Mazmur 10:3

10:3 Yes, ¹  the wicked man ²  boasts because he gets what he wants; ³ 

the one who robs others ⁴  curses ⁵  and ⁶  rejects the Lord. ⁷ 

Mazmur 24:4

24:4 The one whose deeds are blameless

and whose motives are pure, ⁸ 

who does not lie, ⁹ 

or make promises with no intention of keeping them. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 25:1

Psalm 25 ¹¹ 

By David.

25:1 O Lord, I come before you in prayer. ¹² 

Mazmur 35:25

35:25 Do not let them say to themselves, ¹³  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ¹⁴ 

Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

Mazmur 78:18

78:18 They willfully challenged God ¹⁵ 

by asking for food to satisfy their appetite.

Mazmur 86:4

86:4 Make your servant ¹⁶  glad,

for to you, O Lord, I pray! ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 105:22

105:22 giving him authority to imprison his officials ¹⁸ 

and to teach his advisers. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 143:8

143:8 May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, ²⁰ 

for I trust in you.

Show me the way I should go, ²¹ 

because I long for you. ²² 

[10:3]  ¹ tn The translation assumes כִּי (ki) is asseverative: “indeed, certainly.” Another option is to translate “for,” understanding v. 3 as giving the reason why the wicked so arrogantly seek to destroy the helpless (so NASB, NRSV).

[10:3]  ² tn The representative or typical evildoer is described in vv. 3-11, 13, 15. Since the singular form predominates in these verses, it has been retained in the translation.

[10:3]  ³ tn Heb “the wicked [one] boasts on account of the desire of his appetite.” The translation assumes that the preposition עַל (’al) introduces the reason why the wicked boasts (cf. this use of עַל with הָלַל (halal) in Ps 119:164 and Ezra 3:11). In this case, the “desire of his appetite” refers by metonymy to the object desired and acquired.

[10:3]  ⁴ tn The translation assumes the active participle is substantival, referring to the wicked man mentioned in the preceding line. The substantival participle is then understood as the subject of the following verbs. For other examples of the participle of בָּצַע (batsar) used of those who desire and/or acquire wealth through dishonest and/or violent means, see Prov 1:19; 15:27; Jer 6:13; 8:10; Hab 2:9.

[10:3]  ⁵ tn The verb בָּרַךְ (barakh) normally means “to bless,” but in a few cases it exhibits the polarized meaning “to curse” (1 Kgs 21:10, 13; Job 1:5-11; 2:5-9). (Some regard this use of בָּרַךְ as a mere euphemism.) The verb refers to the act of pronouncing or calling down a formal curse upon the object of one’s anger.

[10:3]  ⁶ tn The conjunction “and” is supplied in the translation; it does not appear in the Hebrew text.

[10:3]  ⁷ tn Another option is to translate, “he blesses one who robs others, [but] he curses the Lord.” In this case the subject of the verbs is “the wicked man” mentioned in the previous line, and “the one who robs others” is the object of the verb בָּרַךְ (barakh), which is understood in its usual sense of “bless.”

[24:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “the innocent of hands and the pure of heart.” The “hands” allude to one’s actions, the “heart” to one’s thought life and motives.

[24:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “who does not lift up for emptiness my life.” The first person pronoun on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy, “my life”) makes little sense here; many medieval Hebrew mss support the ancient versions in reading a third person pronoun “his.” The idiom “lift the life” here means to “long for” or “desire strongly.” In this context (note the reference to an oath in the following line) “emptiness” probably refers to speech (see Ps 12:2).

[24:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and does not swear an oath deceitfully.”

[25:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 25. The psalmist asks for divine protection, guidance and forgiveness as he affirms his loyalty to and trust in the Lord. This psalm is an acrostic; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for v. 18, which, like v. 19, begins with ר (resh) instead of the expected ק (qof). The final verse, which begins with פ (pe), stands outside the acrostic scheme.

[25:1]  ¹² tn Heb “to you, O Lord, my life I lift up.” To “lift up” one’s “life” to the Lord means to express one’s trust in him through prayer. See Pss 86:4; 143:8.

[35:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “in their heart[s].”

[35:25]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Aha! Our desire!” The “desire” of the psalmist’s enemies is to triumph over him.

[78:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and they tested God in their heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the center of their volition.

[86:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the soul of your servant.”

[86:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I lift up my soul.”

[105:22]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to bind his officials by his will.”

[105:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and his elders he taught wisdom.”

[143:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “cause me to hear in the morning your loyal love.” Here “loyal love” probably stands metonymically for an oracle of assurance promising God’s intervention as an expression of his loyal love.

[143:8]  sn The morning is sometimes viewed as the time of divine intervention (see Pss 30:5; 59:16; 90:14).

[143:8]  ²¹ sn The way probably refers here to God’s moral and ethical standards and requirements (see v. 10).

[143:8]  ²² tn Heb “for to you I lift up my life.” The Hebrew expression נָאָשׂ נֶפֶשׁ (na’as nefesh, “to lift up [one’s] life”) means “to desire; to long for” (see Deut 24:15; Prov 19:18; Jer 22:27; 44:14; Hos 4:8, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 16).