7:12 If a person 1 does not repent, God sharpens his sword 2
and prepares to shoot his bow. 3
9:11 Sing praises to the Lord, who rules 4 in Zion!
Tell the nations what he has done! 5
9:16 The Lord revealed himself;
he accomplished justice;
the wicked were ensnared by their own actions. 6 (Higgaion. 7 Selah)
22:15 The roof of my mouth 8 is as dry as a piece of pottery;
my tongue sticks to my gums. 9
You 10 set me in the dust of death. 11
22:30 A whole generation 12 will serve him;
they will tell the next generation about the sovereign Lord. 13
22:31 They will come and tell about his saving deeds; 14
they will tell a future generation what he has accomplished. 15
34:5 Those who look to him for help are happy;
their faces are not ashamed. 16
37:22 Surely 17 those favored by the Lord 18 will possess the land,
but those rejected 19 by him will be wiped out. 20
44:9 But 21 you rejected and embarrassed us!
You did not go into battle with our armies. 22
45:9 Princesses 23 are among your honored guests, 24
your bride 25 stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold from Ophir. 26
63:7 For you are my deliverer; 27
under your wings 28 I rejoice.
69:24 Pour out your judgment 29 on them!
May your raging anger 30 overtake them!
71:17 O God, you have taught me since I was young,
and I am still declaring 31 your amazing deeds.
74:21 Do not let the afflicted be turned back in shame!
Let the oppressed and poor praise your name! 32
78:57 They were unfaithful 33 and acted as treacherously as 34 their ancestors;
they were as unreliable as a malfunctioning bow. 35
109:17 He loved to curse 36 others, so those curses have come upon him. 37
He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. 38
118:15 They celebrate deliverance in the tents of the godly. 39
The Lord’s right hand conquers, 40
119:69 Arrogant people smear my reputation with lies, 41
but I observe your precepts with all my heart.
119:71 It was good for me to suffer,
so that I might learn your statutes.
1 tn Heb “If he”; the referent (a person who is a sinner) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The subject of the first verb is understood as the sinner who fails to repent of his ways and becomes the target of God’s judgment (vv. 9, 14-16).
2 tn Heb “if he does not return, his sword he sharpens.” The referent (God) of the pronominal subject of the second verb (“sharpens”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
3 tn Heb “his bow he treads and prepares it.” “Treading the bow” involved stepping on one end of it in order to string it and thus prepare it for battle.
4 tn Heb “sits” (i.e., enthroned, and therefore ruling – see v. 4). Another option is to translate as “lives” or “dwells.”
5 tn Heb “declare among the nations his deeds.”
6 tn Heb “by the work of his hands [the] wicked [one] was ensnared. The singular form רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is collective or representative here (see vv. 15, 17). The form נוֹקֵשׁ (noqesh) appears to be an otherwise unattested Qal form (active participle) from נָקַשׁ (naqash), but the form should be emended to נוֹקַשׁ (noqash), a Niphal perfect from יָקַשׁ (yaqash).
7 tn This is probably a technical musical term.
8 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.
9 tn Cf. NEB “my jaw”; NASB, NRSV “my jaws”; NIV “the roof of my mouth.”
10 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).
11 sn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the progressive nature of the action. The psalmist is in the process of dying.
12 tn Heb “offspring.”
13 tn Heb “it will be told concerning the Lord to the generation.” The Hebrew term translated “Lord” here is אֲדֹנָי (’adonay).
14 tn Heb “his righteousness.” Here the noun צִדָקָה (tsidaqah) refers to the Lord’s saving deeds whereby he vindicates the oppressed.
15 tn Heb “to a people [to be] born that he has acted.” The words “they will tell” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
16 tc Heb “they look to him and are radiant and their faces are not ashamed.” The third person plural subject (“they”) is unidentified; there is no antecedent in the Hebrew text. For this reason some prefer to take the perfect verbal forms in the first line as imperatives, “look to him and be radiant” (cf. NEB, NRSV). Some medieval Hebrew
17 tn The particle כִּי is best understood as asseverative or emphatic here.
18 tn Heb “those blessed by him.” The pronoun “him” must refer to the Lord (see vv. 20, 23), so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
19 tn Heb “cursed.”
20 tn Or “cut off”; or “removed” (see v. 9).
21 tn The particle אַף (’af, “but”) is used here as a strong adversative contrasting the following statement with what precedes.
22 tn Heb “you did not go out with our armies.” The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
23 tn Heb “daughters of kings.”
24 tn Heb “valuable ones.” The form is feminine plural.
25 tn This rare Hebrew noun apparently refers to the king’s bride, who will soon be queen (see Neh 2:6). The Aramaic cognate is used of royal wives in Dan 5:2-3, 23.
26 tn Heb “a consort stands at your right hand, gold of Ophir.”
27 tn Or “[source of] help.”
28 tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”
29 tn Heb “anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger.
30 tn Heb “the rage of your anger.” The phrase “rage of your anger” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971), 17-81.
31 tn Heb “and until now I am declaring.”
32 sn Let the oppressed and poor praise your name! The statement is metonymic. The point is this: May the oppressed be delivered from their enemies! Then they will have ample reason to praise God’s name.
33 tn Heb “they turned back.”
34 tn Or “acted treacherously like.”
35 tn Heb “they turned aside like a deceitful bow.”
36 sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.
37 tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.
38 tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”
39 tn Heb “the sound of a ringing shout and deliverance [is] in the tents of the godly.”
40 tn Heb “does valiantly.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 60:12; 108:13).
41 tn Heb “smear over me a lie.”