Mazmur 2:2

2:2 The kings of the earth ¹  form a united front; ² 

the rulers collaborate ³ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ⁴ 

Mazmur 7:12

7:12 If a person ⁵  does not repent, God sharpens his sword ⁶ 

and prepares to shoot his bow. ⁷ 

Mazmur 18:16

18:16 He reached down ⁸  from above and took hold of me;

he pulled me from the surging water. ⁹ 

Mazmur 21:12

21:12 For you make them retreat ¹⁰ 

when you shoot your arrows at them. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 33:12

33:12 How blessed ¹²  is the nation whose God is the Lord,

the people whom he has chosen to be his special possession. ¹³ 

Mazmur 42:3

42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; ¹⁴ 

all day long they say to me, ¹⁵  “Where is your God?”

Mazmur 46:5

46:5 God lives within it, ¹⁶  it cannot be moved. ¹⁷ 

God rescues it ¹⁸  at the break of dawn. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 62:1

Psalm 62 ²⁰ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

62:1 For God alone I patiently wait; ²¹ 

he is the one who delivers me. ²² 

Mazmur 66:6

66:6 He turned the sea into dry land; ²³ 

they passed through the river on foot. ²⁴ 

Let us rejoice in him there! ²⁵ 

Mazmur 69:9

69:9 Certainly ²⁶  zeal for ²⁷  your house ²⁸  consumes me;

I endure the insults of those who insult you. ²⁹ 

Mazmur 85:9

85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; ³⁰ 

then his splendor will again appear in our land. ³¹ 

Mazmur 91:2

91:2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,

my God in whom I trust –

Mazmur 92:13

92:13 Planted in the Lord’s house,

they grow in the courts of our God.

Mazmur 96:3

96:3 Tell the nations about his splendor!

Tell ³²  all the nations about his amazing deeds!

Mazmur 99:7

99:7 He spoke to them from a pillar of cloud; ³³ 

they obeyed his regulations and the ordinance he gave them.

Mazmur 103:22

103:22 Praise the Lord, all that he has made, ³⁴ 

in all the regions ³⁵  of his kingdom!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Mazmur 104:13-14

104:13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace; ³⁶ 

the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow. ³⁷ 

104:14 He provides grass ³⁸  for the cattle,

and crops for people to cultivate, ³⁹ 

so they can produce food from the ground, ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 107:20

107:20 He sent them an assuring word ⁴¹  and healed them;

he rescued them from the pits where they were trapped. ⁴² 

Mazmur 111:4

111:4 He does ⁴³  amazing things that will be remembered; ⁴⁴ 

the Lord is merciful and compassionate.

Mazmur 112:1

Psalm 112 ⁴⁵ 

112:1 Praise the Lord!

How blessed is the one ⁴⁶  who obeys ⁴⁷  the Lord,

who takes great delight in keeping his commands. ⁴⁸ 

Mazmur 118:12

118:12 They surrounded me like bees.

But they disappeared as quickly ⁴⁹  as a fire among thorns. ⁵⁰ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

Mazmur 122:4

122:4 The tribes go up ⁵¹  there, ⁵² 

the tribes of the Lord,

where it is required that Israel

give thanks to the name of the Lord. ⁵³ 

Mazmur 130:7

130:7 O Israel, hope in the Lord,

for the Lord exhibits loyal love, ⁵⁴ 

and is more than willing to deliver. ⁵⁵ 

Mazmur 138:6

138:6 Though the Lord is exalted, he takes note of the lowly,

and recognizes the proud from far away.

Mazmur 145:12

145:12 so that mankind ⁵⁶  might acknowledge your mighty acts,

and the majestic splendor of your kingdom.

Mazmur 145:19

145:19 He satisfies the desire ⁵⁷  of his loyal followers; ⁵⁸ 

he hears their cry for help and delivers them.

Mazmur 147:18

147:18 He then orders it all to melt; ⁵⁹ 

he breathes on it, ⁶⁰  and the water flows.

Mazmur 147:20

147:20 He has not done so with any other nation;

they are not aware of his regulations.

Praise the Lord!

[2:2]  ¹ sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.

[2:2]  ² tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ³ tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).

[2:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[7:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “If he”; the referent (a person who is a sinner) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The subject of the first verb is understood as the sinner who fails to repent of his ways and becomes the target of God’s judgment (vv. 9, 14-16).

[7:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “if he does not return, his sword he sharpens.” The referent (God) of the pronominal subject of the second verb (“sharpens”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “his bow he treads and prepares it.” “Treading the bow” involved stepping on one end of it in order to string it and thus prepare it for battle.

[18:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “stretched.” Perhaps “his hand” should be supplied by ellipsis (see Ps 144:7). In this poetic narrative context the three prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see v. 4 and Ps 144:7).

[21:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you make them a shoulder,” i.e., “you make them turn and run, showing the back of their neck and shoulders.”

