Mazmur 3:3

3:3 But you, Lord, are a shield that protects me; ¹ 

you are my glory ²  and the one who restores me. ³ 

Mazmur 5:3

5:3 Lord, in the morning ⁴  you will hear ⁵  me; ⁶ 

in the morning I will present my case to you ⁷  and then wait expectantly for an answer. ⁸ 

Mazmur 10:17

10:17 Lord, you have heard ⁹  the request ¹⁰  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 11:1

Psalm 11 ¹² 

For the music director; by David.

11:1 In the Lord I have taken shelter. ¹³ 

How can you say to me, ¹⁴ 

“Flee to a mountain like a bird! ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 13:5

13:5 But I ¹⁶  trust in your faithfulness.

May I rejoice because of your deliverance! ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 21:7

21:7 For the king trusts ¹⁸  in the Lord,

and because of the sovereign Lord’s ¹⁹  faithfulness he is not upended. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 22:5

22:5 To you they cried out, and they were saved;

in you they trusted and they were not disappointed. ²¹ 

Mazmur 25:2

25:2 My God, I trust in you.

Please do not let me be humiliated;

do not let my enemies triumphantly rejoice over me!

Mazmur 31:14

31:14 But I trust in you, O Lord!

I declare, “You are my God!”

Mazmur 34:5

34:5 Those who look to him for help are happy;

their faces are not ashamed. ²² 

Mazmur 40:11

40:11 O Lord, you do not withhold ²³  your compassion from me.

May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me! ²⁴ 

Mazmur 41:9

41:9 Even my close friend ²⁵  whom I trusted,

he who shared meals with me, has turned against me. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 56:7

56:7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape! ²⁷ 

In your anger ²⁸  bring down the nations, ²⁹  O God!

Mazmur 79:5

79:5 How long will this go on, O Lord? ³⁰ 

Will you stay angry forever?

How long will your rage ³¹  burn like fire?

Mazmur 88:4

88:4 They treat me like ³²  those who descend into the grave. ³³ 

I am like a helpless man, ³⁴ 

Mazmur 91:2

91:2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,

my God in whom I trust –

Mazmur 112:10

112:10 When the wicked ³⁵  see this, they will worry;

they will grind their teeth in frustration ³⁶  and melt away;

the desire of the wicked will perish. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 119:42

119:42 Then I will have a reply for the one who insults me, ³⁸ 

for I trust in your word.

Mazmur 125:1

Psalm 125 ³⁹ 

A song of ascents. ⁴⁰ 

125:1 Those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion;

it cannot be upended and will endure forever.

[3:3]  ¹ tn Heb “a shield round about me.”

[3:3]  ² tn Heb “my glory,” or “my honor.” The psalmist affirms that the Lord is his source of honor, i.e., the one who gives him honor in the sight of others. According to BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 7, the phrase refers to God as the one to whom the psalmist gives honor. But the immediate context focuses on what God does for the psalmist, not vice-versa.

[3:3]  ³ tn Heb “[the one who] lifts my head.” This phrase could be understood to refer to a general strengthening of the psalmist by God during difficult circumstances. However, if one takes the suggestion of the superscription that this is a Davidic psalm written during the revolt of Absalom, the phrase “lift the head” could refer to the psalmist’s desire for restoration to his former position (cf. Gen 40:13 where the same phrase is used). Like the Hebrew text, the present translation (“who restores me”) can be understood in either sense.

[5:3]  ⁴ sn In the morning is here viewed as the time of prayer (Pss 59:16; 88:13) and/or of deliverance (Ps 30:5).

[5:3]  ⁵ tn The imperfect is here understood in a specific future sense; the psalmist is expressing his confidence that God will be willing to hear his request. Another option is to understand the imperfect as expressing the psalmist’s wish or request. In this case one could translate, “Lord, in the morning hear me.”

[5:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “my voice.”

[5:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will arrange for you.” Some understand a sacrifice or offering as the implied object (cf. NEB “I set out my morning sacrifice”). The present translation assumes that the implied object is the psalmist’s case/request. See Isa 44:7.

[5:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and I will watch.”

[10:17]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[11:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 11. The psalmist rejects the advice to flee from his dangerous enemies. Instead he affirms his confidence in God’s just character and calls down judgment on evildoers.

[11:1]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[11:1]  ¹⁴ tn The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[11:1]  ¹⁵ tc The MT is corrupt here. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads: “flee [masculine plural!] to your [masculine plural!] mountain, bird.” The Qere (marginal reading) has “flee” in a feminine singular form, agreeing grammatically with the addressee, the feminine noun “bird.” Rather than being a second masculine plural pronominal suffix, the ending כֶם- (-khem) attached to “mountain” is better interpreted as a second feminine singular pronominal suffix followed by an enclitic mem (ם). “Bird” may be taken as vocative (“O bird”) or as an adverbial accusative of manner (“like a bird”). Either way, the psalmist’s advisers compare him to a helpless bird whose only option in the face of danger is to fly away to an inaccessible place.

