Mazmur 7:8

7:8 The Lord judges the nations. ¹ 

Vindicate me, Lord, because I am innocent, ² 

because I am blameless, ³  O Exalted One! ⁴ 

Mazmur 16:5-6

16:5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity; ⁵ 

you make my future secure. ⁶ 

16:6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields

or received a beautiful tract of land. ⁷ 

Mazmur 16:8

16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord; ⁸ 

because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.

Mazmur 19:9

19:9 The commands to fear the Lord are right ⁹ 

and endure forever. ¹⁰ 

The judgments given by the Lord are trustworthy

and absolutely just. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 21:10

21:10 You destroy their offspring ¹²  from the earth,

their descendants ¹³  from among the human race. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 22:10

22:10 I have been dependent on you since birth; ¹⁵ 

from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 25:14

25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, ¹⁷ 

and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 27:1

Psalm 27 ¹⁹ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ²⁰ 

I fear no one! ²¹ 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ²² 

Mazmur 36:2

36:2 for he is too proud

to recognize and give up his sin. ²³ 

Mazmur 37:17

37:17 for evil men will lose their power, ²⁴ 

but the Lord sustains ²⁵  the godly.

Mazmur 38:14

38:14 I am like a man who cannot hear

and is incapable of arguing his defense. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 38:17

38:17 For I am about to stumble,

and I am in constant pain. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 40:7

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 66:17

66:17 I cried out to him for help ²⁹ 

and praised him with my tongue. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 73:13

73:13 I concluded, ³¹  “Surely in vain I have kept my motives ³²  pure

and maintained a pure lifestyle. ³³ 

Mazmur 74:17

74:17 You set up all the boundaries ³⁴  of the earth;

you created the cycle of summer and winter. ³⁵ 

Mazmur 76:4

76:4 You shine brightly and reveal your majesty,

as you descend from the hills where you killed your prey. ³⁶ 

Mazmur 77:12

77:12 I will think about all you have done;

I will reflect upon your deeds!”

Mazmur 77:18

77:18 Your thunderous voice was heard in the wind;

the lightning bolts lit up the world;

the earth trembled and shook. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 78:63

78:63 Fire consumed their ³⁸  young men,

and their ³⁹  virgins remained unmarried. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 82:8

82:8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth!

For you own ⁴¹  all the nations.

Mazmur 87:1

Psalm 87 ⁴² 

Written by the Korahites; a psalm, a song.

87:1 The Lord’s city is in the holy hills. ⁴³ 

Mazmur 89:29

89:29 I will give him an eternal dynasty, ⁴⁴ 

and make his throne as enduring as the skies above. ⁴⁵ 

Mazmur 97:2

97:2 Dark clouds surround him;

equity and justice are the foundation of his throne. ⁴⁶ 

Mazmur 104:26

104:26 The ships travel there,

and over here swims the whale ⁴⁷  you made to play in it.

Mazmur 109:15

109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, ⁴⁸ 

and cut off the memory of his children ⁴⁹  from the earth!

Mazmur 118:7

118:7 The Lord is on my side ⁵⁰  as my helper. ⁵¹ 

I look in triumph on those who hate me.

Mazmur 119:52

119:52 I remember your ancient regulations, ⁵² 

O Lord, and console myself. ⁵³ 

Mazmur 119:96

119:96 I realize that everything has its limits,

but your commands are beyond full comprehension. ⁵⁴ 

Mazmur 119:98

119:98 Your commandments ⁵⁵  make me wiser than my enemies,

for I am always aware of them.

Mazmur 132:6

132:6 Look, we heard about it ⁵⁶  in Ephrathah, ⁵⁷ 

we found it in the territory of Jaar. ⁵⁸ 

Mazmur 132:15

132:15 I will abundantly supply what she needs; ⁵⁹ 

I will give her poor all the food they need. ⁶⁰ 

Mazmur 140:3

140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; ⁶¹ 

a viper’s ⁶²  venom is behind ⁶³  their lips. (Selah)

Mazmur 147:17

147:17 He throws his hailstones ⁶⁴  like crumbs.

Who can withstand the cold wind he sends? ⁶⁵ 

Mazmur 149:6

149:6 May they praise God

while they hold a two-edged sword in their hand, ⁶⁶ 

[7:8]  ¹ sn The Lord judges the nations. In hyperbolic fashion the psalmist pictures the nations assembled around the divine throne (v. 7a). He urges God to take his rightful place on the throne (v. 7b) and then pictures him making judicial decisions that vindicate the innocent (see vv. 8-16).

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “judge me, O Lord, according to my innocence.”

