Mazmur 16:9

16:9 So my heart rejoices

and I am happy; ¹ 

My life is safe. ² 

Mazmur 25:17-18

25:17 Deliver me from my distress; ³ 

rescue me from my suffering! ⁴ 

25:18 See my pain and suffering!

Forgive all my sins! ⁵ 

Mazmur 26:10

26:10 who are always ready to do wrong ⁶ 

or offer a bribe. ⁷ 

Mazmur 33:4

33:4 For ⁸  the Lord’s decrees ⁹  are just, ¹⁰ 

and everything he does is fair. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 35:12

35:12 They repay me evil for the good I have done; ¹² 

I am overwhelmed with sorrow. ¹³ 

Mazmur 35:16

35:16 When I tripped, they taunted me relentlessly, ¹⁴ 

and tried to bite me. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 37:4

37:4 Then you will take delight in the Lord, ¹⁶ 

and he will answer your prayers. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 37:15

37:15 Their swords will pierce ¹⁸  their own hearts,

and their bows will be broken.

Mazmur 37:30

37:30 The godly speak wise words

and promote justice. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 42:4

42:4 I will remember and weep! ²⁰ 

For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,

shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. ²¹ 

Mazmur 48:7

48:7 With an east wind

you shatter ²²  the large ships. ²³ 

Mazmur 48:12

48:12 Walk around ²⁴  Zion! Encircle it!

Count its towers!

Mazmur 50:2

50:2 From Zion, the most beautiful of all places, ²⁵ 

God comes in splendor. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 66:9

66:9 He preserves our lives ²⁷ 

and does not allow our feet to slip.

Mazmur 73:2

73:2 But as for me, my feet almost slipped;

my feet almost slid out from under me. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 73:21

73:21 Yes, ²⁹  my spirit was bitter, ³⁰ 

and my insides felt sharp pain. ³¹ 

Mazmur 75:8

75:8 For the Lord holds in his hand a cup full

of foaming wine mixed with spices, ³² 

and pours it out. ³³ 

Surely all the wicked of the earth

will slurp it up and drink it to its very last drop.” ³⁴ 

Mazmur 82:4

82:4 Rescue the poor and needy!

Deliver them from the power ³⁵  of the wicked!

Mazmur 94:8

94:8 Take notice of this, ³⁶  you ignorant people! ³⁷ 

You fools, when will you ever understand?

Mazmur 104:8

104:8 as the mountains rose up,

and the valleys went down –

to the place you appointed for them. ³⁸ 

Mazmur 104:12

104:12 The birds of the sky live beside them;

they chirp among the bushes. ³⁹ 

Mazmur 104:34

104:34 May my thoughts ⁴⁰  be pleasing to him!

I will rejoice in the Lord.

Mazmur 106:3

106:3 How blessed are those who promote justice,

and do what is right all the time!

Mazmur 107:34

107:34 and a fruitful land into a barren place, ⁴¹ 

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

Mazmur 109:4

109:4 They repay my love with accusations, ⁴² 

but I continue to pray. ⁴³ 

Mazmur 109:7

109:7 When he is judged, he will be found ⁴⁴  guilty! ⁴⁵ 

Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.

Mazmur 109:10

109:10 May his children ⁴⁶  roam around begging,

asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! ⁴⁷ 

Mazmur 109:13

109:13 May his descendants ⁴⁸  be cut off! ⁴⁹ 

May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! ⁵⁰ 

Mazmur 113:6

113:6 He bends down to look ⁵¹ 

at the sky and the earth.

Mazmur 115:3

115:3 Our God is in heaven!

He does whatever he pleases! ⁵² 

Mazmur 119:25

ד (Dalet)

119:25 I collapse in the dirt. ⁵³ 

Revive me with your word! ⁵⁴ 

Mazmur 119:45

119:45 I will be secure, ⁵⁵ 

for I seek your precepts.

Mazmur 119:56

119:56 This ⁵⁶  has been my practice,

for I observe your precepts.

