Mazmur 18:4-5

18:4 The waves ¹  of death engulfed me,

the currents ²  of chaos ³  overwhelmed me. ⁴ 

18:5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, ⁵ 

the snares of death trapped me. ⁶ 

Mazmur 18:47

18:47 The one true God ⁷  completely vindicates me; ⁸ 

he makes nations submit to me. ⁹ 

Mazmur 62:11

62:11 God has declared one principle;

two principles I have heard: ¹⁰ 

God is strong, ¹¹ 

Mazmur 68:29

68:29 as you come out of your temple in Jerusalem! ¹² 

Kings bring tribute to you.

Mazmur 74:12

74:12 But God has been my ¹³  king from ancient times,

performing acts of deliverance on the earth. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 78:34

78:34 When he struck them down, ¹⁵  they sought his favor; ¹⁶ 

they turned back and longed for God.

Mazmur 78:40

78:40 How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness,

and insulted him ¹⁷  in the desert!

Mazmur 78:45

78:45 He sent swarms of biting insects against them, ¹⁸ 

as well as frogs that overran their land. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 89:32

89:32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club, ²⁰ 

their sin by inflicting them with bruises. ²¹ 

Mazmur 90:13

90:13 Turn back toward us, O Lord!

How long must this suffering last? ²² 

Have pity on your servants! ²³ 

Mazmur 95:2

95:2 Let’s enter his presence ²⁴  with thanksgiving!

Let’s shout out to him in celebration! ²⁵ 

Mazmur 103:4

103:4 who delivers ²⁶  your life from the Pit, ²⁷ 

who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion,

Mazmur 104:10

104:10 He turns springs into streams; ²⁸ 

they flow between the mountains.

Mazmur 105:27

105:27 They executed his miraculous signs among them, ²⁹ 

and his amazing deeds in the land of Ham.

Mazmur 110:5

110:5 O sovereign Lord, ³⁰  at your right hand

he strikes down ³¹  kings in the day he unleashes his anger. ³² 

Mazmur 119:23

119:23 Though rulers plot and slander me, ³³ 

your servant meditates on your statutes.

Mazmur 119:161

שׂ/שׁ (Sin/Shin)

119:161 Rulers pursue me for no reason,

yet I am more afraid of disobeying your instructions. ³⁴ 

Mazmur 122:5

122:5 Indeed, ³⁵  the leaders sit ³⁶  there on thrones and make legal decisions,

on the thrones of the house of David. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 127:4

127:4 Sons born during one’s youth

are like arrows in a warrior’s hand. ³⁸ 

Mazmur 129:1-2

Psalm 129 ³⁹ 

A song of ascents. ⁴⁰ 

129:1 “Since my youth they have often attacked me,”

let Israel say.

129:2 “Since my youth they have often attacked me,

but they have not defeated me.

Mazmur 136:7

136:7 to the one who made the great lights,

for his loyal love endures,

Mazmur 136:18

136:18 and killed powerful kings,

for his loyal love endures,

Mazmur 140:2

140:2 who plan ways to harm me. ⁴¹ 

All day long they stir up conflict. ⁴² 

Mazmur 144:13

144:13 Our storehouses ⁴³  will be full,

providing all kinds of food. ⁴⁴ 

Our sheep will multiply by the thousands

and fill ⁴⁵  our pastures. ⁴⁶ 

[18:4]  ¹ tc Ps 18:4 reads “ropes,” while 2 Sam 22:5 reads “waves.” The reading of the psalm has been influenced by the next verse (note “ropes of Sheol”) and perhaps also by Ps 116:3 (where “ropes of death” appears, as here, with the verb אָפַף, ’afaf). However, the parallelism of v. 4 (note “currents” in the next line) favors the reading “waves.” While the verb אָפַף is used with “ropes” as subject in Ps 116:3, it can also be used with engulfing “waters” as subject (see Jonah 2:5). Death is compared to surging waters in v. 4 and to a hunter in v. 5.

[18:4]  ² tn The Hebrew noun נַחַל (nakhal) usually refers to a river or stream, but in this context the plural form likely refers to the currents of the sea (see vv. 15-16).

[18:4]  ³ tn The noun בְלִיַּעַל (vÿliyya’al) is used here as an epithet for death. Elsewhere it is a common noun meaning “wickedness, uselessness.” It is often associated with rebellion against authority and other crimes that result in societal disorder and anarchy. The phrase “man/son of wickedness” refers to one who opposes God and the order he has established. The term becomes an appropriate title for death, which, through human forces, launches an attack against God’s chosen servant.

[18:4]  ⁴ tn In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. (Note the perfect verbal form in the parallel/preceding line.) The verb בָּעַת (ba’at) sometimes by metonymy carries the nuance “frighten,” but the parallelism (see “engulfed”) favors the meaning “overwhelm” here.

[18:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[18:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “confronted me.”

[18:47]  ⁷ tn Heb “the God.” See v. 32.

[18:47]  ⁸ tn Heb “is the one who grants vengeance to me.” The plural form of the noun indicates degree here, suggesting complete vengeance or vindication.

[18:47]  sn Completely vindicates me. In the ancient Near East military victory was sometimes viewed as a sign that one’s God had judged in favor of the victor, avenging and/or vindicating him. See, for example, Judg 11:27, 32-33, 36.