[7:8]  ³ tn Heb “according to my blamelessness.” The imperative verb translated “vindicate” governs the second line as well.

[7:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew form עָלָי (’alay) has been traditionally understood as the preposition עַל (’al, “over”) with a first person suffix. But this is syntactically awkward and meaningless. The form is probably a divine title derived from the verbal root עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”). This relatively rare title appears elsewhere in the OT (see HALOT 824-25 s.v. I עַל, though this text is not listed) and in Ugaritic as an epithet for Baal (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 98). See M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:44-45, and P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 98.

[16:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “O Lord, the portion of my possession and my cup”; or “the Lord [is] the portion of my possession and my cup.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel, and to a cup of wine, which may symbolize a reward (in Ps 11:6 it symbolizes the judgment one deserves) or divine blessing (see Ps 23:5). The metaphor highlights the fact that God is the psalmist’s source of security and prosperity.

[16:5]  ⁶ tc Heb “you take hold of my lot.” The form תּוֹמִיךְ (tomikh) should be emended to a participle, תוֹמֵךְ (tomekh). The psalmist pictures the Lord as casting his lot (a method used to allot landed property) for him, thus assuring that he will receive a fertile piece of land (see v. 6). As in the previous line, land represents security and economic stability, thus “you make my future secure.”

[16:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “measuring lines have fallen for me in pleasant [places]; yes, property [or “an inheritance”] is beautiful for me.” On the dative use of עַל, see BDB 758 s.v. II.8. Extending the metaphor used in v. 5, the psalmist compares the divine blessings he has received to a rich, beautiful tract of land that one might receive by allotment or inheritance.

[16:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “I set the Lord before me continually.” This may mean that the psalmist is aware of the Lord’s presence and sensitive to his moral guidance (see v. 7), or that he trusts in the Lord’s protection (see the following line).

[19:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord is clean.” The phrase “fear of the Lord” probably refers here to the law, which teaches one how to demonstrate proper reverence for the Lord. See Ps 111:10 for another possible use of the phrase in this sense.

[19:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[it] stands permanently.”

[19:9]  ¹¹ sn Trustworthy and absolutely just. The Lord’s commands accurately reflect God’s moral will for his people and are an expression of his just character.

[21:10]  ¹² tn Heb “fruit.” The next line makes it clear that offspring is in view.

[21:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “seed.”

[21:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “sons of man.”

[22:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “upon you I was cast from [the] womb.”

[22:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the womb of my mother you [have been] my God.”

[22:10]  sn Despite the enemies’ taunts, the psalmist is certain of his relationship with God, which began from the time of his birth (from the time I came out of my mother’s womb).

[25:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”

[25:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”

[27:1]  ¹⁹ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

[27:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ²² tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[36:2]  ²³ tn Heb “for it causes to be smooth to him in his eyes to find his sin to hate.” The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear. Perhaps the point is this: His rebellious attitude makes him reject any notion that God will hold him accountable. His attitude also prevents him from recognizing and repudiating his sinful ways.

[37:17]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for the arms of the evil ones will be broken.”

[37:17]  ²⁵ tn The active participle here indicates this is characteristically true.

[38:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and there is not in his mouth arguments.”

[38:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and my pain [is] before me continually.”

[40:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “in the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me.” Apparently the psalmist refers to the law of God (see v. 8), which contains the commandments God desires him to obey. If this is a distinctly royal psalm, then the psalmist/king may be referring specifically to the regulations of kingship prescribed in Deut 17:14-20. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 315.

[66:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “to him [with] my mouth I called.”

[66:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and he was extolled under my tongue.” The form רוֹמַם (romam) appears to be a polal (passive) participle from רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), but many prefer to read רוֹמָם, “high praise [was under my tongue]” (cf. NEB). See BDB 928 s.v. רוֹמָם.

[73:13]  ³¹ tn The words “I concluded” are supplied in the translation. It is apparent that vv. 13-14 reflect the psalmist’s thoughts at an earlier time (see vv. 2-3), prior to the spiritual awakening he describes in vv. 17-28.

[73:13]  ³² tn Heb “heart,” viewed here as the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

[73:13]  ³³ tn Heb “and washed my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The reference to “hands” suggests actions.

[74:17]  ³⁴ tn This would appear to refer to geographical boundaries, such as mountains, rivers, and seacoasts. However, since the day-night cycle has just been mentioned (v. 16) and the next line speaks of the seasons, it is possible that “boundaries” here refers to the divisions of the seasons. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 2:156.

[74:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “summer and winter, you, you formed them.”

