Mazmur 10:9-10

10:9 He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; ¹ 

he lies in ambush, waiting to catch ²  the oppressed;

he catches the oppressed ³  by pulling in his net. ⁴ 

10:10 His victims are crushed and beaten down;

they are trapped in his sturdy nets. ⁵ 

Mazmur 55:21

55:21 His words are as smooth as butter, ⁶ 

but he harbors animosity in his heart. ⁷ 

His words seem softer than oil,

but they are really like sharp swords. ⁸ 

Mazmur 64:4-6

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent ⁹  in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ¹⁰ 

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ¹¹ 

They plan how to hide ¹²  snares,

and boast, ¹³  “Who will see them?” ¹⁴ 

64:6 They devise ¹⁵  unjust schemes;

they disguise ¹⁶  a well-conceived plot. ¹⁷ 

Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 83:3-4

83:3 They carefully plot ¹⁹  against your people,

and make plans to harm ²⁰  the ones you cherish. ²¹ 

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ²² 

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

[10:9]  ¹ tn Or “in its den.”

[10:9]  ² tn The verb, which also appears in the next line, occurs only here and in Judg 21:21.

[10:9]  ³ tn The singular form is collective (see v. 10) or refers to the typical or representative oppressed individual.

[10:9]  ⁴ tn Or “when he [i.e., the wicked man] pulls in his net.”

[10:9]  sn The background of the imagery is hunting, where the hunter uses a net to entrap an unsuspecting bird or wild animal.

[10:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “he crushes, he is bowed down, and he falls into his strong [ones], [the] unfortunate [ones].” This verse presents several lexical and syntactical difficulties. The first word (יִדְכֶּה, yidekeh) is an otherwise unattested Qal form of the verb דָּכָה (dakhah, “crush”). (The Qere [marginal] form is imperfect; the consonantal text [Kethib] has the perfect with a prefixed conjunction vav [ו].) If the wicked man’s victim is the subject, which seems to be the case (note the two verbs which follow), then the form should be emended to a Niphal (יִדָּכֶה, yiddakheh). The phrase בַּעֲצוּמָיו (ba’atsumayv, “into his strong [ones]”), poses interpretive problems. The preposition -בְּ (bet) follows the verb נָפַל (nafal, “fall”), so it may very well carry the nuance “into” here, with “his strong [ones]” then referring to something into which the oppressed individual falls. Since a net is mentioned in the preceding verse as the instrument used to entrap the victim, it is possible that “strong [ones]” here refers metonymically to the wicked man’s nets or traps. Ps 35:8 refers to a man falling into a net (רֶשֶׁת, reshet), as does Ps 141:10 (where the plural of מִכְמָר [mikhmar, “net”] is used). A hunter’s net (רֶשֶׁת), is associated with snares (פַּח [pakh], מֹקְשִׁים, [moqÿshim]) and ropes (חֲבָלִים, khavalim) in Ps 140:5. The final word in the verse (חֶלְכָּאִים (khelka’im, “unfortunate [ones]”) may be an alternate form of חֵלְכָח (khelkhakh, “unfortunate [one]”; see vv. 8, 14). The Qere (marginal reading) divides the form into two words, חֵיל כָּאִים (khel ka’im, “army/host of disheartened [ones]”). The three verb forms in v. 10 are singular because the representative “oppressed” individual is the grammatical subject (see the singular עָנִי [’aniy] in v. 9).

[55:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “the butter-like [words] of his mouth are smooth.” The noun מַחְמָאֹת (makhma’ot, “butter-like [words]”) occurs only here. Many prefer to emend the form to מֵחֶמְאָה (mekhem’ah, from [i.e., “than”] butter”), cf. NEB, NRSV “smoother than butter.” However, in this case “his mouth” does not agree in number with the plural verb חָלְקוּ (kholqu, “they are smooth”). Therefore some further propose an emendation of פִּיו (piv, “his mouth”) to פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”). In any case, the point seems to that the psalmist’s former friend spoke kindly to him and gave the outward indications of friendship.

[55:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and war [is in] his heart.”

[55:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “his words are softer than oil, but they are drawn swords.”

[64:4]  ⁹ tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[64:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5]  ¹² tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5]  ¹⁴ tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

[64:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”

[64:6]  ¹⁶ tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).

[64:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.

[64:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.

[83:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they make crafty a plot.”

[83:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and consult together against.”

[83:3]  ²¹ tn The passive participle of the Hebrew verb צָפַן (tsafan, “to hide”) is used here in the sense of “treasured; cherished.”

[83:4]  ²² tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”