Mazmur 40:13-15

40:13 Please be willing, O Lord, to rescue me!

O Lord, hurry and help me! ¹ 

40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life

be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ² 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ³ 

40:15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”

be humiliated ⁴  and disgraced! ⁵ 

[40:13]  ¹ tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Pss 22:19; 38:22.

[40:14]  ² tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ³ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse (“may those…be…embarrassed and ashamed…may those…be turned back and ashamed”) are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[40:14]  sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.

[40:15]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive in this imprecation.

[40:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “May they be humiliated according to their shame, those who say to me, ‘Aha! Aha!’”