[76:4]  ³⁶ tn Heb “radiant [are] you, majestic from the hills of prey.” God is depicted as a victorious king and as a lion that has killed its victims.

[77:18]  ³⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a preterite or as an imperfect with past progressive force.

[77:18]  sn Verses 16-18 depict the Lord coming in the storm to battle his enemies and subdue the sea. There is no record of such a storm in the historical account of the Red Sea crossing. The language the psalmist uses here is stereotypical and originates in Canaanite myth, where the storm god Baal subdues the sea in his quest for kingship. The psalmist has employed the stereotypical imagery to portray the exodus vividly and at the same time affirm that it is not Baal who subdues the sea, but Yahweh.

[78:63]  ³⁸ tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

[78:63]  ³⁹ tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

[78:63]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “were not praised,” that is, in wedding songs. The young men died in masses, leaving no husbands for the young women.

[82:8]  ⁴¹ tn The translation assumes that the Qal of נָחַל (nakhal) here means “to own; to possess,” and that the imperfect emphasizes a general truth. Another option is to translate the verb as future, “for you will take possession of all the nations” (cf. NIV “all the nations are your inheritance”).

[87:1]  ⁴² sn Psalm 87. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s presence in Zion and the special status of its citizens.

[87:1]  ⁴³ tn Heb “his foundation [is] in the hills of holiness.” The expression “his foundation” refers here by metonymy to the Lord’s dwelling place in Zion. The “hills” are the ones surrounding Zion (see Pss 125:2; 133:3).

[89:29]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and I will set in place forever his offspring.”

[89:29]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and his throne like the days of the heavens.”

[97:2]  ⁴⁶ sn The Lord’s throne symbolizes his kingship.

[104:26]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “[and] this Leviathan, [which] you formed to play in it.” Elsewhere Leviathan is a multiheaded sea monster that symbolizes forces hostile to God (see Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1), but here it appears to be an actual marine creature created by God, probably some type of whale.

[109:15]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the Lord continually.”

[109:15]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.

[118:7]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “for me.”

[118:7]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “among my helpers.” The preposition may indicate identity here, while the plural may be one of majesty or respect.

[119:52]  ⁵² tn Heb “I remember your regulations from of old.” The prepositional phrase “from of old” apparently modifies “your regulations,” alluding to the fact that God revealed them to Israel in the distant past. Another option is to understand the prepositional phrase as modifying the verb, in which case one might translate, “I have long remembered your regulations.”

[119:52]  ⁵³ tn Or “find comfort.”

[119:96]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “to every perfection I have seen an end, your command is very wide.” God’s law is beyond full comprehension, which is why the psalmist continually studies it (vv. 95, 97).

[119:98]  ⁵⁵ tn The plural form needs to be revocalized as a singular in order to agree with the preceding singular verb and the singular pronoun in the next line. The Lord’s “command” refers here to the law (see Ps 19:8).

[132:6]  ⁵⁶ tn Rather than having an antecedent, the third feminine singular pronominal suffix here (and in the next line) appears to refer to the ark of the covenant, mentioned in v. 8. (The Hebrew term אָרוֹן [’aron, “ark”] is sometimes construed as grammatically feminine. See 1 Sam 4:17; 2 Chr 8:11.)

[132:6]  ⁵⁷ sn Some understand Ephrathah as a reference to Kiriath-jearim because of the apparent allusion to this site in the next line (see the note on “Jaar”). The ark was kept in Kiriath-jearim after the Philistines released it (see 1 Sam 6:21-7:2). However, the switch in verbs from “heard about” to “found” suggests that Ephrathah not be equated with Jair. The group who is speaking heard about the ark while they were in Ephrath. They then went to retrieve it from Kiriath-jearim (“Jaar”). It is more likely that Ephrathah refers to a site near Bethel (Gen 35:16, 19; 48:7) or to Bethlehem (Ruth 4:11; Mic 5:2).

[132:6]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “fields of the forest.” The Hebrew term יָעַר (ya’ad, “forest”) is apparently a shortened alternative name for קִרְיַת יְעָרִים (qiryat yÿ’arim, “Kiriath-jearim”), the place where the ark was kept after it was released by the Philistines and from which David and his men retrieved it (see 1 Chr 13:6).

[132:15]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “I will greatly bless her provision.” The infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the verb.

[132:15]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “her poor I will satisfy [with] food.”

[140:3]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”

[140:3]  ⁶² tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.

[140:3]  ⁶³ tn Heb “under.”

[147:17]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “his ice.”

[147:17]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “Before his cold, who can stand?”

[149:6]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “[May] praises of God [be] in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand.”