Mazmur 119:89

ל (Lamed)

119:89 O Lord, your instructions endure;

they stand secure in heaven. ⁵⁷ 

Mazmur 119:139

119:139 My zeal ⁵⁸  consumes ⁵⁹  me,

for my enemies forget your instructions. ⁶⁰ 

Mazmur 119:162

119:162 I rejoice in your instructions,

like one who finds much plunder. ⁶¹ 

Mazmur 120:7

120:7 I am committed to peace, ⁶² 

but when I speak, they want to make war. ⁶³ 

Mazmur 122:6

122:6 Pray ⁶⁴  for the peace of Jerusalem!

May those who love her prosper! ⁶⁵ 

Mazmur 123:4

123:4 We have had our fill ⁶⁶ 

of the taunts of the self-assured,

of the contempt of the proud.

Mazmur 124:8

124:8 Our deliverer is the Lord, ⁶⁷ 

the Creator ⁶⁸  of heaven and earth.

Mazmur 129:3

129:3 The plowers plowed my back;

they made their furrows long.

Mazmur 129:7

129:7 which cannot fill the reaper’s hand,

or the lap of the one who gathers the grain!

Mazmur 139:6

139:6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension;

it is so far beyond me, I am unable to fathom it. ⁶⁹ 

Mazmur 149:5

149:5 Let the godly rejoice because of their vindication! ⁷⁰ 

Let them shout for joy upon their beds! ⁷¹ 

[16:9]  ¹ tn Heb “my glory is happy.” Some view the Hebrew term כְּבוֹדִי (kÿvodiy, “my glory”) as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 30:12; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”

[16:9]  ² tn Heb “yes, my flesh dwells securely.” The psalmist’s “flesh” stands by metonymy for his body and, by extension, his physical life.

[25:17]  ³ tc Heb “the distresses of my heart, they make wide.” The text makes little if any sense as it stands, unless this is an otherwise unattested intransitive use of the Hiphil of רָחַב (rakhav, “be wide”). It is preferable to emend the form הִרְחִיבוּ (hirkhivu; Hiphil perfect third plural “they make wide”) to הַרְחֵיב (harkhev; Hiphil imperative masculine singular “make wide”). (The final vav [ו] can be joined to the following word and taken as a conjunction.) In this case one can translate, “[in/from] the distresses of my heart, make wide [a place for me],” that is, “deliver me from the distress I am experiencing.” For the expression “make wide [a place for me],” see Ps 4:1.

[25:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “from my distresses lead me out.”

[25:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “lift up all my sins.”

[26:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “who [have] in their hands evil.”

[26:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and their right hand is full of a bribe.”

[33:4]  ⁸ sn For the Lord’s decrees are just… After the call to praise (vv. 1-3), the psalmist now gives a series of reasons why the Lord is worthy of praise.

[33:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “word.” In this context, which depicts the Lord as the sovereign creator and ruler of the world, the Lord’s “word” refers to the decrees whereby he governs his dominion.

[33:4]  ¹⁰ tn Or “upright.”

[33:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and all his work [is] in faithfulness.”

[35:12]  ¹² tn Heb “they repay me evil instead of good.”

[35:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “[there is] bereavement to my soul.”

[35:16]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads “as profane [ones] of mockers of food,” which is nonsensical. The present translation assumes (1) an emendation of בְּחַנְפֵי (bÿkhanfey, “as profane men”) to בְּחַנְפִי (bekhanfiy, “when I tripped”; preposition + Qal infinitive construct from II חָנַף [“limp”] + first common singular pronominal suffix) and (2) an emendation of לַעֲגֵי מָעוֹג (la’agey ma’og, “mockers of food”) to עָגוּ[ם]לַעְגָּ (la’gam ’agu, “[with] taunting they taunted”; masculine plural noun with enclitic mem + Qal perfect third common plural from לַּעַג [la’ag, “taunt”]).

[35:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “gnashing at me with their teeth.” The infinitive absolute adds a complementary action – they gnashed with their teeth as they taunted.

