Mazmur 3:3

3:3 But you, Lord, are a shield that protects me; ¹ 

you are my glory ²  and the one who restores me. ³ 

Mazmur 5:6

5:6 You destroy ⁴  liars; ⁵ 

the Lord despises ⁶  violent and deceitful people. ⁷ 

Mazmur 18:29

18:29 Indeed, ⁸  with your help ⁹  I can charge against ¹⁰  an army; ¹¹ 

by my God’s power ¹²  I can jump over a wall. ¹³ 

Mazmur 21:4

21:4 He asked you to sustain his life, ¹⁴ 

and you have granted him long life and an enduring dynasty. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 22:2

22:2 My God, I cry out during the day,

but you do not answer,

and during the night my prayers do not let up. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 30:11

30:11 Then you turned my lament into dancing;

you removed my sackcloth and covered me with joy. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 38:9

38:9 O Lord, you understand my heart’s desire; ¹⁸ 

my groaning is not hidden from you.

Mazmur 38:15

38:15 Yet ¹⁹  I wait for you, O Lord!

You will respond, O Lord, my God!

Mazmur 44:10

44:10 You made us retreat ²⁰  from the enemy.

Those who hate us take whatever they want from us. ²¹ 

Mazmur 44:22

44:22 Yet because of you ²²  we are killed all day long;

we are treated like ²³  sheep at the slaughtering block. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 45:16-17

45:16 Your ²⁵  sons will carry ²⁶  on the dynasty of your ancestors; ²⁷ 

you will make them princes throughout the land.

45:17 I will proclaim your greatness through the coming years, ²⁸ 

then the nations will praise you ²⁹  forever.

Mazmur 51:11

51:11 Do not reject me! ³⁰ 

Do not take your Holy Spirit ³¹  away from me! ³² 

Mazmur 63:5

63:5 As if with choice meat ³³  you satisfy my soul. ³⁴ 

My mouth joyfully praises you, ³⁵ 

Mazmur 65:11

65:11 You crown the year with your good blessings, ³⁶ 

and you leave abundance in your wake. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 68:10

68:10 for you live among them. ³⁸ 

You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.

Mazmur 77:15

77:15 You delivered ³⁹  your people by your strength ⁴⁰  –

the children of Jacob and Joseph. (Selah)

Mazmur 77:20

77:20 You led your people like a flock of sheep,

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Mazmur 86:14

86:14 O God, arrogant men attack me; ⁴¹ 

a gang ⁴²  of ruthless men, who do not respect you, seek my life. ⁴³ 

Mazmur 90:5

90:5 You bring their lives to an end and they “fall asleep.” ⁴⁴ 

In the morning they are like the grass that sprouts up;

Mazmur 99:4

99:4 The king is strong;

he loves justice. ⁴⁵ 

You ensure that legal decisions will be made fairly; ⁴⁶ 

you promote justice and equity in Jacob.

Mazmur 119:90

119:90 You demonstrate your faithfulness to all generations. ⁴⁷ 

You established the earth and it stood firm.

Mazmur 145:1

Psalm 145 ⁴⁸ 

A psalm of praise, by David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God, O king!

I will praise your name continually! ⁴⁹ 

[3:3]  ¹ tn Heb “a shield round about me.”

[3:3]  ² tn Heb “my glory,” or “my honor.” The psalmist affirms that the Lord is his source of honor, i.e., the one who gives him honor in the sight of others. According to BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 7, the phrase refers to God as the one to whom the psalmist gives honor. But the immediate context focuses on what God does for the psalmist, not vice-versa.

[3:3]  ³ tn Heb “[the one who] lifts my head.” This phrase could be understood to refer to a general strengthening of the psalmist by God during difficult circumstances. However, if one takes the suggestion of the superscription that this is a Davidic psalm written during the revolt of Absalom, the phrase “lift the head” could refer to the psalmist’s desire for restoration to his former position (cf. Gen 40:13 where the same phrase is used). Like the Hebrew text, the present translation (“who restores me”) can be understood in either sense.

[5:6]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verbal form indicates God’s typical response to such individuals. Another option is to translate the verb as future (“You will destroy”); the psalmist may be envisioning a time of judgment when God will remove the wicked from the scene.

[5:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who speak a lie.” In the OT a “lie” does not refer in a general philosophical sense to any statement that fails to correspond to reality. Instead it refers more specifically to a slanderous and/or deceitful statement that promotes one’s own selfish, sinful interests and/or exploits or harms those who are innocent. Note the emphasis on violence and deceit in the following line.

[5:6]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form highlights the Lord’s characteristic attitude toward such individuals.

[5:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “a man of bloodshed and deceit.” The singular אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) is used here in a collective or representative sense; thus the translation “people” is appropriate here. Note the plural forms in vv. 5-6a.

[18:29]  ⁸ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[18:29]  ⁹ tn Heb “by you.”

[18:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will run.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 29 indicate the subject’s potential or capacity to perform an action. Though one might expect a preposition to follow the verb here, this need not be the case with the verb רוּץ (ruts; see 1 Sam 17:22). Some emend the Qal to a Hiphil form of the verb and translate, “I put to flight [Heb “cause to run”] an army.”

[18:29]  ¹¹ tn More specifically, the noun גְּדוּד (gÿdud) refers to a raiding party or to a contingent of troops.

[18:29]  sn I can charge against an army. The picture of a divinely empowered warrior charging against an army in almost superhuman fashion appears elsewhere in ancient Near Eastern literature. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 228.

[18:29]  ¹² tn Heb “and by my God.”

