Mazmur 26:11

26:11 But I have integrity! ¹ 

Rescue me ²  and have mercy on me!

Mazmur 44:21

44:21 would not God discover it,

for he knows ³  one’s thoughts? ⁴ 

Mazmur 58:2

58:2 No! ⁵  You plan how to do what is unjust; ⁶ 

you deal out violence in the earth. ⁷ 

Mazmur 73:5

73:5 They are immune to the trouble common to men;

they do not suffer as other men do. ⁸ 

Mazmur 85:6

85:6 Will you not revive us once more?

Then your people will rejoice in you!

Mazmur 94:17

94:17 If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have laid down in the silence of death. ⁹ 

Mazmur 124:1-2

Psalm 124 ¹⁰ 

A song of ascents, ¹¹  by David.

124:1 “If the Lord had not been on our side” –

let Israel say this! –

124:2 if the Lord had not been on our side,

when men attacked us, ¹² 

[26:11]  ¹ tn Heb “and I in my integrity walk.” The psalmist uses the imperfect verbal form to emphasize this is his practice. The construction at the beginning of the verse (conjunction + pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist and the sinners mentioned in vv. 9-10.

[26:11]  ² tn Or “redeem me.”

[44:21]  ³ tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.

[44:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.

[58:2]  ⁵ tn The particle אַף (’af, “no”) is used here as a strong adversative emphasizing the following statement, which contrasts reality with the rulers’ claim alluded to in the rhetorical questions (see Ps 44:9).

[58:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “in the heart unjust deeds you do.” The phrase “in the heart” (i.e., “mind”) seems to refer to their plans and motives. The Hebrew noun עַוְלָה (’avlah, “injustice”) is collocated with פָּעַל (pa’al, “do”) here and in Job 36:23 and Ps 119:3. Some emend the plural form עוֹלֹת (’olot, “unjust deeds”; see Ps 64:6) to the singular עָוֶל (’avel, “injustice”; see Job 34:32), taking the final tav (ת) as dittographic (note that the following verbal form begins with tav). Some then understand עָוֶל (’avel, “injustice”) as a genitive modifying “heart” and translate, “with a heart of injustice you act.”

[58:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “in the earth the violence of your hands you weigh out.” The imagery is from the economic realm. The addressees measure out violence, rather than justice, and distribute it like a commodity. This may be ironic, since justice was sometimes viewed as a measuring scale (see Job 31:6).

[73:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the trouble of man they are not, and with mankind they are not afflicted.”

[94:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.

[124:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 124. Israel acknowledges that the Lord delivered them from certain disaster.

[124:1]  ¹¹ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[124:2]  ¹² tn Heb “rose up against us.”