Mazmur 31:11

31:11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; ¹ 

my neighbors are appalled by my suffering ²  –

those who know me are horrified by my condition; ³ 

those who see me in the street run away from me.

Mazmur 31:13

31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, ⁴ 

the terrifying news that comes from every direction. ⁵ 

When they plot together against me,

they figure out how they can take my life.

Mazmur 48:2

48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, ⁶ 

a source of joy to the whole earth. ⁷ 

Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; ⁸ 

it is the city of the great king.

Mazmur 62:9

62:9 Men are nothing but a mere breath;

human beings are unreliable. ⁹ 

When they are weighed in the scales,

all of them together are lighter than air. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 68:16

68:16 Why do you look with envy, ¹¹  O mountains ¹²  with many peaks,

at the mountain where God has decided to live? ¹³ 

Indeed ¹⁴  the Lord will live there ¹⁵  permanently!

Mazmur 79:10

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 131:1

Psalm 131 ¹⁷ 

A song of ascents, ¹⁸  by David.

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

nor do I have a haughty look. ¹⁹ 

I do not have great aspirations,

or concern myself with things that are beyond me. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 142:4

142:4 Look to the right and see!

No one cares about me. ²¹ 

I have nowhere to run; ²² 

no one is concerned about my life. ²³ 

[31:11]  ¹ tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”

[31:11]  ² tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).

[31:11]  ³ tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”

[31:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “the report of many.”

[31:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “the terror from all around.”

[48:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.

[48:2]  ⁷ sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).

[48:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the Lord God of Israel lives and rules over the nations. See P. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 353, and T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 103.

[62:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “only a breath [are] the sons of mankind, a lie [are] the sons of man.” The phrases “sons of mankind” and “sons of man” also appear together in Ps 49:2. Because of the parallel line there, where “rich and poor” are mentioned, a number of interpreters and translators treat these expressions as polar opposites, בְּנֵי אָדָם (bÿney ’adam) referring to the lower classes and בְּנֵי אִישׁ (bÿney ’ish) to higher classes. But usage does not support such a view. The rare phrase בְּנֵי אִישׁ (“sons of man”) appears to refer to human beings in general in its other uses (see Pss 4:2; Lam 3:33). It is better to understand the phrases as synonymous expressions.

[62:9]  ¹⁰ tn The noun הֶבֶל (hevel), translated “a breath” earlier in the verse, appears again here.

[68:16]  ¹¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb רָצַד (ratsad), translated here “look with envy,” is uncertain; it occurs only here in the OT. See BDB 952-53. A cognate verb occurs in later Aramaic with the meaning “to lie in wait; to watch” (Jastrow 1492 s.v. רְצַד).

[68:16]  ¹² tn Perhaps the apparent plural form should be read as a singular with enclitic mem (ם; later misinterpreted as a plural ending). The preceding verse has the singular form.

[68:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “[at] the mountain God desires for his dwelling place.” The reference is to Mount Zion/Jerusalem.

[68:16]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew particle אַף (’af) has an emphasizing function here.

[68:16]  ¹⁵ tn The word “there” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[79:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[131:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 131. The psalmist affirms his humble dependence on the Lord and urges Israel to place its trust in God.

[131:1]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and my eyes are not lifted up.”

[131:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I do not walk in great things, and in things too marvelous for me.”

[142:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”

[142:4]  ²² tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”

[142:4]  ²³ tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”