Mazmur 119:150

119:150 Those who are eager to do ¹  wrong draw near;

they are far from your law.

Mazmur 14:6

14:6 You want to humiliate the oppressed, ² 

even though ³  the Lord is their ⁴  shelter.

Mazmur 17:9

17:9 Protect me from ⁵  the wicked men who attack ⁶  me,

my enemies who crowd around me for the kill. ⁷ 

Mazmur 33:10-11

33:10 The Lord frustrates ⁸  the decisions of the nations;

he nullifies the plans ⁹  of the peoples.

33:11 The Lord’s decisions stand forever;

his plans abide throughout the ages. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 73:16

73:16 When I tried to make sense of this,

it was troubling to me. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 140:4

140:4 O Lord, shelter me from the power ¹²  of the wicked!

Protect me from violent men,

who plan to knock me over. ¹³ 

Mazmur 25:14

25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, ¹⁴ 

and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 56:5

56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; ¹⁶ 

they make a habit of plotting my demise. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 105:45

105:45 so that they might keep his commands

and obey ¹⁸  his laws.

Praise the Lord!

Mazmur 140:8

140:8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way! ¹⁹ 

Do not allow their ²⁰  plan to succeed when they attack! ²¹  (Selah)

Mazmur 146:4

146:4 Their life’s breath departs, they return to the ground;

on that day their plans die. ²² 

Mazmur 62:4

62:4 They ²³  spend all their time planning how to bring him ²⁴  down. ²⁵ 

They love to use deceit; ²⁶ 

they pronounce blessings with their mouths,

but inwardly they utter curses. ²⁷  (Selah)

Mazmur 64:5

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ²⁸ 

They plan how to hide ²⁹  snares,

and boast, ³⁰  “Who will see them?” ³¹ 

Mazmur 2:7

2:7 The king says, ³²  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ³³ 

‘You are my son! ³⁴  This very day I have become your father!

Mazmur 5:9

5:9 For ³⁵  they do not speak the truth; ³⁶ 

their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ³⁷ 

their throats like an open grave, ³⁸ 

their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ³⁹ 

Mazmur 31:13

31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, ⁴⁰ 

the terrifying news that comes from every direction. ⁴¹ 

When they plot together against me,

they figure out how they can take my life.

Mazmur 40:5

40:5 O Lord, my God, you have accomplished many things;

you have done amazing things and carried out your purposes for us. ⁴² 

No one can thwart you! ⁴³ 

I want to declare them and talk about them,

but they are too numerous to recount! ⁴⁴ 

[119:150]  ¹ tn Heb “those who pursue.”

[14:6]  ² tn Heb “the counsel of the oppressed you put to shame.” Using a second person plural verb form, the psalmist addresses the wicked. Since the context indicates their attempt to harm the godly will be thwarted, the imperfect should be taken in a subjunctive (cf. NASB, NRSV) rather than an indicative manner (cf. NIV). Here it probably expresses their desire or intent (“want to humiliate”).

[14:6]  ³ tn It is unlikely that כִּי (ki) has a causal force here. The translation assumes a concessive force; another option is to understand an asseverative use (“certainly, indeed”).

[14:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “his.” The antecedent of the singular pronoun is the singular form עָנִי (’ani, “oppressed”) in the preceding line. The singular is collective or representative here (and thus translated as plural, “they”).

[17:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “from before”; or “because.” In the Hebrew text v. 9 is subordinated to v. 8. The words “protect me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “destroy.” The psalmist uses the perfect verbal form to emphasize the degree of danger. He describes the wicked as being already in the process of destroying him.

[17:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “my enemies, at the risk of life they surround me.” The Hebrew phrase בְּנֶפֶשׁ (bÿnefesh) sometimes has the nuance “at the risk of [one’s] life” (see 1 Kgs 2:23; Prov 7:23; Lam 5:9).

[33:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the Lord’s activity.

[33:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “thoughts.”

[33:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the thoughts of his heart for generation to generation.” The verb “abides” is supplied in the translation. The Lord’s “decisions” and “plans” here refer to his decrees and purposes.

[73:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and [when] I pondered to understand this, troubling it [was] in my eyes.”

[140:4]  ¹² tn Heb “hands.”

