). (No matter which reading one chooses as original, dalet-resh confusion accounts for the existence of the variant.) The term זֵדִים (“proud ones”) occurs in parallelism with עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Ps 86:14 and Isa 13:11. However, זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) is parallel to עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Isa 25:5; 29:5; Ezek 28:7; 31:12.

[54:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “rise against me.”

[54:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”

[54:4]  ²² tn Or “my helper.”

[54:4]  ²³ tn Or “sustain my life.”

[54:5]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2.

[54:5]  ²⁵ tn The Kethib (consonantal text) reads a Qal imperfect, “the evil will return,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Hiphil imperfect, “he will repay.” The parallel line has an imperative (indicating a prayer/request), so it is best to read a jussive form יָשֹׁב (yashov, “let it [the evil] return”) here.

[54:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[54:6]  ²⁷ tn The cohortative verbal form expresses the psalmist’s resolve/vow to praise.

[54:7]  ²⁸ tn Or “for,” indicating a more specific reason why he will praise the Lord’s name (cf. v. 6).

[54:7]  ²⁹ tn The perfects in v. 7 are probably rhetorical, indicating the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance and his own vindication as if they were occurring or had already occurred.

[54:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and on my enemies my eyes look.”

[20:11]  ³¹ sn This line has some interesting ties with Jer 15:20-21 where Jeremiah is assured by God that he is indeed with him as he promised him when he called him (1:8, 19) and will deliver him from the clutches of wicked and violent people. The word translated here “awe-inspiring” is the same as the word “violent people” there. Jeremiah is confident that his “awe-inspiring” warrior will overcome “violent people.” The statement of confidence here is, by the way, a common element in the psalms of petition in the Psalter. The common elements of that type of psalm are all here: invocation (v. 7), lament (vv. 7-10), confession of trust/confidence in being heard (v. 11), petition (v. 12), thanksgiving or praise (v. 13). For some examples of this type of psalm see Pss 3, 7, 26.

[20:12]  ³² tn Heb “Yahweh of armies.”

[20:12]  sn See the study note on 2:19 for explanation of this title for God.

[20:12]  ³³ tn Heb “Lord of armies, the one who tests the righteous, who sees kidneys and heart.” The sentence has been broken up to avoid a long and complex English sentence. The translation is more in keeping with contemporary English style.

[20:12]  sn This verse is almost an exact duplication of the petition in one of Jeremiah’s earlier prayers and complaints. See Jer 11:20 and notes there for explanation of the Hebrew psychology underlying the use of “kidneys and heart” here. For the thoughts expressed here see Ps 17.

[20:13]  ³⁴ sn While it may be a little confusing to modern readers to see the fluctuation in moods and the shifts in addressee in a prayer and complaint like this, it was not at all unusual for Israel where these were often offered in the temple in the conscious presence of God before fellow worshipers. For another example of these same shifts see Ps 22 which is a prayer of David in a time of deep distress.

[20:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “And Pashhur son of Immer, the priest and he [= who] was chief overseer [or officer] in the house of the Lord heard Jeremiah prophesying these words/things 20:2 and Pashhur had the prophet Jeremiah flogged.” This verse and the previous one has been restructured in the translation to better conform with contemporary English style.

[20:2]  ³⁶ tn The meaning of this word is uncertain. It occurs only here, in 29:26 where it is followed by a parallel word that occurs only there and is generally translated “collar,” and in 2 Chr 16:10 where it is preceded by the word “house of.” It is most often translated “stocks” and explained as an instrument of confinement for keeping prisoners in a crooked position (from its relation to a root meaning “to turn.” See BDB 246 s.v. מַהְפֶּכֶת and KBL 500 s.v. מַהְפֶּכֶת for definition and discussion.) For a full discussion including the interpretation of the ancient versions see W. L. Holladay, Jeremiah (Hermeneia), 1:542-43.

[20:2]  ³⁷ sn A comparison of Ezek 8:3 and 9:2 in their contexts will show that this probably refers to the northern gate to the inner court of the temple. It is called Upper because it was on higher ground above the gate in the outer court. It is qualified by “in the Lord’s temple” to distinguish it from the Benjamin Gate in the city wall (cf. 37:13; 38:7). Like the Benjamin Gate in the city wall it faced north toward the territory of the tribe of Benjamin.

[1:6]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Lord Yahweh.”

[1:6]  sn The translation follows the ancient Jewish tradition of substituting the Hebrew word for “God” for the proper name Yahweh in this compound name. See the study note on v. 2 for the substitution of “Lord” in a similar kind of situation.

[1:6]  ³⁹ tn Heb “Behold, I do not know how to speak.” The particle הִנֵּה (hinneh, commonly rendered “behold”) often introduces a speech and calls special attention to a specific word or the statement as a whole (see IBHS 675-78 §40.2.1).

[1:6]  ⁴⁰ tn The words “well enough for that” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarity. Jeremiah is not claiming an absolute inability to speak.

[1:6]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “I am a boy/youth.” The Hebrew word can refer to an infant (Exod 2:6), a young boy (1 Sam 2:11), a teenager (Gen 21:12), or a young man (2 Sam 18:5). The translation is deliberately ambiguous since it is unclear how old Jeremiah was when he was called to begin prophesying.

[6:10]  ⁴² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:10]  ⁴³ tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[6:10]  ⁴⁴ tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.

[6:10]  ⁴⁵ tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).

[18:20]  ⁴⁶ tn On the phrase “pronounced judgment” BDAG 567 s.v. κρίμα 4.b states, “The OT is the source of the expr. κρίνειν τὸ κρ. (cp. Zech 7:9; 8:16; Ezk 44:24) ἔκρινεν ὁ θεὸς τὸ κρίμα ὑμῶν ἐξ αὐτῆς God has pronounced judgment for you against her or God has pronounced on her the judgment she wished to impose on you (HHoltzmann, Hdb. 1893 ad loc.) Rv 18:20.”

[18:20]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “God has judged a judgment of you of her.” Verse 20 is set in parentheses because in it the saints, etc. are addressed directly in the second person.

[18:20]  sn This verse forms a parenthetical aside in the narrative.