Mazmur 10:8

10:8 He waits in ambush near the villages; ¹ 

in hidden places he kills the innocent.

His eyes look for some unfortunate victim. ² 

Mazmur 18:26

18:26 You prove to be reliable ³  to one who is blameless,

but you prove to be deceptive ⁴  to one who is perverse. ⁵ 

Mazmur 34:21

34:21 Evil people self-destruct; ⁶ 

those who hate the godly are punished. ⁷ 

Mazmur 44:13

44:13 You made us ⁸  an object of disdain to our neighbors;

those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. ⁹ 

Mazmur 55:3

55:3 because of what the enemy says, ¹⁰ 

and because of how the wicked ¹¹  pressure me, ¹² 

for they hurl trouble ¹³  down upon me ¹⁴ 

and angrily attack me.

Mazmur 55:10

55:10 Day and night they walk around on its walls, ¹⁵ 

while wickedness and destruction ¹⁶  are within it.

Mazmur 81:15

81:15 (May those who hate the Lord ¹⁷  cower in fear ¹⁸  before him!

May they be permanently humiliated!) ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 90:15

90:15 Make us happy in proportion to the days you have afflicted us,

in proportion to the years we have experienced ²⁰  trouble!

[10:8]  ¹ tn Heb “he sits in the ambush of the villages.”

[10:8]  ² tn Heb “his eyes for an unfortunate person lie hidden.” The language may picture a lion (see v. 9) peering out from its hiding place in anticipation that an unsuspecting victim will soon come strolling along.

[18:26]  ³ tn Or “blameless.”

[18:26]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verb פָתַל (patal) is used in only three other texts. In Gen 30:8 it means literally “to wrestle,” or “to twist.” In Job 5:13 it refers to devious individuals, and in Prov 8:8 to deceptive words.

[18:26]  ⁵ tn The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted, crooked,” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse. It appears frequently in Proverbs, where it is used of evil people (22:5), speech (8:8; 19:1), thoughts (11:20; 17:20), and life styles (2:15; 28:6). A righteous king opposes such people (Ps 101:4).

[18:26]  sn Verses 25-26 affirm God’s justice. He responds to people in accordance with their moral character. His response mirrors their actions. The faithful and blameless find God to be loyal and reliable in his dealings with them. But deceivers discover he is able and willing to use deceit to destroy them. For a more extensive discussion of the theme of divine deception in the OT, see R. B. Chisholm, “Does God Deceive?” BSac 155 (1998): 11-28.

[34:21]  ⁶ tn Heb “evil kills the wicked [one].” The singular form is representative; the typical evil person is envisioned. The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the typical nature of the action.

[34:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “are guilty,” but the verb is sometimes used metonymically with the meaning “to suffer the consequences of guilt,” the effect being substituted for the cause.

[44:13]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”

[55:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”

[55:3]  ¹¹ tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.

[55:3]  ¹² tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (’aqah, “pressure”).

[55:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.

[55:3]  ¹⁴ tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).

[55:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “day and night they surround it, upon its walls.” Personified “violence and conflict” are the likely subjects. They are compared to watchmen on the city’s walls.

[55:10]  ¹⁶ sn Wickedness and destruction. These terms are also closely associated in Ps 7:14.

[81:15]  ¹⁷ tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21.

[81:15]  ¹⁸ tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.

[81:15]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord. Some propose an emendation to בַּעֲתָתָם (ba’atatam) or בִּעֻתָם (bi’utam; “their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but the omission of bet (ב) in the present Hebrew text is difficult to explain, making the proposed emendation unlikely.

[81:15]  tn The verb form at the beginning of the line is jussive, indicating that this is a prayer. The translation assumes that v. 15 is a parenthetical “curse” offered by the psalmist. Having heard the reference to Israel’s enemies (v. 14), the psalmist inserts this prayer, reminding the Lord that they are God’s enemies as well.

[90:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “have seen.”