[140:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “to push down my steps.”

[25:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”

[25:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”

[56:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”

[56:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”

[105:45]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “guard.”

[140:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “do not grant the desires of the wicked.”

[140:8]  ²⁰ tn Heb “his.” The singular is used in a representative sense (see v. 1).

[140:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “his plot do not promote, they rise up.” The translation understands the final verb as being an unmarked temporal clause. Another option is to revocalize the verb as a Hiphil and take the verb with the next verse, “those who surround me lift up [their] head,” which could refer to their proud attitude as they anticipate victory (see Ps 27:6).

[146:4]  ²² tn Heb “his spirit goes out, it returns to his ground; in that day his plans die.” The singular refers to the representative man mentioned in v. 3b.

[62:4]  ²³ tn That is, the psalmist’s enemies addressed in the previous verse.

[62:4]  ²⁴ tn That is, the generic “man” referred to in the previous verse.

[62:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “only from his lofty place [or perhaps, “dignity”] they plan to drive [him] away.”

[62:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they delight [in] a lie.”

[62:4]  ²⁷ sn The enemies use deceit to bring down their victim. They make him think they are his friends by pronouncing blessings upon him, but inwardly they desire his demise.

[64:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5]  ³¹ tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

[2:7]  ³² tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ³³ tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ³⁴ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[5:9]  ³⁵ tn Or “certainly.”

[5:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for there is not in his mouth truthfulness.” The singular pronoun (“his”) probably refers back to the “man of bloodshed and deceit” mentioned in v. 6. The singular is collective or representative, as the plural in the next line indicates, and so has been translated “they.”

[5:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “their inward part[s] [is] destruction.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse.

[5:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “their throat is an open grave.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse. The metaphor is suggested by the physical resemblance of the human throat to a deeply dug grave; both are dark chasms.

[5:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “they make smooth their tongue.” Flattering, deceitful words are in view. See Ps 12:2. The psalmist’s deceitful enemies are compared to the realm of death/Sheol in v. 9b. Sheol was envisioned as a dark region within the earth, the entrance to which was the grave with its steep slopes (cf. Ps 88:4-6). The enemies’ victims are pictured here as slipping down a steep slope (the enemies’ tongues) and falling into an open grave (their throat) that terminates in destruction in the inner recesses of Sheol (their stomach). The enemies’ קרב (“inward part”) refers here to their thoughts and motives, which are destructive in their intent. The throat is where these destructive thoughts are transformed into words, and their tongue is what they use to speak the deceitful words that lead their innocent victims to their demise.

[5:9]  sn As the psalmist walks down the path in which God leads him, he asks the Lord to guide his steps and remove danger from the path (v. 8), because he knows his enemies have “dug a grave” for him and are ready to use their deceitful words to “swallow him up” like the realm of death (i.e., Sheol) and bring him to ruin.

[31:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the report of many.”

[31:13]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the terror from all around.”

[40:5]  ⁴² tn Heb “many things you have done, you, O Lord my God, your amazing deeds and your thoughts toward us.” The precise meaning of the text is not clear, but the psalmist seems to be recalling the Lord’s miraculous deeds on Israel’s behalf (see Pss 9:1; 26:7), as well as his covenantal decrees and promises (see Ps 33:11).

[40:5]  ⁴³ tn Heb “there is none arrayed against you.” The precise meaning of the text is unclear, but the collocation עָרַךְ אֶל (’arakh ’el, “array against”) is used elsewhere of military (Judg 20:30; 1 Chr 19:17) or verbal opposition (Job 32:14).

[40:5]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “I will declare and I will speak, they are too numerous to recount.” The present translation assumes that the cohortatives are used in a hypothetical manner in a formally unmarked conditional sentence, “Should I try to declare [them] and speak [of them]…” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). For other examples of cohortatives in the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, see GKC 320 §108.e. (It should be noted, however, that GKC understands this particular verse in a different manner. See GKC 320 §108.f, where it is suggested that the cohortatives are part of an apodosis with the protasis being suppressed.) Another option is to take the cohortatives as a declaration of the psalmist’s resolve to announce the truth expressed in the next line. In this case one might translate: “I will declare and speak [the truth]: They are too numerous to recount.”