[18:47]  ⁹ tn Heb “he subdues nations beneath me.” On the meaning of the verb דָּבַר (davar, “subdue,” a homonym of דָּבַר, davar, “speak”), see HALOT 209-10 s.v. I דבר. See also Ps 47:3 and 2 Chr 22:10. 2 Sam 22:48 reads “and [is the one who] brings down nations beneath me.”

[62:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “one God spoke, two which I heard.” This is a numerical saying utilizing the “x” followed by “x + 1” pattern to facilitate poetic parallelism. (See W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament [VTSup], 55-56.) As is typical in such sayings, a list corresponding to the second number (in this case “two”) follows. Another option is to translate, “God has spoken once, twice [he has spoken] that which I have heard.” The terms אַחַת (’akhat, “one; once”) and שְׁתַּיִם (shÿtayim, “two; twice”) are also juxtaposed in 2 Kgs 6:10 (where they refer to an action that was done more than “once or twice”) and in Job 33:14 (where they refer to God speaking “one way” and then in “another manner”).

[62:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “that strength [belongs] to God.”

[68:29]  ¹² tn Heb “Be strong, O God, [you] who have acted for us, from your temple in Jerusalem.”

[68:29]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[74:12]  ¹³ tn The psalmist speaks as Israel’s representative here.

[74:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in the midst of the earth.”

[78:34]  ¹⁵ tn Or “killed them,” that is, killed large numbers of them.

[78:34]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they sought him.”

[78:40]  ¹⁷ tn Or “caused him pain.”

[78:45]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he sent an insect swarm against them and it devoured them.”

[78:45]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and a swarm of frogs and it destroyed them.”

[89:32]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I will punish with a club their rebellion.”

[89:32]  sn Despite the harsh image of beating…with a club, the language reflects a father-son relationship (see v. 30; 2 Sam 7:14). According to Proverbs, a שֵׁבֶט (shevet, “club”) was sometimes utilized to administer corporal punishment to rebellious children (see Prov 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15).

[89:32]  ²¹ tn Heb “with blows their sin.”

[90:13]  ²² tn Heb “Return, O Lord! How long?”

[90:13]  ²³ tn Elsewhere the Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) + the preposition עַל (’al) + a personal object has the nuance “be comforted concerning [the personal object’s death]” (see 2 Sam 13:39; Jer 31:15). However, here the context seems to demand “feel sorrow for,” “have pity on.” In Deut 32:36 and Ps 135:14, where “servants” is also the object of the preposition, this idea is expressed with the Hitpael form of the verb.

[95:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “meet his face.”

[95:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “with songs of joy.”

[103:4]  ²⁶ tn Or “redeems.”

[103:4]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 55:24.

[104:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[the] one who sends springs into streams.” Another option is to translate, “he sends streams [i.e., streams that originate from springs] into the valleys” (cf. NIV).

[105:27]  ²⁹ tn Apparently the pronoun refers to “his servants” (i.e., the Israelites, see v. 25).

[110:5]  ³⁰ tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew mss read יְהוָה, yehveh, “Lord” here). The present translation assumes that the psalmist here addresses the Lord as he celebrates what the king is able to accomplish while positioned at God’s “right hand.” According to this view the king is the subject of the third person verb forms in vv. 5b-7. (2) Another option is to understand the king as the addressee (as in vv. 2-3). In this case “the Lord” is the subject of the third person verbs throughout vv. 5-7 and is depicted as a warrior in a very anthropomorphic manner. In this case the Lord is pictured as being at the psalmist’s right hand (just the opposite of v. 1). See Pss 16:8; 121:5. (3) A third option is to revocalize אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”; see v. 1). In this case one may translate, “My lord, at his [God’s] right hand, strikes down.” In this case the king is the subject of the third person verbs in vv. 5b-7.

[110:5]  ³¹ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.

[110:5]  ³² tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”

[119:23]  ³³ tn Heb “though rulers sit, about me they talk together.” (For another example of the Niphal of דָּבַר (davar) used with a suffixed form of the preposition ב, see Ezek 33:30.)

[119:161]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and because of your instructions my heart trembles.” The psalmist’s healthy “fear” of the consequences of violating God’s instructions motivates him to obey them. See v. 120.

[122:5]  ³⁵ tn Or “for.”

[122:5]  ³⁶ tn Or “sat.”

[122:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “Indeed, there they sit [on] thrones for judgment, [on] thrones [belonging] to the house of David.”

[127:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so [are] sons of youth.” Arrows are used in combat to defend oneself against enemies; sons are viewed here as providing social security and protection (see v. 5). The phrase “sons of youth” is elliptical, meaning “sons [born during the father’s] youth.” Such sons will have grown up to be mature adults and will have children of their own by the time the father reaches old age and becomes vulnerable to enemies. Contrast the phrase “son of old age” in Gen 37:3 (see also 44:20), which refers to Jacob’s age when Joseph was born.

[129:1]  ³⁹ sn Psalm 129. Israel affirms God’s justice and asks him to destroy the enemies of Zion.

[129:1]  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.

[140:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”

[140:2]  ⁴² tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.

[144:13]  ⁴³ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[144:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “from kind to kind.” Some prefer to emend the text to מָזוֹן עַל מָזוֹן (mazon ’al mazon, “food upon food”).

[144:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “they are innumerable.”

[144:13]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “in outside places.” Here the term refers to pastures and fields (see Job 5:10; Prov 8:26).