Mazmur 7:9-15

7:9 May the evil deeds of the wicked ¹  come to an end! ² 

But make the innocent ³  secure, ⁴ 

O righteous God,

you who examine ⁵  inner thoughts and motives! ⁶ 

7:10 The Exalted God is my shield, ⁷ 

the one who delivers the morally upright. ⁸ 

7:11 God is a just judge;

he is angry throughout the day. ⁹ 

7:12 If a person ¹⁰  does not repent, God sharpens his sword ¹¹ 

and prepares to shoot his bow. ¹² 

7:13 He prepares to use deadly weapons against him; ¹³ 

he gets ready to shoot flaming arrows. ¹⁴ 

7:14 See the one who is pregnant with wickedness,

who conceives destructive plans,

and gives birth to harmful lies – ¹⁵ 

7:15 he digs a pit ¹⁶ 

and then falls into the hole he has made. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 9:15-16

9:15 The nations fell ¹⁸  into the pit they had made;

their feet were caught in the net they had hidden. ¹⁹ 

9:16 The Lord revealed himself;

he accomplished justice;

the wicked were ensnared by their own actions. ²⁰  (Higgaion. ²¹  Selah)

Mazmur 10:15

10:15 Break the arm ²²  of the wicked and evil man!

Hold him accountable for his wicked deeds, ²³ 

which he thought you would not discover. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 17:13

17:13 Rise up, Lord!

Confront him! ²⁵  Knock him down! ²⁶ 

Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man! ²⁷ 

Mazmur 21:8-10

21:8 You ²⁸  prevail over ²⁹  all your enemies;

your power is too great for those who hate you. ³⁰ 

21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace ³¹  when you appear; ³² 

the Lord angrily devours them; ³³ 

the fire consumes them.

21:10 You destroy their offspring ³⁴  from the earth,

their descendants ³⁵  from among the human race. ³⁶ 

Mazmur 28:3-4

28:3 Do not drag me away with evil men,

with those who behave wickedly, ³⁷ 

who talk so friendly to their neighbors, ³⁸ 

while they plan to harm them! ³⁹ 

28:4 Pay them back for their evil deeds!

Pay them back for what they do!

Punish them! ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 31:18

31:18 May lying lips be silenced –

lips ⁴¹  that speak defiantly against the innocent ⁴² 

with arrogance and contempt!

Mazmur 35:1-8

Psalm 35 ⁴³ 

By David.

35:1 O Lord, fight ⁴⁴  those who fight with me!

Attack those who attack me!

35:2 Grab your small shield and large shield, ⁴⁵ 

and rise up to help me!

35:3 Use your spear and lance ⁴⁶  against ⁴⁷  those who chase me!

Assure me with these words: ⁴⁸  “I am your deliverer!”

35:4 May those who seek my life be embarrassed and humiliated!

May those who plan to harm me be turned back and ashamed! ⁴⁹ 

35:5 May they be ⁵⁰  like wind-driven chaff,

as the Lord’s angel ⁵¹  attacks them! ⁵² 

35:6 May their path be ⁵³  dark and slippery,

as the Lord’s angel chases them!

35:7 I did not harm them, but they hid a net to catch me

and dug a pit to trap me. ⁵⁴ 

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! ⁵⁵ 

Let the net they hid catch them!

Let them fall into destruction! ⁵⁶ 

Mazmur 35:26

35:26 May those who want to harm me be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ⁵⁷ 

May those who arrogantly taunt me be covered with shame and humiliation! ⁵⁸ 

[7:9]  ¹ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.

[7:9]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation here.

[7:9]  ³ tn Or “the godly” (see Ps 5:12). The singular form is collective (see the plural “upright in heart” in v. 10), though it may reflect the personal focus of the psalmist in this context.

[7:9]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form expresses the psalmist’s prayer or wish.

[7:9]  ⁵ tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.

[7:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “and [the one who] tests hearts and kidneys, just God.” The translation inverts the word order to improve the English style. The heart and kidneys were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.

[7:10]  ⁷ tn Traditionally, “my shield is upon God” (cf. NASB). As in v. 8, עַל (’al) should be understood as a divine title, here compounded with “God” (cf. NIV, “God Most High”). See M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:45-46. The shield metaphor pictures God as a protector against deadly attacks.

[7:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[7:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “God (the divine name אֵל [’el] is used) is angry during all the day.” The verb זֹעֵם (zo’em) means “be indignant, be angry, curse.” Here God’s angry response to wrongdoing and injustice leads him to prepare to execute judgment as described in the following verses.

[7:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “If he”; the referent (a person who is a sinner) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The subject of the first verb is understood as the sinner who fails to repent of his ways and becomes the target of God’s judgment (vv. 9, 14-16).

[7:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “if he does not return, his sword he sharpens.” The referent (God) of the pronominal subject of the second verb (“sharpens”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:12]  ¹² tn Heb “his bow he treads and prepares it.” “Treading the bow” involved stepping on one end of it in order to string it and thus prepare it for battle.

[7:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “and for him he prepares the weapons of death.”

[7:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “his arrows into flaming [things] he makes.”

