Mazmur 18:21

18:21 For I have obeyed the Lord’s commands; ¹ 

I have not rebelled against my God. ² 

Mazmur 32:10

32:10 An evil person suffers much pain, ³ 

but the Lord’s faithfulness overwhelms the one who trusts in him. ⁴ 

Mazmur 51:5

51:5 Look, I was guilty of sin from birth,

a sinner the moment my mother conceived me. ⁵ 

[18:21]  ¹ tn Heb “for I have kept the ways of the Lord.” The phrase “ways of the Lord” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord. In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.

[18:21]  ² tn Heb “I have not acted wickedly from my God.” The statement is elliptical; the idea is, “I have not acted wickedly and, in so doing, departed from my God.”

[32:10]  ³ tn Heb “many [are the] pains of evil [one].” The singular form is representative here; the typical evildoer, representative of the larger group of wicked people, is in view.

[32:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “but the one who trusts in the Lord, faithfulness surrounds him.”

[51:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “Look, in wrongdoing I was brought forth, and in sin my mother conceived me.” The prefixed verbal form in the second line is probably a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive), stating a simple historical fact. The psalmist is not suggesting that he was conceived through an inappropriate sexual relationship (although the verse has sometimes been understood to mean that, or even that all sexual relationships are sinful). The psalmist’s point is that he has been a sinner from the very moment his personal existence began. By going back beyond the time of birth to the moment of conception, the psalmist makes his point more emphatically in the second line than in the first.