[37:4]  ¹⁶ tn Following the imperatives of v. 3 the prefixed verbal forms with vav (ו) in v. 4 indicate result. Faith and obedience (v. 3) will bring divine blessing (v. 4).

[37:4]  ¹⁷ tn Or “and he will give you what you desire most.” Heb “and he will grant to you the requests of your heart.”

[37:15]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “enter into.”

[37:30]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “The mouth of the godly [one] utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice.” The singular form is used in a representative sense; the typical godly individual is in view. The imperfect verbal forms draw attention to the characteristic behavior of the godly.

[42:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “These things I will remember and I will pour out upon myself my soul.” “These things” are identified in the second half of the verse as those times when the psalmist worshiped in the Lord’s temple. The two cohortative forms indicate the psalmist’s resolve to remember and weep. The expression “pour out upon myself my soul” refers to mourning (see Job 30:16).

[42:4]  ²¹ tc Heb “for I was passing by with the throng [?], I was walking with [?] them to the house of God; with a voice of a ringing shout and thanksgiving a multitude was observing a festival.” The Hebrew phrase בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם (bassakh ’eddaddem, “with the throng [?] I was walking with [?]”) is particularly problematic. The noun סָךְ (sakh) occurs only here. If it corresponds to הָמוֹן (hamon, “multitude”) then one can propose a meaning “throng.” The present translation assumes this reading (cf. NIV, NRSV). The form אֶדַּדֵּם (“I will walk with [?]”) is also very problematic. The form can be taken as a Hitpael from דָּדָה (dadah; this verb possibly appears in Isa 38:15), but the pronominal suffix is problematic. For this reason many emend the form to ם[י]אַדִּרִ (’adirim, “nobles”) or ם-רִ[י]אַדִ (’adirim, “great,” with enclitic mem [ם]). The present translation understands the latter and takes the adjective “great” as modifying “throng.” If one emends סָךְ (sakh, “throng [?]”) to סֹךְ (sokh, “shelter”; see the Qere of Ps 27:5), then ר[י]אַדִּ (’addir) could be taken as a divine epithet, “[in the shelter of] the majestic one,” a reading which may find support in the LXX and Syriac Peshitta.

[48:7]  ²² tn The switch to the imperfect, as well as the introduction of the ship metaphor, perhaps signals a change to a generalizing tone; the Lord typically shatters these large ships, symbolic of the human strength of hostile armies (see the following note on “large ships”). The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Pss 29:5; 46:9). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3).

[48:7]  ²³ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to and from the distant western port of Tarshish. These ships, which were the best of their class, here symbolize the mere human strength of hostile armies, which are incapable of withstanding the Lord’s divine power (see Isa 2:16).

[48:12]  ²⁴ tn The verb forms in vv. 12-13 are plural; the entire Judahite community is addressed.

[50:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the perfection of beauty.”

[50:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “shines forth.”

[50:2]  sn Comes in splendor. The psalmist may allude ironically to Deut 33:2, where God “shines forth” from Sinai and comes to superintend Moses’ blessing of the tribes.

[66:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the one who places our soul in life.”

[73:2]  ²⁸ tn The Hebrew verb normally means “to pour out,” but here it must have the nuance “to slide.”

[73:2]  sn My feet almost slid out from under me. The language is metaphorical. As the following context makes clear, the psalmist almost “slipped” in a spiritual sense. As he began to question God’s justice, the psalmist came close to abandoning his faith.

[73:21]  ²⁹ tn Or perhaps “when.”

[73:21]  ³⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing attitude in a past time frame.

[73:21]  ³¹ tn Heb “and [in] my kidneys I was pierced.” The imperfect verbal form here describes a continuing condition in a past time frame.

[75:8]  ³² tn Heb “for a cup [is] in the hand of the Lord, and wine foams, it is full of a spiced drink.” The noun מֶסֶךְ (mesekh) refers to a “mixture” of wine and spices.

