Mazmur 32:9

32:9 Do not be ¹  like an unintelligent horse or mule, ² 

which will not obey you

unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit. ³ 

Mazmur 36:3

36:3 The words he speaks are sinful and deceitful;

he does not care about doing what is wise and right. ⁴ 

Mazmur 41:1

Psalm 41 ⁵ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

41:1 How blessed ⁶  is the one who treats the poor properly! ⁷ 

When trouble comes, ⁸  the Lord delivers him. ⁹ 

Mazmur 48:6

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, ¹⁰ 

like a woman writhing in childbirth. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 59:10

59:10 The God who loves me will help me; ¹² 

God will enable me to triumph over ¹³  my enemies. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 60:3

60:3 You have made your people experience hard times; ¹⁵ 

you have made us drink intoxicating wine. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 62:10

62:10 Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression! ¹⁷ 

Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery! ¹⁸ 

If wealth increases, do not become attached to it! ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 89:33

89:33 But I will not remove ²⁰  my loyal love from him,

nor be unfaithful to my promise. ²¹ 

Mazmur 105:8

105:8 He always remembers his covenantal decree,

the promise he made ²²  to a thousand generations –

Mazmur 119:78

119:78 May the arrogant be humiliated, for they have slandered me! ²³ 

But I meditate on your precepts.

[32:9]  ¹ tn The verb form is plural (i.e., “do not all of you be”); the psalmist addresses the whole group.

[32:9]  ² tn Heb “like a horse, like a mule without understanding.”

[32:9]  ³ tn Heb “with a bridle and bit, its [?] to hold, not to come near to you.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun עֲדִי (’adiy) is uncertain. Normally the word refers to “jewelry,” so some suggest the meaning “trappings” here (cf. NASB). Some emend the form to לְחֵיהֶם (lÿkhehem, “their jawbones”) but it is difficult to see how the present Hebrew text, even if corrupt, could have derived from this proposed original reading. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 265) takes the form from an Arabic root and translates “whose gallop.” Cf. also NRSV “whose temper must be curbed.”

[36:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “he ceases to exhibit wisdom to do good.” The Hiphil forms are exhibitive, indicating the outward expression of an inner attitude.

[41:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 41. The psalmist is confident (vv. 11-12) that the Lord has heard his request to be healed (vv. 4-10), and he anticipates the joy he will experience when the Lord intervenes (vv. 1-3). One must assume that the psalmist is responding to a divine oracle of assurance (see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 319-20). The final verse is a fitting conclusion to this psalm, but it is also serves as a fitting conclusion to the first “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the second, third, and fourth “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 72:19, 89:52, and 106:48 respectively).

[41:1]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[41:1]  ⁷ sn One who treats the poor properly. The psalmist is characterizing himself as such an individual and supplying a reason why God has responded favorably to his prayer. The Lord’s attitude toward the merciful mirrors their treatment of the poor.

[41:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the day of trouble” (see Ps 27:5).

[41:1]  ⁹ tn That is, the one who has been kind to the poor. The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive of prayer (“may the Lord deliver,” see v. 2), but the preceding parallel line is a declaration of fact, not a prayer per se. The imperfect can be taken here as future (“will deliver,” cf. NEB, NASB) or as generalizing (“delivers,” cf. NIV, NRSV). The parallel line, which has a generalizing tone, favors the latter. At the same time, though the psalmist uses a generalizing style here, he clearly has himself primarily in view.

[48:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “trembling seizes them there.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[48:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”

[48:6]  sn The language of vv. 5-6 is reminiscent of Exod 15:15.

[59:10]  ¹² tn Heb “the God of my [Qere (marginal reading); the Kethib (consonantal text) has “his”] loyal love will meet me.”

[59:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “will cause me to look upon.”

[59:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 56:2.

[60:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you have caused your people to see [what is] hard.”

[60:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “wine of staggering,” that is, intoxicating wine that makes one stagger in drunkenness. Intoxicating wine is here an image of divine judgment that makes its victims stagger like drunkards. See Isa 51:17-23.

[62:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “do not trust in oppression.” Here “oppression” stands by metonymy for the riches that can be gained by oppressive measures, as the final line of the verse indicates.

[62:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and in robbery do not place vain hope.” Here “robbery” stands by metonymy for the riches that can be gained by theft, as the next line of the verse indicates.

[62:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[as for] wealth, when it bears fruit, do not set [your] heart [on it].”

[89:33]  ²⁰ tn Heb “break”; “make ineffectual.” Some prefer to emend אָפִיר (’afir; the Hiphil of פָּרַר, parar, “to break”) to אָסִיר (’asir; the Hiphil of סוּר, sur, “to turn aside”), a verb that appears in 2 Sam 7:15.

[89:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I will not deal falsely with my faithfulness.”

[105:8]  ²² tn Heb “[the] word he commanded.” The text refers here to God’s unconditional covenantal promise to Abraham and the patriarchs, as vv. 10-12 make clear.

[119:78]  ²³ tn Heb “for [with] falsehood they have denied me justice.”