Mazmur 10:1-2

Psalm 10 ¹ 

10:1 Why, Lord, do you stand far off?

Why do you pay no attention during times of trouble? ² 

10:2 The wicked arrogantly chase the oppressed; ³ 

the oppressed are trapped ⁴  by the schemes the wicked have dreamed up. ⁵ 

Mazmur 10:6

10:6 He says to himself, ⁶ 

“I will never ⁷  be upended,

because I experience no calamity.” ⁸ 

Mazmur 10:13

10:13 Why does the wicked man reject God? ⁹ 

He says to himself, ¹⁰  “You ¹¹  will not hold me accountable.” ¹² 

Mazmur 115:2-18

115:2 Why should the nations say,

“Where is their God?”

115:3 Our God is in heaven!

He does whatever he pleases! ¹³ 

115:4 Their ¹⁴  idols are made of silver and gold –

they are man-made. ¹⁵ 

115:5 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but cannot see,

115:6 ears, but cannot hear,

noses, but cannot smell,

115:7 hands, but cannot touch,

feet, but cannot walk.

They cannot even clear their throats. ¹⁶ 

115:8 Those who make them will end up ¹⁷  like them,

as will everyone who trusts in them.

115:9 O Israel, trust in the Lord!

He is their deliverer ¹⁸  and protector. ¹⁹ 

115:10 O family ²⁰  of Aaron, trust in the Lord!

He is their deliverer ²¹  and protector. ²² 

115:11 You loyal followers of the Lord, ²³  trust in the Lord!

He is their deliverer ²⁴  and protector. ²⁵ 

115:12 The Lord takes notice of us, ²⁶  he will bless ²⁷  –

he will bless the family ²⁸  of Israel,

he will bless the family of Aaron.

115:13 He will bless his loyal followers, ²⁹ 

both young and old. ³⁰ 

115:14 May he increase your numbers,

yours and your children’s! ³¹ 

115:15 May you be blessed by the Lord,

the creator ³²  of heaven and earth!

115:16 The heavens belong to the Lord, ³³ 

but the earth he has given to mankind. ³⁴ 

115:17 The dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death. ³⁵ 

115:18 But we will praise the Lord

now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

Mazmur 116:10

116:10 I had faith when I said,

“I am severely oppressed.”

Mazmur 116:12-15

116:12 How can I repay the Lord

for all his acts of kindness to me?

116:13 I will celebrate my deliverance, ³⁶ 

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people.

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 116:17-18

116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people,

Mazmur 135:20-21

135:20 O family of Levi, praise the Lord!

You loyal followers ³⁸  of the Lord, praise the Lord!

135:21 The Lord deserves praise in Zion ³⁹  –

he who dwells in Jerusalem. ⁴⁰ 

Praise the Lord!

Mazmur 147:13-17

147:13 For he makes the bars of your gates strong.

He blesses your children ⁴¹  within you.

147:14 He ⁴²  brings peace to your territory. ⁴³ 

He abundantly provides for you ⁴⁴  the best grain.

147:15 He ⁴⁵  sends his command through the earth; ⁴⁶ 

swiftly his order reaches its destination. ⁴⁷ 

147:16 He sends the snow that is white like wool;

he spreads the frost that is white like ashes. ⁴⁸ 

147:17 He throws his hailstones ⁴⁹  like crumbs.

Who can withstand the cold wind he sends? ⁵⁰ 

[10:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 10. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm. Taken in isolation, Psalm 10 is a petition for help in which the psalmist urges the Lord to deliver him from his dangerous enemies, whom he describes in vivid and terrifying detail. The psalmist concludes with confidence; he is certain that God’s justice will prevail.

[10:1]  ² tn Heb “you hide for times in trouble.” The interrogative “why” is understood by ellipsis; note the preceding line. The Hiphil verbal form “hide” has no expressed object. Some supply “your eyes” by ellipsis (see BDB 761 s.v. I עָלַם Hiph and HALOT 835 s.v. I עלם hif) or emend the form to a Niphal (“you hide yourself,” see BHS, note c; cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[10:2]  ³ tn Heb “because of the pride of [the] wicked he burns [i.e. hotly pursues] [the] oppressed.” The singular forms רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) and עָנִי (’aniy, “oppressed”) are collective and representative, as indicated in the next line, which uses plural verb forms to describe the actions of both.

