Mazmur 5:3

5:3 Lord, in the morning ¹  you will hear ²  me; ³ 

in the morning I will present my case to you ⁴  and then wait expectantly for an answer. ⁵ 

Mazmur 11:1

Psalm 11 ⁶ 

For the music director; by David.

11:1 In the Lord I have taken shelter. ⁷ 

How can you say to me, ⁸ 

“Flee to a mountain like a bird! ⁹ 

Mazmur 21:5

21:5 Your deliverance brings him great honor; ¹⁰ 

you give him majestic splendor. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 22:15

22:15 The roof of my mouth ¹²  is as dry as a piece of pottery;

my tongue sticks to my gums. ¹³ 

You ¹⁴  set me in the dust of death. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 25:7

25:7 Do not hold against me ¹⁶  the sins of my youth ¹⁷  or my rebellious acts!

Because you are faithful to me, extend to me your favor, O Lord! ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 35:3

35:3 Use your spear and lance ¹⁹  against ²⁰  those who chase me!

Assure me with these words: ²¹  “I am your deliverer!”

Mazmur 40:11

40:11 O Lord, you do not withhold ²²  your compassion from me.

May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me! ²³ 

Mazmur 42:1

Book 2
(Psalms 42-72)

Psalm 42 ²⁴ 

For the music director; a well-written song ²⁵  by the Korahites.

42:1 As a deer ²⁶  longs ²⁷  for streams of water,

so I long ²⁸  for you, O God!

Mazmur 44:13

44:13 You made us ²⁹  an object of disdain to our neighbors;

those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 68:28

68:28 God has decreed that you will be powerful. ³¹ 

O God, you who have acted on our behalf, demonstrate your power,

Mazmur 69:9

69:9 Certainly ³²  zeal for ³³  your house ³⁴  consumes me;

I endure the insults of those who insult you. ³⁵ 

Mazmur 84:5

84:5 How blessed are those who ³⁶  find their strength in you,

and long to travel the roads that lead to your temple! ³⁷ 

Mazmur 86:9

86:9 All the nations, whom you created,

will come and worship you, ³⁸  O Lord.

They will honor your name.

Mazmur 90:15

90:15 Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us,

in proportion to the years we have experienced ³⁹  trouble!

Mazmur 102:24

102:24 I say, “O my God, please do not take me away in the middle of my life! ⁴⁰ 

You endure through all generations. ⁴¹ 

Mazmur 104:24

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! ⁴² 

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; ⁴³ 

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

Mazmur 116:8

116:8 Yes, ⁴⁴  Lord, ⁴⁵  you rescued my life from death,

and kept my feet from stumbling.

Mazmur 119:7

119:7 I will give you sincere thanks, ⁴⁶ 

when I learn your just regulations.

Mazmur 119:168

119:168 I keep your precepts and rules,

for you are aware of everything I do. ⁴⁷ 

Mazmur 129:8

129:8 Those who pass by will not say, ⁴⁸ 

“May you experience the Lord’s blessing!

We pronounce a blessing on you in the name of the Lord.”

Mazmur 143:2

143:2 Do not sit in judgment on ⁴⁹  your servant,

for no one alive is innocent before you. ⁵⁰ 

[5:3]  ¹ sn In the morning is here viewed as the time of prayer (Pss 59:16; 88:13) and/or of deliverance (Ps 30:5).

[5:3]  ² tn The imperfect is here understood in a specific future sense; the psalmist is expressing his confidence that God will be willing to hear his request. Another option is to understand the imperfect as expressing the psalmist’s wish or request. In this case one could translate, “Lord, in the morning hear me.”

[5:3]  ³ tn Heb “my voice.”

[5:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will arrange for you.” Some understand a sacrifice or offering as the implied object (cf. NEB “I set out my morning sacrifice”). The present translation assumes that the implied object is the psalmist’s case/request. See Isa 44:7.

[5:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “and I will watch.”

[11:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 11. The psalmist rejects the advice to flee from his dangerous enemies. Instead he affirms his confidence in God’s just character and calls down judgment on evildoers.

[11:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew perfect verbal form probably refers here to a completed action with continuing results.

[11:1]  ⁸ tn The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[11:1]  ⁹ tc The MT is corrupt here. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads: “flee [masculine plural!] to your [masculine plural!] mountain, bird.” The Qere (marginal reading) has “flee” in a feminine singular form, agreeing grammatically with the addressee, the feminine noun “bird.” Rather than being a second masculine plural pronominal suffix, the ending כֶם- (-khem) attached to “mountain” is better interpreted as a second feminine singular pronominal suffix followed by an enclitic mem (ם). “Bird” may be taken as vocative (“O bird”) or as an adverbial accusative of manner (“like a bird”). Either way, the psalmist’s advisers compare him to a helpless bird whose only option in the face of danger is to fly away to an inaccessible place.

