Mazmur 9:6

9:6 The enemy’s cities have been reduced to permanent ruins; ¹ 

you destroyed their cities; ² 

all memory of the enemies has perished. ³ 

Mazmur 9:18

9:18 for the needy are not permanently ignored, ⁴ 

the hopes of the oppressed are not forever dashed. ⁵ 

Mazmur 10:5

10:5 He is secure at all times. ⁶ 

He has no regard for your commands; ⁷ 

he disdains all his enemies. ⁸ 

Mazmur 12:7

12:7 You, Lord, will protect them; ⁹ 

you will continually shelter each one from these evil people, ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 16:11

16:11 You lead me in ¹¹  the path of life; ¹² 

I experience absolute joy in your presence; ¹³ 

you always give me sheer delight. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 40:11

40:11 O Lord, you do not withhold ¹⁵  your compassion from me.

May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 42:3

42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; ¹⁷ 

all day long they say to me, ¹⁸  “Where is your God?”

Mazmur 42:10

42:10 My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone, ¹⁹ 

as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ²⁰ 

Mazmur 71:17

71:17 O God, you have taught me since I was young,

and I am still declaring ²¹  your amazing deeds.

Mazmur 74:23

74:23 Do not disregard ²²  what your enemies say, ²³ 

or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 84:4

84:4 How blessed ²⁵  are those who live in your temple

and praise you continually! (Selah)

[9:6]  ¹ tn Heb “the enemy – they have come to an end [in] ruins permanently.” The singular form אוֹיֵב (’oyev, “enemy”) is collective. It is placed at the beginning of the verse to heighten the contrast with יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) in v. 7.

[9:6]  ² tn Heb “you uprooted cities.”

[9:6]  ³ tn Heb “it has perished, their remembrance, they.” The independent pronoun at the end of the line is in apposition to the preceding pronominal suffix and lends emphasis (see IBHS 299 §16.3.4). The referent of the masculine pronoun is the nations/enemies (cf. v. 5), not the cities (the Hebrew noun עָרִים [’arim, “cities”] is grammatically feminine). This has been specified in the present translation for clarity; many modern translations retain the pronoun “them,” resulting in ambiguity (cf. NRSV “their cities you have rooted out; the very memory of them has perished”).

[9:18]  ⁴ tn Or “forgotten.”

[9:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “the hope of the afflicted does [not] perish forever.” The negative particle is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The imperfect verbal forms express what typically happens.

[10:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “they are firm, his ways, at every time.” The verb חַיִל (khayil, “be firm, be strong”) occurs only here and in Job 20:21, where it has the sense “endure.”

[10:5]  ⁷ tc Heb “[on a] height, your judgments from before him.” If the MT is retained, then the idea may be that God’s “judgments” are high above (i.e., not recognized) by the wicked man. However, the syntax is awkward. The translation assumes an emendation of מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) to סָרוּ (saru, “[your judgments] are turned aside”), the final mem (ם) being dittographic (note the initial mem on the immediately following word [מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, mishÿfatekha, “your judgments”). “Judgments” probably refers here to God’s laws or commands, rather than his judicial decisions or acts of judgment.

[10:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “all his enemies, he snorts against them.” This may picture the wicked man defiantly challenging his enemies because he is confident of success. Another option is to take יָפִיחַ (yafiakh) from the root יָפַח (yafakh, “to testify”) and translate “he testifies against all his enemies,” implying that he gets the upper hand over them in legal battles. The noun יָפֵחַ (yafeakh, “witness”) is attested in biblical Hebrew (see Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3). The verb, however, is not clearly attested.

[12:7]  ⁹ tn The third person plural pronominal suffix on the verb is masculine, referring back to the “oppressed” and “needy” in v. 5 (both of those nouns are plural in form), suggesting that the verb means “protect” here. The suffix does not refer to אִמֲרוֹת (’imarot, “words”) in v. 6, because that term is feminine gender.

[12:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “you will protect him from this generation permanently.” The third masculine singular suffix on the verb “protect” is probably used in a distributive sense, referring to each one within the group mentioned previously (the oppressed/needy, referred to as “them” in the preceding line). On this grammatical point see GKC 396 §123.f (where the present text is not cited). (Some Hebrew mss and ancient textual witnesses read “us,” both here and in the preceding line.) The noun דוֹר (dor, “generation”) refers here to the psalmist’s contemporaries, who were characterized by deceit and arrogance (see vv. 1-2). See BDB 189-90 s.v. for other examples where “generation” refers to a class of people.

[16:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “cause me to know”; or “cause me to experience.”

[16:11]  ¹² tn This is a metaphorical way of saying, “you preserve my life.” The phrase “path of life” stands in contrast to death/Sheol in Prov 2:18-19; 5:5-6; 15:24.

[16:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “abundance of joy [is] with your face.” The plural form of the noun שִׂמְחָה (simkhah, “joy”) occurs only here and in Ps 45:15. It may emphasize the degree of joy experienced.

[16:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “delight [is] in your right hand forever.” The plural form of the adjective נָעִים (na’im, “pleasant, delightful”) may here emphasize the degree of delight experienced (see Job 36:11).

[40:11]  ¹⁵ tn Some (cf. NIV, NRSV) translate the verb as a request (“do not withhold”), but elsewhere in the psalms the second masculine singular prefixed form, when addressed to God and preceded by לֹא (lo’), is always indicative in mood and never has the force of a prayer (see Pss 16:10; 22:2; 44:9 51:16-17; 60:10; 108:11; cf. NEB, NASB).

[40:11]  ¹⁶ tn In this line the psalmist makes the transition from confidence to petition (see v. 13). Since the prefixed verbal form in the preceding line is imperfect/indicative, one could take the verb in this line as imperfect as well and translate, “your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me” (cf. NEB). However, the כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the next verse, if causal (“because”), is best understood as introducing a motivating argument in support of a petition. For this reason v. 11b is best taken as a prayer with the prefixed form being understood as jussive (cf. NIV, NRSV). For parallels to the proposed construction (jussive followed by כִּי + perfect introducing motivating argument), see Ps 25:21, as well as Pss 10:2-3; 22:8.

[42:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”

[42:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.

[42:10]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”

[42:10]  ²⁰ sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.

[71:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “and until now I am declaring.”

[74:23]  ²² tn Or “forget.”

[74:23]  ²³ tn Heb “the voice of your enemies.”

[74:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “the roar of those who rise up against you, which ascends continually.”

[84:4]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see v. 12 and Pss 1:1; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).