[10:2]  ⁴ tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 2 describe either what typically happens (from the psalmist’s perspective) or what the psalmist was experiencing at the time he offered this prayer.

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “they are trapped in the schemes which they have thought up.” The referents of the two pronominal suffixes on the verbs have been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent of the first suffix (“they”) is taken as the oppressed, while the referent of the second (“they”) is taken to be the wicked (cf. NIV, which renders “wicked” in the previous line as a collective singular). Others take the referent of both occurrences of “they” in the line to be the wicked (cf. NRSV, “let them be caught in the schemes they have devised”).

[10:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “he says in his heart/mind.”

[10:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “for a generation and a generation.” The traditional accentuation of the MT understands these words with the following line.

[10:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “who, not in calamity.” If אֲשֶׁר (’asher) is taken as a relative pronoun here, then one could translate, “[I] who [am] not in calamity.” Some emend אֲשֶׁר to אֹשֶׁר (’osher, “happiness”; see HALOT 99 s.v. אֹשֶׁר); one might then translate, “[I live in] happiness, not in calamity.” The present translation assumes that אֲשֶׁר functions here as a causal conjunction, “because, for.” For this use of אֲשֶׁר, see BDB 83 s.v. אֲשֶׁר 8.c (where the present text is not cited).

[10:13]  ⁹ tn The rhetorical question expresses the psalmist’s outrage that the wicked would have the audacity to disdain God.

[10:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he says in his heart” (see vv. 6, 11). Another option is to understand an ellipsis of the interrogative particle here (cf. the preceding line), “Why does he say in his heart?”

[10:13]  ¹¹ tn Here the wicked man addresses God directly.

[10:13]  ¹² tn Heb “you will not seek.” The verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as generalizing about what is typical and translate, “you do not hold [people] accountable.”

[115:3]  ¹³ sn He does whatever he pleases. Such sovereignty is characteristic of kings (see Eccl 8:3).

[115:4]  ¹⁴ tn The referent of the pronominal suffix is “the nations” (v. 2).

[115:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[115:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).

[115:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will be.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a prayer, “may those who make them end up like them.”

[115:8]  sn Because the idols are lifeless, they cannot help their worshipers in times of crisis. Consequently the worshipers end up as dead as the gods in which they trust.

[115:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[115:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and their shield.”

[115:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “house.”

[115:10]  ²¹ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[115:10]  ²² tn Heb “and their shield.”

[115:11]  ²³ tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[115:11]  ²⁴ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[115:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and their shield.”

[115:12]  ²⁶ tn Or “remembers us.”

[115:12]  ²⁷ tn Another option is to translate the prefixed form of the verb “bless” in vv. 12-13 as a jussive, “may he bless” (see v. 14).

[115:12]  ²⁸ tn Heb “house.”

[115:13]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the fearers of the Lord.”

[115:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the small along with the great.” The translation assumes that “small” and “great” here refer to age (see 2 Chr 15:13). Another option is to translate “both the insignificant and the prominent” (see Job 3:19; cf. NEB “high and low alike”).

[115:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “may he add to you, to you and your sons.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating this is a prayer.

[115:15]  ³² tn Or “maker.”

[115:16]  ³³ tn Heb “the heavens [are] heavens to the Lord.”

[115:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “to the sons of man.”

[115:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).

[116:13]  ³⁶ tn Heb “a cup of deliverance I will lift up.” Perhaps this alludes to a drink offering the psalmist will present as he thanks the Lord for his deliverance. See v. 17.

[116:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.

[135:20]  ³⁸ tn Heb “fearers.”

[135:21]  ³⁹ tn Heb “praised be the Lord from Zion.”

[135:21]  ⁴⁰ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[147:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “your sons.”

[147:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “the one who.”

[147:14]  ⁴³ tn Heb “he makes your boundary peace.”

[147:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “satisfies you with.”

[147:15]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the one who.”

[147:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “the one who sends his word, the earth.” The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) is an adverbial accusative; one must supply a preposition before it (such as “through” or “to”) in the English translation.

[147:15]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “swiftly his word runs.”

[147:16]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “the one who gives snow like wool, frost like ashes he scatters.”

[147:17]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “his ice.”

[147:17]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “Before his cold, who can stand?”