Mazmur 30:3

30:3 O Lord, you pulled me ¹  up from Sheol;

you rescued me from among those descending into the grave. ² 

Mazmur 35:13

35:13 When they were sick, I wore sackcloth, ³ 

and refrained from eating food. ⁴ 

(If I am lying, may my prayers go unanswered!) ⁵ 

Mazmur 46:10

46:10 He says, ⁶  “Stop your striving and recognize ⁷  that I am God!

I will be exalted ⁸  over ⁹  the nations! I will be exalted over ¹⁰  the earth!”

Mazmur 88:16

88:16 Your anger overwhelms me; ¹¹ 

your terrors destroy me.

Mazmur 144:11

144:11 Grab me and rescue me from the power of foreigners, ¹² 

who speak lies,

and make false promises. ¹³ 

[30:3]  ¹ tn Or “my life.”

[30:3]  ² tn Heb “you kept me alive from those descending into the pit.” The Hebrew noun בוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib); the marginal reading (Qere) has, “you kept me alive so that I did not go down into the pit.”

[35:13]  ³ tn Heb “as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth.” Sackcloth was worn by mourners. When the psalmist’s enemies were sick, he was sorry for their misfortune and mourned for them.

[35:13]  ⁴ sn Fasting was also a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities, such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.

[35:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “and my prayer upon my chest will return.” One could translate, “but my prayer was returning upon my chest,” but the use of the imperfect verbal form sets this line apart from the preceding and following lines (vv. 13a, 14), which use the perfect to describe the psalmist’s past actions.

[46:10]  ⁶ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[46:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “do nothing/be quiet (see 1 Sam 15:16) and know.” This statement may be addressed to the hostile nations, indicating they should cease their efforts to destroy God’s people, or to Judah, indicating they should rest secure in God’s protection. Since the psalm is an expression of Judah’s trust and confidence, it is more likely that the words are directed to the nations, who are actively promoting chaos and are in need of a rebuke.

[46:10]  ⁸ tn Elsewhere in the psalms the verb רוּם (rum, “be exalted”) when used of God, refers to his exalted position as king (Pss 18:46; 99:2; 113:4; 138:6) and/or his self-revelation as king through his mighty deeds of deliverance (Pss 21:13; 57:5, 11).

[46:10]  ⁹ tn Or “among.”

[46:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “in.”

[88:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “passes over me.”

[144:11]  ¹² tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”

[144:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “who [with] their mouth speak falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.” See v. 8 where the same expression occurs.