Mazmur 16:2

16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord,

my only source of well-being.” ¹ 

Mazmur 18:5

18:5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, ² 

the snares of death trapped me. ³ 

Mazmur 27:1

Psalm 27 ⁴ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ⁵ 

I fear no one! ⁶ 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ⁷ 

Mazmur 35:11

35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, ⁸ 

and falsely accuse me. ⁹ 

Mazmur 50:5

50:5 He says: ¹⁰ 

“Assemble my covenant people before me, ¹¹ 

those who ratified a covenant with me by sacrifice!” ¹² 

Mazmur 50:8

50:8 I am not condemning ¹³  you because of your sacrifices,

or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 51:8

51:8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! ¹⁵ 

May the bones ¹⁶  you crushed rejoice! ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 66:17

66:17 I cried out to him for help ¹⁸ 

and praised him with my tongue. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 69:30

69:30 I will sing praises to God’s name! ²⁰ 

I will magnify him as I give him thanks! ²¹ 

Mazmur 77:5

77:5 I thought about the days of old,

about ancient times. ²² 

Mazmur 101:4

101:4 I will have nothing to do with a perverse person; ²³ 

I will not permit ²⁴  evil.

Mazmur 119:133

119:133 Direct my steps by your word! ²⁵ 

Do not let any sin dominate me!

Mazmur 119:170

119:170 Listen to my appeal for mercy! ²⁶ 

Deliver me, as you promised. ²⁷ 

[16:2]  ¹ tn Heb “my good [is] not beyond you.” For the use of the preposition עַל (’al) in the sense of “beyond,” see BDB 755 s.v. 2.

[18:5]  ² tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[18:5]  ³ tn Heb “confronted me.”

[27:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

[27:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[35:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “witnesses of violence rise up.”

[35:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “[that] which I do not know they ask me.”

[50:5]  ¹⁰ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s summons to the defendant follows.

[50:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “Gather to me my covenant people.” The Hebrew term חָסִיד (khasid, “covenant people”) elsewhere in the psalms is used in a positive sense of God’s loyal followers (see the note at Ps 4:3), but here, as the following line makes clear, the term has a neutral sense and simply refers to those who have outwardly sworn allegiance to God, not necessarily to those whose loyalty is genuine.

[50:5]  ¹² tn Heb “the cutters of my covenant according to sacrifice.” A sacrifice accompanied the covenant-making ceremony and formally ratified the agreement (see Exod 24:3-8).

[50:8]  ¹³ tn Or “rebuking.”

[50:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”

[51:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “cause me to hear happiness and joy.” The language is metonymic: the effect of forgiveness (joy) has been substituted for its cause. The psalmist probably alludes here to an assuring word from God announcing that his sins are forgiven (a so-called oracle of forgiveness). The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request. The synonyms “happiness” and “joy” are joined together as a hendiadys to emphasize the degree of joy he anticipates.

[51:8]  ¹⁶ sn May the bones you crushed rejoice. The psalmist compares his sinful condition to that of a person who has been physically battered and crushed. Within this metaphorical framework, his “bones” are the seat of his emotional strength.

[51:8]  ¹⁷ tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.

[66:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “to him [with] my mouth I called.”

[66:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he was extolled under my tongue.” The form רוֹמַם (romam) appears to be a polal (passive) participle from רוּם (rum, “be exalted”), but many prefer to read רוֹמָם, “high praise [was under my tongue]” (cf. NEB). See BDB 928 s.v. רוֹמָם.

[69:30]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I will praise the name of God with a song.”

[69:30]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will magnify him with thanks.”

[77:5]  ²² tn Heb “the years of antiquity.”

[101:4]  ²³ tn Heb “a perverse heart will turn aside from me.” The adjective עִקֵּשׁ (’iqqesh) has the basic nuance “twisted; crooked” and by extension refers to someone or something that is morally perverse (see Ps 18:26). It appears frequently in the Book of 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).

[101:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “know.” The king will not willingly allow perverse individuals to remain in his royal court.

[119:133]  ²⁵ tn God’s “word” refers here to his law (see v. 11).

[119:170]  ²⁶ tn Heb “may my appeal for mercy come before you.”

[119:170]  ²⁷ tn Heb “according to your speech.”