[18:29]  ¹³ sn I can jump over a wall. The psalmist uses hyperbole to emphasize his God-given military superiority.

[21:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “life he asked from you.” Another option is to translate the perfect verbal forms in v. 4 with the present tense, “he asks…you grant.”

[21:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “you have granted him length of days forever and ever.” The phrase “length of days,” when used of human beings, usually refers to a lengthy period of time (such as one’s lifetime). See, for example, Deut 30:20; Job 12:12; Ps 91:16; Prov 3:2, 16; Lam 5:20. The additional phrase “forever and ever” is hyperbolic. While it seems to attribute eternal life to the king (see Pss 61:6-7; 72:5 as well), the underlying reality is the king’s enduring dynasty. He will live on, as it were, through his descendants, who will continue to rule over his kingdom long after he has passed off the scene.

[22:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “there is no silence to me.”

[30:11]  ¹⁷ sn Covered me with joy. “Joy” probably stands metonymically for festive attire here.

[38:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “O Lord, before you [is] all my desire.”

[38:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or perhaps “surely.”

[44:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “you caused us to turn backward.”

[44:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “plunder for themselves.” The prepositional phrase לָמוֹ (lamo, “for themselves”) here has the nuance “at their will” or “as they please” (see Ps 80:6).

[44:22]  ²² tn The statement “because of you” (1) may simply indicate that God is the cause of the Israelites’ defeat (see vv. 9-14, where the nation’s situation is attributed directly to God’s activity, and cf. NEB, NRSV), or (2) it may suggest they suffer because of their allegiance to God (see Ps 69:7 and Jer 15:15). In this case one should translate, “for your sake” (cf. NASB, NIV). The citation of this verse in Rom 8:36 follows the LXX (Ps 43:23 LXX), where the Greek term ἕνεκεν (Jeneken; LXX ἕνεκα) may likewise mean “because of” or “for the sake of” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἕνεκα 1).

[44:22]  ²³ tn Or “regarded as.”

[44:22]  ²⁴ tn Heb “like sheep of slaughtering,” that is, sheep destined for slaughter.

[45:16]  ²⁵ tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.

[45:16]  ²⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive and the statement interpreted as a prayer, “May your sons carry on the dynasty of your ancestors!” The next line could then be taken as a relative clause, “[your sons] whom you will make princes throughout the land.”

[45:16]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”

[45:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “I will cause your name to be remembered in every generation and generation.” The cohortative verbal form expresses the poet’s resolve. The king’s “name” stands here for his reputation and character, which the poet praised in vv. 2-7.

[45:17]  ²⁹ sn The nations will praise you. As God’s vice-regent on earth, the king is deserving of such honor and praise.

[51:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “do not cast me away from before you.”

[51:11]  ³¹ sn Your Holy Spirit. The personal Spirit of God is mentioned frequently in the OT, but only here and in Isa 63:10-11 is he called “your/his Holy Spirit.”

[51:11]  ³² sn Do not take…away. The psalmist expresses his fear that, due to his sin, God will take away the Holy Spirit from him. NT believers enjoy the permanent gift of the Holy Spirit and need not make such a request nor fear such a consequence. However, in the OT God’s Spirit empowered certain individuals for special tasks and only temporarily resided in them. For example, when God rejected Saul as king and chose David to replace him, the divine Spirit left Saul and came upon David (1 Sam 16:13-14).

[63:5]  ³³ tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”

[63:5]  ³⁴ tn Or “me.”

[63:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”

[65:11]  ³⁶ tn Heb “your good,” which refers here to agricultural blessings.

[65:11]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and your paths drip with abundance.”

[68:10]  ³⁸ tn The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear; it appears to read, “your animals, they live in it,” but this makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some suggest that חָיָּה (khayah) is a rare homonym here, meaning “community” (BDB 312 s.v.) or “dwelling place” (HALOT 310 s.v. III *הַיָּה). In this case one may take “your community/dwelling place” as appositional to the third feminine singular pronominal suffix at the end of v. 9, the antecedent of which is “your inheritance.” The phrase יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ (yashvu-vah, “they live in it”) may then be understood as an asyndetic relative clause modifying “your community/dwelling place.” A literal translation of vv. 9b-10a would be, “when it [your inheritance] is tired, you sustain it, your community/dwelling place in [which] they live.”

[77:15]  ³⁹ tn Or “redeemed.”

[77:15]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “with [your] arm.”

[86:14]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “rise up against me.”

[86:14]  ⁴² tn Or “assembly.”

[86:14]  ⁴³ tn Heb “seek my life and do not set you before them.” See Ps 54:3.

[90:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “you bring them to an end [with] sleep.” The Hebrew verb זָרַם (zaram) has traditionally been taken to mean “flood” or “overwhelm” (note the Polel form of a root זרם in Ps 77:17, where the verb is used of the clouds pouring down rain). However, the verb form here is Qal, not Polel, and is better understood as a homonym meaning “to make an end [of life].” The term שֵׁנָה (shenah, “sleep”) can be taken as an adverbial accusative; it is a euphemism here for death (see Ps 76:5-6).

[99:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and strength, a king, justice he loves.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation assumes that two affirmations are made about the king, the Lord (see v. 1, and Ps 98:6). The noun עֹז (’oz, “strength”) should probably be revocalized as the adjective עַז (’az, “strong”).

[99:4]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “you establish fairness.”

[119:90]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation [is] your faithfulness.”

[145:1]  ⁴⁸ sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ⁴⁹ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”