Mazmur 18:39

18:39 You give me strength ¹  for battle;

you make my foes kneel before me. ² 

Mazmur 30:6

30:6 In my self-confidence I said,

“I will never be upended.” ³ 

Mazmur 34:4

34:4 I sought the Lord’s help ⁴  and he answered me;

he delivered me from all my fears.

Mazmur 52:6

52:6 When the godly see this, they will be filled with awe,

and will mock the evildoer, saying: ⁵ 

Mazmur 64:1

Psalm 64 ⁶ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

64:1 Listen to me, ⁷  O God, as I offer my lament!

Protect ⁸  my life from the enemy’s terrifying attacks. ⁹ 

Mazmur 64:9

64:9 and all people will fear. ¹⁰ 

They will proclaim ¹¹  what God has done,

and reflect on his deeds.

Mazmur 76:12

76:12 He humbles princes; ¹² 

the kings of the earth regard him as awesome. ¹³ 

Mazmur 77:14

77:14 You are the God who does amazing things;

you have revealed your strength among the nations.

Mazmur 81:15

81:15 (May those who hate the Lord ¹⁴  cower in fear ¹⁵  before him!

May they be permanently humiliated!) ¹⁶ 

[18:39]  ¹ tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.

[18:39]  ² tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”

[18:39]  sn My foes kneel before me. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 268.

[30:6]  ³ sn In my self-confidence I said… Here the psalmist begins to fill in the background of the crisis referred to in the earlier verses. He had been arrogant and self-confident, so the Lord withdrew his protection and allowed trouble to invade his life (vv. 8-11).

[34:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “I sought the Lord.”

[52:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the godly will see and will fear and at him will laugh.”

[64:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 64. The psalmist asks God to protect him from his dangerous enemies and then confidently affirms that God will destroy his enemies and demonstrate his justice in the sight of all observers.

[64:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “my voice.”

[64:1]  ⁸ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s request.

[64:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “from the terror of [the] enemy.” “Terror” is used here metonymically for the enemy’s attacks that produce fear because they threaten the psalmist’s life.

[64:9]  ¹⁰ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read וַיִּרְאוּ (vayyir’u, “and they will see”) instead of וַיִּירְאוּ (vayyirÿ’u, “and they will proclaim”).

[64:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the work of God,” referring to the judgment described in v. 7.

[76:12]  ¹² tn Heb “he reduces the spirit of princes.” According to HALOT 148 s.v. II בצר, the Hebrew verb בָּצַר (batsar) is here a hapax legomenon meaning “reduce, humble.” The statement is generalizing, with the imperfect tense highlighting God’s typical behavior.

[76:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “[he is] awesome to the kings of the earth.”

[81:15]  ¹⁴ tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21.

[81:15]  ¹⁵ tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.

[81:15]  ¹⁶ tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord. Some propose an emendation to בַּעֲתָתָם (ba’atatam) or בִּעֻתָם (bi’utam; “their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but the omission of bet (ב) in the present Hebrew text is difficult to explain, making the proposed emendation unlikely.

[81:15]  tn The verb form at the beginning of the line is jussive, indicating that this is a prayer. The translation assumes that v. 15 is a parenthetical “curse” offered by the psalmist. Having heard the reference to Israel’s enemies (v. 14), the psalmist inserts this prayer, reminding the Lord that they are God’s enemies as well.