Mazmur 10:9

10:9 He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; ¹ 

he lies in ambush, waiting to catch ²  the oppressed;

he catches the oppressed ³  by pulling in his net. ⁴ 

Mazmur 20:3

20:3 May he take notice ⁵  of your offerings;

may he accept ⁶  your burnt sacrifice! (Selah)

Mazmur 36:4

36:4 He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed;

he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; ⁷ 

he does not reject what is evil. ⁸ 

Mazmur 37:35

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ⁹ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 40:1

Psalm 40 ¹¹ 

For the music director; By David, a psalm.

40:1 I relied completely ¹²  on the Lord,

and he turned toward me

and heard my cry for help.

Mazmur 41:6

41:6 When someone comes to visit, ¹³  he pretends to be friendly; ¹⁴ 

he thinks of ways to defame me, ¹⁵ 

and when he leaves he slanders me. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 45:14

45:14 In embroidered robes she is escorted to the king.

Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her,

are led before you. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 49:15

49:15 But ¹⁸  God will rescue ¹⁹  my life ²⁰  from the power ²¹  of Sheol;

certainly ²²  he will pull me to safety. ²³  (Selah)

Mazmur 49:19

49:19 But he will join his ancestors; ²⁴ 

they will never again see the light of day. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 55:17

55:17 During the evening, morning, and noontime

I will lament and moan, ²⁶ 

and he will hear ²⁷  me. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 55:22

55:22 Throw your burden ²⁹  upon the Lord,

and he will sustain you. ³⁰ 

He will never allow the godly to be upended. ³¹ 

Mazmur 58:10

58:10 The godly ³²  will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out;

they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

Mazmur 60:12

60:12 By God’s power we will conquer; ³³ 

he will trample down ³⁴  our enemies.

Mazmur 66:7

66:7 He rules ³⁵  by his power forever;

he watches ³⁶  the nations.

Stubborn rebels should not exalt ³⁷  themselves. (Selah)

Mazmur 72:4

72:4 He will defend ³⁸  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ³⁹  the children ⁴⁰  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Mazmur 72:8

72:8 May he rule ⁴¹  from sea to sea, ⁴² 

and from the Euphrates River ⁴³  to the ends of the earth!

Mazmur 72:12

72:12 For he will rescue the needy ⁴⁴  when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed ⁴⁵  who have no defender.

Mazmur 72:15

72:15 May he live! ⁴⁶  May they offer him gold from Sheba! ⁴⁷ 

May they continually pray for him!

May they pronounce blessings on him all day long! ⁴⁸ 

Mazmur 78:21

78:21 When ⁴⁹  the Lord heard this, he was furious.

A fire broke out against Jacob,

and his anger flared up ⁵⁰  against Israel,

Mazmur 95:4

95:4 The depths of the earth are in his hand, ⁵¹ 

and the mountain peaks belong to him.

Mazmur 104:3

104:3 and lays the beams of the upper rooms of his palace on the rain clouds. ⁵² 

He makes the clouds his chariot,

and travels along on the wings of the wind. ⁵³ 

Mazmur 105:8

105:8 He always remembers his covenantal decree,

the promise he made ⁵⁴  to a thousand generations –

Mazmur 108:13

108:13 By God’s power we will conquer; ⁵⁵ 

he will trample down ⁵⁶  our enemies.

Mazmur 110:6

110:6 He executes judgment ⁵⁷  against ⁵⁸  the nations;

he fills the valleys with corpses; ⁵⁹ 

he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield. ⁶⁰ 

Mazmur 111:5

111:5 He gives ⁶¹  food to his faithful followers; ⁶² 

he always remembers his covenant. ⁶³ 

Mazmur 115:7

115:7 hands, but cannot touch,

feet, but cannot walk.

They cannot even clear their throats. ⁶⁴ 

Mazmur 140:12

140:12 I know ⁶⁵  that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed

and vindicates the poor. ⁶⁶ 

[10:9]  ¹ tn Or “in its den.”

[10:9]  ² tn The verb, which also appears in the next line, occurs only here and in Judg 21:21.

[10:9]  ³ tn The singular form is collective (see v. 10) or refers to the typical or representative oppressed individual.

[10:9]  ⁴ tn Or “when he [i.e., the wicked man] pulls in his net.”

[10:9]  sn The background of the imagery is hunting, where the hunter uses a net to entrap an unsuspecting bird or wild animal.

