Mazmur 17:14

17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, ¹ 

from the murderers of this world! ² 

They enjoy prosperity; ³ 

you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. ⁴ 

They have many children,

and leave their wealth to their offspring. ⁵ 

Mazmur 22:9

22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out ⁶  from the womb

and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.

Mazmur 39:5

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, ⁷ 

and my life span is nothing from your perspective. ⁸ 

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. ⁹ 

Mazmur 44:2

44:2 You, by your power, ¹⁰  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ¹¹ 

you crushed ¹²  the people living there ¹³  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 74:9

74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; ¹⁵ 

there are no longer any prophets ¹⁶ 

and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 79:1

Psalm 79 ¹⁸ 

A psalm of Asaph.

79:1 O God, foreigners ¹⁹  have invaded your chosen land; ²⁰ 

they have polluted your holy temple

and turned Jerusalem ²¹  into a heap of ruins.

Mazmur 109:16

109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; ²² 

he harassed the oppressed and needy,

and killed the disheartened. ²³ 

Mazmur 131:1

Psalm 131 ²⁴ 

A song of ascents, ²⁵  by David.

131:1 O Lord, my heart is not proud,

nor do I have a haughty look. ²⁶ 

I do not have great aspirations,

or concern myself with things that are beyond me. ²⁷ 

[17:14]  ¹ tc Heb “from men [by] your hand, Lord.” The translation assumes an emendation (both here and in the following line) of מִמְתִים (mimtim, “from men”) to מִמְמִתִים (mimmitim, “from those who kill”). For other uses of the plural form of the Hiphil participle of מוּת (mut, “die”), see 2 Kgs 17:26 (used with lions as subject), Job 33:22 (apparently referring to the agents of death), and Jer 26:15 (used of those seeking Jeremiah’s life).

[17:14]  ² tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”

[17:14]  ³ tn Heb “their portion, in life.”

[17:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”

[17:14]  sn You overwhelm them with the riches they desire. The psalmist is not accusing God of being unjust; he is simply observing that the wicked often prosper and that God is the ultimate source of all blessings that human beings enjoy (see Matt 5:45). When the wicked are ungrateful for God’s blessings, they become even more culpable and deserving of judgment. So this description of the wicked actually supports the psalmist’s appeal for deliverance. God should rescue him because he is innocent (see vv. 3-5) and because the wicked, though blessed abundantly by God, still have the audacity to attack God’s people.

[17:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”

[22:9]  ⁶ tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”

[39:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 309.

[39:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”

[44:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you, your hand.”

[44:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

[44:2]  ¹² tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).

[44:2]  ¹³ tn Or “peoples.”

[44:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.

[74:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).

[74:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”

[74:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”

[79:1]  ¹⁸ sn Psalm 79. The author laments how the invading nations have destroyed the temple and city of Jerusalem. He asks God to forgive his people and to pour out his vengeance on those who have mistreated them.

[79:1]  ¹⁹ tn Or “nations.”

[79:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “have come into your inheritance.”

[79:1]  ²¹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[109:16]  ²² tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”

[109:16]  ²³ tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”

[131:1]  ²⁴ sn Psalm 131. The psalmist affirms his humble dependence on the Lord and urges Israel to place its trust in God.

[131:1]  ²⁵ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[131:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and my eyes are not lifted up.”

[131:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “I do not walk in great things, and in things too marvelous for me.”