Mazmur 19:13

19:13 Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant ¹  sins;

do not allow such sins to control me. ² 

Then I will be blameless,

and innocent of blatant ³  rebellion.

Mazmur 31:13

31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, ⁴ 

the terrifying news that comes from every direction. ⁵ 

When they plot together against me,

they figure out how they can take my life.

Mazmur 35:26

35:26 May those who want to harm me be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ⁶ 

May those who arrogantly taunt me be covered with shame and humiliation! ⁷ 

Mazmur 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ⁸ 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Mazmur 42:8

42:8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, ⁹ 

and by night he gives me a song, ¹⁰ 

a prayer ¹¹  to the living God.

Mazmur 51:4

51:4 Against you – you above all ¹²  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ¹³  you are just when you confront me; ¹⁴ 

you are right when you condemn me. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 51:14

51:14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder, ¹⁶  O God, the God who delivers me!

Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your deliverance. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 142:4

142:4 Look to the right and see!

No one cares about me. ¹⁸ 

I have nowhere to run; ¹⁹ 

no one is concerned about my life. ²⁰ 

[19:13]  ¹ tn Or “presumptuous.”

[19:13]  ² tn Heb “let them not rule over me.”

[19:13]  ³ tn Heb “great.”

[31:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “the report of many.”

[31:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the terror from all around.”

[35:26]  ⁶ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones who rejoice over my harm.”

[35:26]  ⁷ 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.

[38:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[42:8]  ⁹ sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).

[42:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”

[42:8]  ¹¹ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (tÿfillah, “prayer”).

[51:4]  ¹² tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[51:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from bloodshed.” “Bloodshed” here stands by metonymy for the guilt which it produces.

[51:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my tongue will shout for joy your deliverance.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may my tongue shout for joy.” However, the pattern in vv. 12-15 appears to be prayer/request (see vv. 12, 14a, 15a) followed by promise/vow (see vv. 13, 14b, 15b).

[142:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”

[142:4]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”

[142:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”