[7:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and he conceives harm and gives birth to a lie.”

[7:14]  sn Pregnant with wickedness…gives birth to harmful lies. The psalmist metaphorically pictures the typical sinner as a pregnant woman, who is ready to give birth to wicked, destructive schemes and actions.

[7:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a pit he digs and he excavates it.” Apparently the imagery of hunting is employed; the wicked sinner digs this pit to entrap and destroy his intended victim. The redundancy in the Hebrew text has been simplified in the translation.

[7:15]  ¹⁷ tn The verb forms in vv. 15-16 describe the typical behavior and destiny of those who attempt to destroy others. The image of the evildoer falling into the very trap he set for his intended victim emphasizes the appropriate nature of God’s judgment.

[9:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “sank down.”

[9:15]  ¹⁹ sn The hostility of the nations against God’s people is their downfall, for it prompts God to intervene and destroy them. See also Ps 7:15-16.

[9:16]  ²⁰ tn Heb “by the work of his hands [the] wicked [one] was ensnared. The singular form רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is collective or representative here (see vv. 15, 17). The form נוֹקֵשׁ (noqesh) appears to be an otherwise unattested Qal form (active participle) from נָקַשׁ (naqash), but the form should be emended to נוֹקַשׁ (noqash), a Niphal perfect from יָקַשׁ (yaqash).

[9:16]  ²¹ tn This is probably a technical musical term.

[10:15]  ²² sn The arm symbolizes the strength of the wicked, which they use to oppress and exploit the weak.

[10:15]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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.

[17:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Be in front of his face.”

[17:13]  ²⁶ tn Or “bring him to his knees.”

[17:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “rescue my life from the wicked [one] [by] your sword.”

[21:8]  ²⁸ tn The king is now addressed. One could argue that the Lord is still being addressed, but v. 9 militates against this proposal, for there the Lord is mentioned in the third person and appears to be distinct from the addressee (unless, of course, one takes “Lord” in v. 9 as vocative; see the note on “them” in v. 9b). Verse 7 begins this transition to a new addressee by referring to both the king and the Lord in the third person (in vv. 1-6 the Lord is addressed and only the king referred to in the third person).

[21:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8-12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.

[21:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”

[21:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).

[21:9]  ³² tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.

[21:9]  ³³ tn Heb “the Lord, in his anger he swallows them, and fire devours them.” Some take “the Lord” as a vocative, in which case he is addressed in vv. 8-9a. But this makes the use of the third person in v. 9b rather awkward, though the king could be the subject (see vv. 1-7).

[21:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “fruit.” The next line makes it clear that offspring is in view.

[21:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “seed.”

[21:10]  ³⁶ tn Heb “sons of man.”

[28:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[28:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “speakers of peace with their neighbors.”

[28:3]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and evil [is] in their heart[s].”

[28:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Give to them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds. According to the work of their hands give to them. Return their due to them.” The highly repetitive style reflects the psalmist’s agitated emotional state and draws attention to his yearning for justice.

[31:18]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the [ones which].”

[31:18]  ⁴² tn Or “godly.”

[35:1]  ⁴³ sn Psalm 35. The author, who faces ruthless enemies who seek his life for no reason, begs the Lord to fight his battles for him and to vindicate him by annihilating his adversaries.

[35:1]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “contend.”

[35:2]  ⁴⁵ tn Two different types of shields are mentioned here. See also Ezek 38:4. Many modern translations render the first term (translated here “small shield”) as “buckler” (cf. NASB “buckler and shield”; the order is often reversed in the translation, apparently for stylistic reasons: cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV “shield and buckler”). The English term “buckler,” referring to a small round shield held on the arm to protect the upper body, is unfamiliar to many modern readers, so the term “small shield” was used in the present translation for clarity.

[35:3]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “javelin.” On the meaning of this word, which occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, see M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:210-11.

[35:3]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “draw out spear and lance to meet.”

[35:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “say to me,” or “say to my soul.”

[35:4]  ⁴⁹ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies. See also the distinct jussive form in v. 6.

[35:5]  ⁵⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive. See v. 4.

[35:5]  ⁵¹ sn See the mention of the Lord’s angel in Ps 34:7.

[35:5]  ⁵² tn Heb “as the Lord’s angel pushes [them].”

[35:6]  ⁵³ tn The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive, indicating this is a prayer.

[35:7]  ⁵⁴ tc Heb “for without cause they hid for me a pit of their net, without cause they dug for my life.” It appears that the words “pit” and “net” have been transposed. “Net” goes with the verb “hid” in the first line (see v. 8, as well as Pss 9:15; 31:4), while “pit” goes with the verb “dug” in the second line (see Ps 7:15).

[35:8]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.

[35:8]  ⁵⁶ tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.

[35:26]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones who rejoice over my harm.”

[35:26]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “may they be clothed with shame and humiliation, the ones who magnify [themselves] against me.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 26 are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-25, where the negative particle אַל (’al) appears before the prefixed verbal forms, indicating they are jussives). The psalmist is calling down judgment on his enemies.