Mazmur 27:2-3

27:2 When evil men attack me ¹ 

to devour my flesh, ² 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ³ 

they stumble and fall. ⁴ 

27:3 Even when an army is deployed against me,

I do not fear. ⁵ 

Even when war is imminent, ⁶ 

I remain confident. ⁷ 

Mazmur 42:4-5

42:4 I will remember and weep! ⁸ 

For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,

shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. ⁹ 

42:5 Why are you depressed, ¹⁰  O my soul? ¹¹ 

Why are you upset? ¹² 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ¹³ 

Mazmur 71:14

71:14 As for me, I will wait continually,

and will continue to praise you. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 71:18-24

71:18 Even when I am old and gray, ¹⁵ 

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength,

and those coming after me about your power. ¹⁶ 

71:19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; ¹⁷ 

you have done great things. ¹⁸ 

O God, who can compare to you? ¹⁹ 

71:20 Though you have allowed me to experience much trouble and distress, ²⁰ 

revive me once again! ²¹ 

Bring me up once again ²²  from the depths of the earth!

71:21 Raise me to a position of great honor! ²³ 

Turn and comfort me! ²⁴ 

71:22 I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument,

praising ²⁵  your faithfulness, O my God!

I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp,

O Holy One of Israel! ²⁶ 

71:23 My lips will shout for joy! Yes, ²⁷  I will sing your praises!

I will praise you when you rescue me! ²⁸ 

71:24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,

for those who want to harm me ²⁹  will be embarrassed and ashamed. ³⁰ 

[27:2]  ¹ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ² sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ³ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[27:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “my heart does not fear.”

[27:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “if war rises up against me.”

[27:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “in this [i.e., “during this situation”] I am trusting.”

[42:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “These things I will remember and I will pour out upon myself my soul.” “These things” are identified in the second half of the verse as those times when the psalmist worshiped in the Lord’s temple. The two cohortative forms indicate the psalmist’s resolve to remember and weep. The expression “pour out upon myself my soul” refers to mourning (see Job 30:16).

[42:4]  ⁹ tc Heb “for I was passing by with the throng [?], I was walking with [?] them to the house of God; with a voice of a ringing shout and thanksgiving a multitude was observing a festival.” The Hebrew phrase בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם (bassakh ’eddaddem, “with the throng [?] I was walking with [?]”) is particularly problematic. The noun סָךְ (sakh) occurs only here. If it corresponds to הָמוֹן (hamon, “multitude”) then one can propose a meaning “throng.” The present translation assumes this reading (cf. NIV, NRSV). The form אֶדַּדֵּם (“I will walk with [?]”) is also very problematic. The form can be taken as a Hitpael from דָּדָה (dadah; this verb possibly appears in Isa 38:15), but the pronominal suffix is problematic. For this reason many emend the form to ם[י]אַדִּרִ (’adirim, “nobles”) or ם-רִ[י]אַדִ (’adirim, “great,” with enclitic mem [ם]). The present translation understands the latter and takes the adjective “great” as modifying “throng.” If one emends סָךְ (sakh, “throng [?]”) to סֹךְ (sokh, “shelter”; see the Qere of Ps 27:5), then ר[י]אַדִּ (’addir) could be taken as a divine epithet, “[in the shelter of] the majestic one,” a reading which may find support in the LXX and Syriac Peshitta.

[42:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:5]  ¹¹ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:5]  ¹² tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.

[42:5]  ¹³ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (’elohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (pÿney, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.

[71:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and I add to all your praise.”

[71:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”

[71:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.

[71:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your justice, O God, [is] unto the height.” The Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) is here a title for the sky/heavens.

[71:19]  sn Extends to the skies above. Similar statements are made in Pss 36:5 and 57:10.

[71:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “you who have done great things.”

[71:19]  ¹⁹ tn Or “Who is like you?”

[71:20]  ²⁰ tn Heb “you who have caused me to see many harmful distresses.”

[71:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “you return, you give me life.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will revive me once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[71:20]  ²² tn Heb “you return, you bring me up.” The Hebrew term שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) is used here in an adverbial sense, indicating repetition of the action described by the following verb. The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.) Another option is to understand this as a statement of confidence, “you will bring me up once again” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[71:21]  ²³ tn Heb “increase my greatness.” The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive, indicating this is a prayer or wish. The psalmist’s request for “greatness” (or “honor”) is not a boastful, self-serving prayer for prominence, but, rather, a request that God would vindicate by elevating him over those who are trying to humiliate him.

[71:21]  ²⁴ tn The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.)

[71:22]  ²⁵ tn The word “praising” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[71:22]  ²⁶ sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior.

[71:23]  ²⁷ tn Or “when.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) has an emphasizing (asseverative) function here.

[71:23]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and my life [or “soul”] which you will have redeemed.” The perfect verbal form functions here as a future perfect. The psalmist anticipates praising God, for God will have rescued him by that time.

[71:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”

[71:24]  ³⁰ tn Heb “will have become embarrassed and ashamed.” The perfect verbal forms function here as future perfects, indicating future actions which will precede chronologically the action expressed by the main verb in the preceding line.