Mazmur 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ¹ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ²  (Selah)

Mazmur 28:5

28:5 For they do not understand the Lord’s actions,

or the way he carries out justice. ³ 

The Lord ⁴  will permanently demolish them. ⁵ 

Mazmur 41:2

41:2 May the Lord protect him and save his life! ⁶ 

May he be blessed ⁷  in the land!

Do not turn him over ⁸  to his enemies! ⁹ 

Mazmur 43:3

43:3 Reveal ¹⁰  your light ¹¹  and your faithfulness!

They will lead me, ¹² 

they will escort ¹³  me back to your holy hill, ¹⁴ 

and to the place where you live. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 50:3

50:3 Our God approaches and is not silent; ¹⁶ 

consuming fire goes ahead of him

and all around him a storm rages. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 55:1

Psalm 55 ¹⁸ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a well-written song ¹⁹  by David.

55:1 Listen, O God, to my prayer!

Do not ignore ²⁰  my appeal for mercy!

Mazmur 69:14

69:14 Rescue me from the mud! Don’t let me sink!

Deliver me ²¹  from those who hate me,

from the deep water!

Mazmur 69:17

69:17 Do not ignore ²²  your servant,

for I am in trouble! Answer me right away! ²³ 

Mazmur 69:26

69:26 For they harass ²⁴  the one whom you discipline; ²⁵ 

they spread the news about the suffering of those whom you punish. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 83:1

Psalm 83 ²⁷ 

A song, a psalm of Asaph.

83:1 O God, do not be silent!

Do not ignore us! ²⁸  Do not be inactive, O God!

Mazmur 104:29

104:29 When you ignore them, they panic. ²⁹ 

When you take away their life’s breath, they die

and return to dust.

Mazmur 109:12

109:12 May no one show him kindness! ³⁰ 

May no one have compassion ³¹  on his fatherless children!

Mazmur 119:43

119:43 Do not completely deprive me of a truthful testimony, ³² 

for I await your justice.

Mazmur 143:2

143:2 Do not sit in judgment on ³³  your servant,

for no one alive is innocent before you. ³⁴ 

[4:4]  ¹ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

[28:5]  ³ tn Heb “or the work of his hands.” In this context “the Lord’s actions” and “the work of his hands” probably refer to the way he carries out justice by vindicating the godly and punishing the wicked. (Note the final line of the verse, which refers to divine judgment. See also Ps 92:4-7.) Evil men do not “understand” God’s just ways; they fail to realize he will protect the innocent. Consequently they seek to harm the godly, as if they believe they will never be held accountable for their actions.

[28:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord, who is referred to in the two immediately preceding lines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “will tear them down and not rebuild them.” The ungodly are compared to a structure that is permanently demolished.

[41:2]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal forms are taken as jussives in the translation because the jussive is clearly used in the final line of the verse, suggesting that this is a prayer. The psalmist stops to pronounce a prayer of blessing on the godly individual envisioned in v. 1. Of course, he actually has himself primarily in view. He mixes confidence (vv. 1, 3) with petition (v. 2) because he stands in the interval between the word of assurance and the actual intervention by God.

[41:2]  ⁷ tc The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib), which has a Pual (passive) prefixed form, regarded here as a jussive. The Pual of the verb אָשַׁר (’ashar) also appears in Prov 3:18. The marginal reading (Qere) assumes a vav (ו) consecutive and Pual perfect. Some, with the support of the LXX, change the verb to a Piel (active) form with an objective pronominal suffix, “and may he bless him,” or “and he will bless him” (cf. NIV).

[41:2]  ⁸ tn The negative particle אַל (’al) before the prefixed verbal form indicates the verb is a jussive and the statement a prayer. Those who want to take v. 2 as a statement of confidence suggest emending the negative particle to לֹא (lo’), which is used with the imperfect. See the earlier note on the verbal forms in line one of this verse. According to GKC 322 §109.e, this is a case where the jussive is used rhetorically to “express that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one might translate, “you will not turn him over to his enemies,” and take the preceding verbal forms as indicative in mood.

[41:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “do not give him over to the desire of his enemies” (see Ps 27:12).

[43:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “send.”

[43:3]  ¹¹ sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.

[43:3]  ¹² tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.

[43:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “bring.”

[43:3]  ¹⁴ sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.

[43:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the Lord’s special dwelling place (see Pss 46:4; 84:1; 132:5, 7).

[50:3]  ¹⁶ tn According to GKC 322 §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”

[50:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”

[55:1]  ¹⁸ sn Psalm 55. The suffering and oppressed author laments that one of his friends has betrayed him, but he is confident that God will vindicate him by punishing his deceitful enemies.

[55:1]  ¹⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.

[55:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “hide yourself from.”

[69:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “let me be delivered.”

[69:17]  ²² tn Heb “do not hide your face from.” The Hebrew idiom “hide the face” can (1) mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[69:17]  ²³ tn Or “quickly.”

[69:26]  ²⁴ tn Or “persecute”; Heb “chase.”

[69:26]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for you, the one whom you strike, they chase.”

[69:26]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they announce the pain of your wounded ones” (i.e., “the ones whom you wounded,” as the parallel line makes clear).

[69:26]  sn The psalmist is innocent of the false charges made by his enemies (v. 4), but he is also aware of his sinfulness (v. 5) and admits that he experiences divine discipline (v. 26) despite his devotion to God (v. 9). Here he laments that his enemies take advantage of such divine discipline by harassing and slandering him. They “kick him while he’s down,” as the expression goes.

[83:1]  ²⁷ sn Psalm 83. The psalmist asks God to deliver Israel from the attacks of foreign nations. Recalling how God defeated Israel’s enemies in the days of Deborah and Gideon, he prays that the hostile nations would be humiliated.

[83:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “do not be deaf.”

[104:29]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you hide your face, they are terrified.”

[109:12]  ³⁰ tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”

[109:12]  ³¹ tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).

[119:43]  ³² tn Heb “do not snatch from my mouth a word of truth to excess.” The psalmist wants to be able to give a reliable testimony about the Lord’s loyal love (vv. 41-42), but if God does not intervene, the psalmist will be deprived of doing so, for the evidence of such love (i.e., deliverance) will be lacking.

[143:2]  ³³ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

[143:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”