Mazmur 41:6

41:6 When someone comes to visit, ¹  he pretends to be friendly; ² 

he thinks of ways to defame me, ³ 

and when he leaves he slanders me. ⁴ 

Mazmur 56:5-7

56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; ⁵ 

they make a habit of plotting my demise. ⁶ 

56:6 They stalk ⁷  and lurk; ⁸ 

they watch my every step, ⁹ 

as ¹⁰  they prepare to take my life. ¹¹ 

56:7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape! ¹² 

In your anger ¹³  bring down the nations, ¹⁴  O God!

Mazmur 57:6

57:6 They have prepared a net to trap me; ¹⁵ 

I am discouraged. ¹⁶ 

They have dug a pit for me. ¹⁷ 

They will fall ¹⁸  into it! (Selah)

Mazmur 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ¹⁹ 

powerful men stalk ²⁰  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ²¹ 

[41:6]  ¹ tn Heb “to see.”

[41:6]  ² tn Heb “he speaks deceitfully.”

[41:6]  ³ tn Heb “his heart gathers sin to itself.”

[41:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “he goes outside and speaks.”

[56:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”

[56:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”

[56:6]  ⁷ tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.

[56:6]  ⁸ tn Or “hide.”

[56:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “my heels.”

[56:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”

[56:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”

[56:7]  ¹² tc Heb “because of wickedness, deliverance to them.” As it stands, the MT makes no sense. The negative particle אַיִן (’ayin, “there is not,” which is due to dittography of the immediately preceding אָוֶן, ’aven, “wickedness”), should probably be added before “deliverance” (see BHS, note a). The presence of an imperative in the next line (note “bring down”) suggests that this line should be translated as a prayer as well, “may there not be deliverance to them.”

[56:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “in anger.” The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or perhaps “people” in a general sense.

[57:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for my feet.”

[57:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my life bends low.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[57:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “before me.”

[57:6]  ¹⁸ tn The perfect form is used rhetorically here to express the psalmist’s certitude. The demise of the enemies is so certain that he can speak of it as already accomplished.

[59:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ²¹ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.