[75:8]  ³³ tn Heb “and he pours out from this.”

[75:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “surely its dregs they slurp up and drink, all the wicked of the earth.”

[75:8]  sn The psalmist pictures God as forcing the wicked to gulp down an intoxicating drink that will leave them stunned and vulnerable. Divine judgment is also depicted this way in Ps 60:3; Isa 51:17-23; and Hab 2:16.

[82:4]  ³⁵ tn Heb “hand.”

[94:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “understand.” The verb used in v. 7 is repeated here for rhetorical effect. The people referred to here claim God is ignorant of their actions, but the psalmist corrects their faulty viewpoint.

[94:8]  ³⁷ tn Heb “[you] brutish among the people.”

[104:8]  ³⁸ tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”

[104:8]  sn Verses 7-8 poetically depict Gen 1:9-10.

[104:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “among the thick foliage they give a sound.”

[104:34]  ⁴⁰ tn That is, the psalmist’s thoughts as expressed in his songs of praise.

[107:34]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “a salty land.”

[109:4]  ⁴² tn Heb “in place of my love they oppose me.”

[109:4]  ⁴³ tn Heb “and I, prayer.”

[109:7]  ⁴⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as a jussive, but the use of the imperfect form in the following line suggests that v. 7 anticipates the outcome of the accusation envisioned in v. 6.

[109:7]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).

[109:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “sons.”

[109:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.

[109:13]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “offspring.”

[109:13]  ⁴⁹ sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.

[109:13]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”

[113:6]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “the one who makes low to see.”

[115:3]  ⁵² sn He does whatever he pleases. Such sovereignty is characteristic of kings (see Eccl 8:3).

[119:25]  ⁵³ tn Heb “my soul clings to the dirt.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[119:25]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural “your words.”

[119:45]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and I will walk about in a wide place.” The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive gives a further consequence of the anticipated positive divine response (see vv. 43-44). Another option is to take the cohortative as expressing the psalmist’s request. In this case one could translate, “and please give me security.”

[119:56]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “this has been to me.” The demonstrative “this” (1) refers back to the practices mentioned in vv. 54-55, or (2) looks forward to the statement in the second line, in which case the כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the second line should be translated “that.”

[119:89]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “Forever, O Lord, your word stands firm in heaven,” or “Forever, O Lord, [is] your word; it stands firm in heaven.” The translation assumes that “your word” refers here to the body of divine instructions contained in the law (note the frequent references to the law in vv. 92-96). See vv. 9, 16-17, 57, 101, 105, 130, 139 and 160-61. The reference in v. 86 to God’s law being faithful favors this interpretation. Another option is that “your word” refers to God’s assuring word of promise, mentioned in vv. 25, 28, 42, 65, 74, 81, 107, 114, 147 and 169. In this case one might translate, “O Lord, your promise is reliable, it stands firm in heaven.”

[119:139]  ⁵⁸ tn or “zeal.”

[119:139]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “destroys,” in a hyperbolic sense.

[119:139]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “your words.”

[119:162]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “like one who finds great plunder.” See Judg 5:30. The image is that of a victorious warrior who finds a large amount of plunder on the field of battle.

[120:7]  ⁶² tn Heb “I, peace.”

[120:7]  ⁶³ tn Heb “they [are] for war.”

[122:6]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “ask [for].”

[122:6]  ⁶⁵ tn Or “be secure.”

[123:4]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”

[124:8]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “our help [is] in the name of the Lord.”

[124:8]  ⁶⁸ tn Or “Maker.”

[139:6]  ⁶⁹ tn Heb “too amazing [is this] knowledge for me, it is elevated, I cannot attain to it.”

[149:5]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “in glory.” Here “glory” probably refers to the “honor” that belongs to the Lord’s people as a result of their deliverance (see v. 4).

[149:5]  ⁷¹ tn The significance of the reference to “beds” is unclear. Perhaps the point is that they should rejoice at all times, even when falling asleep or awaking.