[13:5]  ¹⁶ tn The grammatical construction used here (conjunction with independent pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist’s defeated condition envisioned in v. 4 and confident attitude he displays in v. 5.

[13:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “may my heart rejoice in your deliverance.” The verb form is jussive. Having expressed his trust in God’s faithful character and promises, the psalmist prays that his confidence will prove to be well-placed. “Heart” is used here of the seat of the emotions.

[21:7]  ¹⁸ tn The active participle draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action.

[21:7]  ¹⁹ tn Traditionally “the Most High’s.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. Note the focus of vv. 8-12 and see Ps 47:2.

[21:7]  ²⁰ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “he will not be upended” (cf. NRSV “he shall not be moved”). Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense.

[22:5]  ²¹ tn Or “were not ashamed.”

[34:5]  ²² tc Heb “they look to him and are radiant and their faces are not ashamed.” The third person plural subject (“they”) is unidentified; there is no antecedent in the Hebrew text. For this reason some prefer to take the perfect verbal forms in the first line as imperatives, “look to him and be radiant” (cf. NEB, NRSV). Some medieval Hebrew mss and other ancient witnesses (Aquila, the Syriac, and Jerome) support an imperatival reading for the first verb. In the second line some (with support from the LXX and Syriac) change “their faces” to “your faces,” which allows one to retain more easily the jussive force of the verb (suggested by the preceding אַל [’al]): “do not let your faces be ashamed.” It is probable that the verbal construction in the second line is rhetorical, expressing the conviction that the action in view cannot or should not happen. See GKC 322 §109.e.

[40:11]  ²³ tn Some (cf. NIV, NRSV) translate the verb as a request (“do not withhold”), but elsewhere in the psalms the second masculine singular prefixed form, when addressed to God and preceded by לֹא (lo’), is always indicative in mood and never has the force of a prayer (see Pss 16:10; 22:2; 44:9 51:16-17; 60:10; 108:11; cf. NEB, NASB).

[40:11]  ²⁴ tn In this line the psalmist makes the transition from confidence to petition (see v. 13). Since the prefixed verbal form in the preceding line is imperfect/indicative, one could take the verb in this line as imperfect as well and translate, “your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me” (cf. NEB). However, the כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the next verse, if causal (“because”), is best understood as introducing a motivating argument in support of a petition. For this reason v. 11b is best taken as a prayer with the prefixed form being understood as jussive (cf. NIV, NRSV). For parallels to the proposed construction (jussive followed by כִּי + perfect introducing motivating argument), see Ps 25:21, as well as Pss 10:2-3; 22:8.

[41:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “man of my peace.” The phrase here refers to one’s trusted friend (see Jer 38:22; Obad 7).

[41:9]  ²⁶ tn Heb “has made a heel great against me.” The precise meaning of this phrase, which appears only here, is uncertain.

[41:9]  sn The language of this verse is applied to Judas Iscariot in John 13:18.

[56:7]  ²⁷ tc Heb “because of wickedness, deliverance to them.” As it stands, the MT makes no sense. The negative particle אַיִן (’ayin, “there is not,” which is due to dittography of the immediately preceding אָוֶן, ’aven, “wickedness”), should probably be added before “deliverance” (see BHS, note a). The presence of an imperative in the next line (note “bring down”) suggests that this line should be translated as a prayer as well, “may there not be deliverance to them.”

[56:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in anger.” The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:7]  ²⁹ tn Or perhaps “people” in a general sense.

[79:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “How long, O Lord?”

[79:5]  ³¹ tn Or “jealous anger.”

[88:4]  ³² tn Heb “I am considered with.”

[88:4]  ³³ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit,” “cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[88:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I am like a man [for whom] there is no help.”

[112:10]  ³⁵ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular; the representative wicked individual is in view as typifying the group (note the use of the plural form in v. 10).

[112:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “his teeth he will gnash.” In Pss 35:16 and 37:12 this action is associated with a vicious attack.

[112:10]  ³⁷ tn This could mean that the desires of the wicked will go unfulfilled. Another possibility is that “desire” refers by metonymy to the object desired and acquired. In this case the point is that the wicked will lose what they desired so badly and acquired by evil means (see Ps 10:3).

[119:42]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and I will answer [the] one who insults me a word.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the jussive (see v. 41).

[125:1]  ³⁹ sn Psalm 125. The psalmist affirms his confidence in the Lord’s protection and justice.

[125:1]  ⁴⁰ 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.