[21:5]  ¹⁰ tn Or “great glory.”

[21:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “majesty and splendor you place upon him.” For other uses of the phrase הוֹד וְהָדָר (hod vÿhadar, “majesty and splendor”) see 1 Chr 16:27; Job 40:10; Pss 96:6; 104:1; 111:3.

[22:15]  ¹² tc Heb “my strength” (כֹּחִי, kokhiy), but many prefer to emend the text to חִכִּי (khikiy, “my palate”; cf. NEB, NRSV “my mouth”) assuming that an error of transposition has occurred in the traditional Hebrew text.

[22:15]  ¹³ tn Cf. NEB “my jaw”; NASB, NRSV “my jaws”; NIV “the roof of my mouth.”

[22:15]  ¹⁴ sn Here the psalmist addresses God and suggests that God is ultimately responsible for what is happening because of his failure to intervene (see vv. 1-2, 11).

[22:15]  ¹⁵ sn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the progressive nature of the action. The psalmist is in the process of dying.

[25:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not remember,” with the intention of punishing.

[25:7]  ¹⁷ sn That is, the sins characteristic of youths, who lack moral discretion and wisdom.

[25:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “according to your faithfulness, remember me, you, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”

[35:3]  ¹⁹ tn Or “javelin.” On the meaning of this word, which occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, see M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:210-11.

[35:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “draw out spear and lance to meet.”

[35:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “say to me,” or “say to my soul.”

[40:11]  ²² tn Some (cf. NIV, NRSV) translate the verb as a request (“do not withhold”), but elsewhere in the psalms the second masculine singular prefixed form, when addressed to God and preceded by לֹא (lo’), is always indicative in mood and never has the force of a prayer (see Pss 16:10; 22:2; 44:9 51:16-17; 60:10; 108:11; cf. NEB, NASB).

[40:11]  ²³ tn In this line the psalmist makes the transition from confidence to petition (see v. 13). Since the prefixed verbal form in the preceding line is imperfect/indicative, one could take the verb in this line as imperfect as well and translate, “your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me” (cf. NEB). However, the כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the next verse, if causal (“because”), is best understood as introducing a motivating argument in support of a petition. For this reason v. 11b is best taken as a prayer with the prefixed form being understood as jussive (cf. NIV, NRSV). For parallels to the proposed construction (jussive followed by כִּי + perfect introducing motivating argument), see Ps 25:21, as well as Pss 10:2-3; 22:8.

[42:1]  ²⁴ sn Psalm 42. The psalmist recalls how he once worshiped in the Lord’s temple, but laments that he is now oppressed by enemies in a foreign land. Some medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalms 42 and 43 into a single psalm.

[42:1]  ²⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[42:1]  ²⁶ tn Since the accompanying verb is feminine in form, the noun אָיִּל (’ayyil, “male deer”) should be emended to אַיֶּלֶת (’ayyelet, “female deer”). Haplography of the letter tav has occurred; note that the following verb begins with tav.

[42:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “pants [with thirst].”

[42:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “my soul pants [with thirst].” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[44:13]  ²⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”

[68:28]  ³¹ tn Heb “God has commanded your strength.” The statement is apparently addressed to Israel (see v. 26).

[69:9]  ³² tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.

[69:9]  ³³ tn Or “devotion to.”

[69:9]  ³⁴ sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.

[69:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”

[69:9]  sn Jn 2:17 applies the first half of this verse to Jesus’ ministry in the context of John’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple.

[84:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle stated here was certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender and age specific “man” with the plural “those.” The individual referred to in v. 5a is representative of followers of God, as the use of plural forms in vv. 5b-7 indicates.

[84:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “roads [are] in their heart[s].” The roads are here those that lead to Zion (see v. 7).

[86:9]  ³⁸ tn Or “bow down before you.”

[90:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “have seen.”

[102:24]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “do not lift me up in the middle of my days.”

[102:24]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “in a generation of generations [are] your years.”

[104:24]  ⁴² tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.

[104:24]  ⁴³ tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

[116:8]  ⁴⁴ tn Or “for.”

[116:8]  ⁴⁵ tn “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.

[119:7]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “I will give you thanks with an upright heart.”

[119:168]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “for all my ways [are] before you.”

[129:8]  ⁴⁸ tn The perfect verbal form is used for rhetorical effect; it describes an anticipated development as if it were already reality.

[143:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

[143:2]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”