[21:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “with your bowstrings you fix against their faces,” i.e., “you fix your arrows on the bowstrings to shoot at them.”

[33:12]  ¹² tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[33:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “inheritance.”

[42:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”

[42:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.

[46:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “God [is] within her.” The feminine singular pronoun refers to the city mentioned in v. 4.

[46:5]  ¹⁷ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “it will not be upended.” Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense. The verb מוֹט (mot), translated “upended” here, is used in v. 2 of the mountains “tumbling” into the seas and in v. 6 of nations being “upended.” By way of contrast, Jerusalem, God’s dwelling place, is secure and immune from such turmoil and destruction.

[46:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or “helps her.” The imperfect draws attention to the generalizing character of the statement.

[46:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “at the turning of morning.” (For other uses of the expression see Exod 14:27 and Judg 19:26).

[46:5]  sn At the break of dawn. The “morning” is viewed metaphorically as a time of deliverance and vindication after the dark “night” of trouble (see Ps 30:5; Isa 17:14). There may be an allusion here to Exod 14:27 (where the Lord destroyed the Egyptians at the “break of dawn”) or, more likely, to the miraculous deliverance of Jerusalem from the Assyrian siege, when the people discovered the dead bodies of the Assyrian army in the morning (Isa 37:36).

[62:1]  ²⁰ sn Psalm 62. The psalmist expresses his unwavering confidence in God’s justice and in his ability to protect his people.

[62:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “only for God [is] there silence [to] my soul.”

[62:1]  ²² tn Heb “from him [is] my deliverance.”

[66:6]  ²³ sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).

[66:6]  ²⁴ tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. NEB).

[66:6]  ²⁵ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[69:9]  ²⁶ tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.

[69:9]  ²⁷ tn Or “devotion to.”

[69:9]  ²⁸ sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.

[69:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”

[69:9]  sn Jn 2:17 applies the first half of this verse to Jesus’ ministry in the context of John’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple.

[85:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”

[85:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.

[96:3]  ³² tn The verb “tell” is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[99:7]  ³³ sn A pillar of cloud. The psalmist refers to the reality described in Exod 33:9-10; Num 12:5; and Deut 31:15.

[103:22]  ³⁴ tn Heb “all his works,” which includes mankind.

[103:22]  ³⁵ tn Heb “places.”

[104:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “from his upper rooms.”

[104:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from the fruit of your works the earth is full.” The translation assumes that “fruit” is literal here. If “fruit” is understood more abstractly as “product; result,” then one could translate, “the earth flourishes as a result of your deeds” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB).

[104:14]  ³⁸ tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”

[104:14]  ³⁹ tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).

[104:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”

[107:20]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he sent his word.” This probably refers to an oracle of assurance which announced his intention to intervene (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 59).

[107:20]  ⁴² tn Heb “he rescued from their traps.” The Hebrew word שְׁחִית (shekhit, “trap”) occurs only here and in Lam 4:20, where it refers to a trap or pit in which one is captured. Because of the rarity of the term and the absence of an object with the verb “rescued,” some prefer to emend the text of Ps 107:20, reading מִשַׁחַת חַיָּתָם (mishakhat khayyatam, “[he rescued] their lives from the pit”). Note also NIV “from the grave,” which interprets the “pit” as Sheol or the grave.

[111:4]  ⁴³ tn Or “did,” if this refers primarily to the events of the exodus and conquest period (see vv. 6, 9).

[111:4]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “a memorial he had made for his amazing deeds.”

[112:1]  ⁴⁵ sn Psalm 112. This wisdom psalm lists some of the benefits of living a godly life. The psalm is an acrostic. After the introductory call to praise, every poetic line (twenty-two in all) begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[112:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “[Oh] the happiness [of] the man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The individual is representative of a larger group, called the “godly” in vv. 3-4. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender. To facilitate modern application, we translate the gender specific “man” with the more neutral “one.” The generic masculine pronoun is used in the following verses.

[112:1]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “fears.”

[112:1]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “in his commands he delights very much.” The words “in keeping” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Taking delight in the law is metonymic here for obeying God’s moral will. See Ps 1:2.

[118:12]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “were extinguished.”

[118:12]  ⁵⁰ tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (do’akhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (ba’aru, “they burned”). In this case the statement emphasizes their hostility.

[122:4]  ⁵¹ tn Or “went up.”

[122:4]  ⁵² tn Heb “which is where the tribes go up.”

[122:4]  ⁵³ tn Heb “[it is] a statute for Israel to give thanks to the name of the Lord.”

[130:7]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “for with the Lord [is] loyal love.”

[130:7]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and abundantly with him [is] redemption.”

[145:12]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “the sons of man.”

[145:19]  ⁵⁷ tn In this context “desire” refers to the followers’ desire to be delivered from wicked enemies.

[145:19]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “the desire of those who fear him, he does.”

[147:18]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “he sends his word and melts them.”

[147:18]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “he blows his breath.”