[20:3]  ⁵ tn Or “remember.” For other examples of the verb זָכַר (zakhar) carrying the nuance “take notice of,” see Pss 8:4 and 9:12.

[20:3]  ⁶ tc Heb “consider as fat.” The verbal form should probably be emended to יְדַשְּׁנֶהָ (yÿdashÿneha), the final he (ה) being understood as a third feminine singular pronominal suffix referring back to the feminine noun “burnt sacrifice.”

[36:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “he takes a stand in a way [that is] not good.” The word “way” here refers metaphorically to behavior or life style.

[36:4]  ⁸ tn The three imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 highlight the characteristic behavior of the typical evildoer.

[37:35]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mit’areh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (’arah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (’alah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.

[40:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 40. The psalmist combines a song of thanksgiving for a recent act of divine deliverance (vv. 1-11) with a confident petition for renewed divine intervention (vv. 12-17).

[40:1]  ¹² tn Heb “relying, I relied.” The infinitive absolute precedes the finite verbal form to emphasize the verbal idea. The emphasis is reflected in the translation through the adverb “completely.” Another option is to translate, “I waited patiently” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[41:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “to see.”

[41:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he speaks deceitfully.”

[41:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “his heart gathers sin to itself.”

[41:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he goes outside and speaks.”

[45:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “virgins after her, her companions, are led to you.” Some emend לָךְ (lakh, “to you”) to לָהּ (lah, “to her,” i.e., the princess), because the princess is now being spoken of in the third person (vv. 13-14a), rather than being addressed directly (as in vv. 10-12). However, the ambiguous suffixed form לָךְ need not be taken as second feminine singular. The suffix can be understood as a pausal second masculine singular form, addressed to the king. The translation assumes this to be the case; note that the king is addressed once more in vv. 16-17, where the second person pronouns are masculine.

[49:15]  ¹⁸ tn Or “certainly.”

[49:15]  ¹⁹ tn Or “redeem.”

[49:15]  ²⁰ tn Or “me.” 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).

[49:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “hand.”

[49:15]  ²² tn Or “for.”

[49:15]  ²³ tn Heb “he will take me.” To improve the poetic balance of the verse, some move the words “from the power of Sheol” to the following line. The verse would then read: “But God will rescue my life; / from the power of Sheol he will certainly deliver me” (cf. NEB).

[49:15]  sn According to some, the psalmist here anticipates the resurrection (or at least an afterlife in God’s presence). But it is more likely that the psalmist here expresses his hope that God will rescue him from premature death at the hands of the rich oppressors denounced in the psalm. The psalmist is well aware that all (the wise and foolish) die (see vv. 7-12), but he is confident God will lead him safely through the present “times of trouble” (v. 5) and sweep the wicked away to their final destiny. The theme is a common one in the so-called wisdom psalms (see Pss 1, 34, 37, 112). For a fuller discussion of the psalmists’ view of the afterlife, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “A Theology of the Psalms,” A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, 284-88.

[49:19]  ²⁴ tn Verses 18-19a are one long sentence in the Hebrew text, which reads: “Though he blesses his soul in his life, [saying], ‘And let them praise you, for you do well for yourself,’ it [that is, his soul] will go to the generation of his fathers.” This has been divided into two sentences in the translation for clarity, in keeping with the tendency of contemporary English to use shorter sentences.

[49:19]  ²⁵ tn Heb “light.” The words “of day” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[55:17]  ²⁶ tn The first verb is clearly a cohortative form, expressing the psalmist’s resolve. The second verb, while formally ambiguous, should also be understood as cohortative here.

[55:17]  ²⁷ tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive normally appears in narrational contexts to indicate past action, but here it continues the anticipatory (future) perspective of the preceding line. In Ps 77:6 one finds the same sequence of cohortative + prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive. In this case as well, both forms refer to future actions.

[55:17]  ²⁸ tn Heb “my voice.”

[55:22]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[55:22]  ³⁰ tn The pronoun is singular; the psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually.

[55:22]  ³¹ tn Heb “he will never allow swaying for the righteous.”

[58:10]  ³² tn The singular is representative here, as is the singular from “wicked” in the next line.

[60:12]  ³³ tn Heb “in God we will accomplish strength.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 108:13; 118:15-16).

[60:12]  ³⁴ sn Trample down. On this expression see Ps 44:5.

