Mazmur 11:3

11:3 When the foundations ¹  are destroyed,

what can the godly ²  accomplish?” ³ 

Mazmur 25:21

25:21 May integrity and godliness protect me,

for I rely on you!

Mazmur 37:23

37:23 The Lord grants success to the one

whose behavior he finds commendable. ⁴ 

Mazmur 37:32

37:32 Evil men set an ambush for the godly

and try to kill them. ⁵ 

Mazmur 51:2

51:2 Wash away my wrongdoing! ⁶ 

Cleanse me of my sin! ⁷ 

Mazmur 72:3

72:3 The mountains will bring news of peace to the people,

and the hills will announce justice. ⁸ 

Mazmur 78:1

Psalm 78 ⁹ 

A well-written song ¹⁰  by Asaph.

78:1 Pay attention, my people, to my instruction!

Listen to the words I speak! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 103:8

103:8 The Lord is compassionate and merciful;

he is patient ¹²  and demonstrates great loyal love. ¹³ 

Mazmur 105:7

105:7 He is the Lord our God;

he carries out judgment throughout the earth. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 106:3

106:3 How blessed are those who promote justice,

and do what is right all the time!

Mazmur 106:31

106:31 This brought him a reward,

an eternal gift. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 111:8

111:8 They are forever firm,

and should be faithfully and properly carried out. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 116:5

116:5 The Lord is merciful and fair;

our God is compassionate.

Mazmur 119:4-5

119:4 You demand that your precepts

be carefully kept. ¹⁷ 

119:5 If only I were predisposed ¹⁸ 

to keep your statutes!

Mazmur 122:3

122:3 Jerusalem ¹⁹  is a city designed

to accommodate an assembly. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 128:2

128:2 You ²¹  will eat what you worked so hard to grow. ²² 

You will be blessed and secure. ²³ 

Mazmur 129:3

129:3 The plowers plowed my back;

they made their furrows long.

Mazmur 136:8

136:8 the sun to rule by day,

for his loyal love endures,

[11:3]  ¹ tn The precise meaning of this rare word is uncertain. An Ugaritic cognate is used of the “bottom” or “base” of a cliff or mountain (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47, 159). The noun appears in postbiblical Hebrew with the meaning “foundation” (see Jastrow 1636 s.v. שָׁת).

[11:3]  ² tn The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense. Note the plural form “pure [of heart]” in the previous verse.

[11:3]  ³ sn The quotation of the advisers’ words (which begins in 11:1c) ends at this point. They advise the psalmist to flee because the enemy is poised to launch a deadly attack. In such a lawless and chaotic situation godly people like the psalmist can accomplish nothing, so they might as well retreat to a safe place.

[37:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the Lord the steps of a man are established, and in his way he delights.” The second line qualifies the first. The man whose behavior is commendable in God’s sight is the one whose ways are established by God. Another option is that the second line refers to the godly man delighting in God’s “way,” namely the lifestyle which he prescribes for men. In this case one might translate, “The Lord grants success to the one who desires to obey his commands.”

[37:32]  ⁵ tn Heb “an evil [one] watches the godly [one] and seeks to kill him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The active participles describe characteristic behavior.

[51:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “Thoroughly wash me from my wrongdoing.”

[51:2]  ⁷ sn In vv. 1b-2 the psalmist uses three different words to emphasize the multifaceted character and degree of his sin. Whatever one wants to call it (“rebellious acts,” “wrongdoing,” “sin”), he has done it and stands morally polluted in God’s sight. The same three words appear in Exod 34:7, which emphasizes that God is willing to forgive sin in all of its many dimensions. In v. 2 the psalmist compares forgiveness and restoration to physical cleansing. Perhaps he likens spiritual cleansing to the purification rites of priestly law.

[72:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “[the] mountains will bear peace to the people, and [the] hills with justice.” The personified mountains and hills probably represent messengers who will sweep over the land announcing the king’s just decrees and policies. See Isa 52:7 and C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 2:133.

[78:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 78. The author of this lengthy didactic psalm rehearses Israel’s history. He praises God for his power, goodness and patience, but also reminds his audience that sin angers God and prompts his judgment. In the conclusion to the psalm the author elevates Jerusalem as God’s chosen city and David as his chosen king.

[78:1]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 74.

[78:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Turn your ear to the words of my mouth.”

[103:8]  ¹² tn Heb “slow to anger” (see Ps 86:15).

[103:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “and great of loyal love” (see Ps 86:15).

[105:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in all the earth [are] his judgments.”

[106:31]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to a generation and a generation forever.” The verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon”) is collocated with צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) only in Ps 106:31 and Gen 15:6, where God rewards Abram’s faith with a land grant.

[106:31]  sn Brought him a reward. See Num 25:12-13.

[111:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “done in faithfulness and uprightness.” The passive participle probably has the force of a gerund. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 89.

[119:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you, you commanded your precepts, to keep, very much.”

[119:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “if only my ways were established.”

[122:3]  ¹⁹ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[122:3]  ²⁰ tc Heb “Jerusalem, which is built like a city which is joined to her together.” The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear. Many regard this as a description of the compact way in which the city was designed or constructed. The translation assumes an emendation of the verb חֻבְּרָה (khubbÿrah, “is joined”) to a noun חֶבְרָה (khevrah, “association; company”). The text then reads literally, “Jerusalem, which is built like a city which has a company together.” This in turn can be taken as a reference to Jerusalem’s role as a city where people congregated for religious festivals and other civic occasions (see vv. 4-5).

[128:2]  ²¹ tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.

[128:2]  ²² tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”

[128:2]  ²³ tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”