[66:7]  ³⁵ tn Heb “[the] one who rules.”

[66:7]  ³⁶ tn Heb “his eyes watch.” “Eyes” are an anthropomorphism, attributed to God here to emphasize his awareness of all that happens on earth.

[66:7]  ³⁷ tn The verb form is jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al). The Kethib (consonantal text) has a Hiphil form of the verb, apparently to be understood in an exhibitive sense (“demonstrate stubborn rebellion”; see BDB 927 s.v. רוּם Hiph), while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Qal form, to be understood in an intransitive sense. The preposition -לְ (lamed) with pronominal suffix should be understood in a reflexive sense (“for themselves”) and indicates that the action is performed with the interest of the subject in mind.

[72:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ³⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “sons.”

[72:8]  ⁴¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is a (shortened) jussive form, indicating this is a prayer of blessing.

[72:8]  ⁴² sn From sea to sea. This may mean from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Dead Sea in the east. See Amos 8:12. The language of this and the following line also appears in Zech 9:10.

[72:8]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the river,” a reference to the Euphrates.

[72:12]  ⁴⁴ tn The singular is representative. The typical needy individual here represents the entire group.

[72:12]  ⁴⁵ tn The singular is representative. The typical oppressed individual here represents the entire group.

[72:15]  ⁴⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect. Because the form has the prefixed vav (ו), some subordinate it to what precedes as a purpose/result clause. In this case the representative poor individual might be the subject of this and the following verb, “so that he may live and give to him gold of Sheba.” But the idea of the poor offering gold is incongruous. It is better to take the jussive as a prayer with the king as subject of the verb. (Perhaps the initial vav is dittographic; note the vav at the end of the last form in v. 14.) The statement is probably an abbreviated version of the formula יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ (yÿkhiy hammelekh, “may the king live”; see 1 Sam 10:24; 2 Sam 16:16; 1 Kgs 1:25, 34, 39; 2 Kgs 11:12).

[72:15]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and he will give to him some gold of Sheba.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive with a grammatically indefinite subject (“and may one give”). Of course, the king’s subjects, mentioned in the preceding context, are the tribute bearers in view here.

[72:15]  ⁴⁸ tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives with a grammatically indefinite subject (“and may one pray…and may one bless”). Of course, the king’s subjects, mentioned in the preceding context, are in view here.

[78:21]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “therefore.”

[78:21]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “and also anger went up.”

[95:4]  ⁵¹ tn The phrase “in his hand” means within the sphere of his authority.

[104:3]  ⁵² tn Heb “one who lays the beams on water [in] his upper rooms.” The “water” mentioned here corresponds to the “waters above” mentioned in Gen 1:7. For a discussion of the picture envisioned by the psalmist, see L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 44-45.

[104:3]  ⁵³ sn Verse 3 may depict the Lord riding a cherub, which is in turn propelled by the wind current. Another option is that the wind is personified as a cherub. See Ps 18:10 and the discussion of ancient Near Eastern parallels to the imagery in M. Weinfeld, “‘Rider of the Clouds’ and ‘Gatherer of the Clouds’,” JANESCU 5 (1973): 422-24.

[105:8]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “[the] word he commanded.” The text refers here to God’s unconditional covenantal promise to Abraham and the patriarchs, as vv. 10-12 make clear.

[108:13]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “in God we will accomplish strength.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 60:12; 118:16-16).

[108:13]  ⁵⁶ sn On the expression trample down our enemies see Ps 44:5.

[110:6]  ⁵⁷ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 6-7 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though they could be taken as future.

[110:6]  ⁵⁸ tn Or “among.”

[110:6]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת(ge’ayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton.

[110:6]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “he strikes [the verb is מָחַץ (makhats), translated “strikes down” in v. 5] head[s] over a great land.” The Hebrew term רַבָּה (rabbah, “great”) is here used of distance or spatial measurement (see 1 Sam 26:13).

[111:5]  ⁶¹ tn Or “gave,” if the events of the exodus and conquest period (see v. 6, 9) are primarily in view.

[111:5]  ⁶² tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[111:5]  ⁶³ tn Or “he remembers his covenant forever” (see Ps 105:8).

[115:7]  ⁶⁴ 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).

[140:12]  ⁶⁵ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading a first person verb form here. The Kethib reads the second person.

[140:12]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “and the just cause of the poor.”