Mazmur 17:12

17:12 He ¹  is like a lion ²  that wants to tear its prey to bits, ³ 

like a young lion crouching ⁴  in hidden places.

Mazmur 21:2

21:2 You grant ⁵  him his heart’s desire;

you do not refuse his request. ⁶  (Selah)

Mazmur 26:11

26:11 But I have integrity! ⁷ 

Rescue me ⁸  and have mercy on me!

Mazmur 34:3

34:3 Magnify the Lord with me!

Let’s praise ⁹  his name together!

Mazmur 34:11

34:11 Come children! Listen to me!

I will teach you what it means to fear the Lord. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 34:13-14

34:13 Then make sure you don’t speak evil words ¹¹ 

or use deceptive speech! ¹² 

34:14 Turn away from evil and do what is right! ¹³ 

Strive for peace and promote it! ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 39:7

39:7 But now, O Lord, upon what am I relying?

You are my only hope! ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 56:2

56:2 Those who anticipate my defeat ¹⁶  attack me all day long.

Indeed, ¹⁷  many are fighting against me, O Exalted One. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 56:5

56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; ¹⁹ 

they make a habit of plotting my demise. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 83:5

83:5 Yes, ²¹  they devise a unified strategy; ²² 

they form an alliance ²³  against you.

Mazmur 94:21

94:21 They conspire against ²⁴  the blameless, ²⁵ 

and condemn to death the innocent. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 96:9

96:9 Worship the Lord in holy attire! ²⁷ 

Tremble before him, all the earth!

Mazmur 98:7

98:7 Let the sea and everything in it shout,

along with the world and those who live in it!

Mazmur 116:2

116:2 and listened to me. ²⁸ 

As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. ²⁹ 

Mazmur 119:57

ח (Khet)

119:57 The Lord is my source of security. ³⁰ 

I have determined ³¹  to follow your instructions. ³² 

Mazmur 119:106

119:106 I have vowed and solemnly sworn

to keep your just regulations.

Mazmur 130:3

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of ³³  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? ³⁴ 

Mazmur 140:2

140:2 who plan ways to harm me. ³⁵ 

All day long they stir up conflict. ³⁶ 

Mazmur 145:6

145:6 They will proclaim ³⁷  the power of your awesome acts!

I will declare your great deeds!

Mazmur 145:14

145:14 ³⁸ The Lord supports all who fall,

and lifts up all who are bent over. ³⁹ 

[17:12]  ¹ tn Here the psalmist switches to the singular pronoun; he views his enemies collectively, or singles out a representative of the group, perhaps its leader.

[17:12]  ² tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”

[17:12]  ³ tn Heb “[that] longs to tear.”

[17:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “sitting.”

[21:2]  ⁵ tn The translation assumes the perfect verbal forms in v. 2 are generalizing, stating factually what God typically does for the king. Another option is to take them as present perfects, “you have granted…you have not refused.” See v. 4, which mentions a specific request for a long reign.

[21:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and the request of his lips you do not refuse.”

[26:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “and I in my integrity walk.” The psalmist uses the imperfect verbal form to emphasize this is his practice. The construction at the beginning of the verse (conjunction + pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist and the sinners mentioned in vv. 9-10.

[26:11]  ⁸ tn Or “redeem me.”

[34:3]  ⁹ tn Or “exalt.”

[34:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord I will teach you.” In vv. 13-14 the psalmist explains to his audience what it means to “fear” the Lord.

[34:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “guard your tongue from evil.”

[34:13]  ¹² tn Heb “and your lips from speaking deception.”

[34:14]  ¹³ tn Or “do good.”

[34:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “seek peace and pursue it.”

[39:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my hope, for you it [is].”

[56:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 59:10.

[56:2]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for.”

[56:2]  ¹⁸ tn Some take the Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “on high; above”) as an adverb modifying the preceding participle and translate, “proudly” (cf. NASB; NIV “in their pride”). The present translation assumes the term is a divine title here. The Lord is pictured as enthroned “on high” in Ps 92:8. (Note the substantival use of the term in Isa 24:4 and see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:34), who prefer to place the term at the beginning of the next verse.)

[56:5]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”

[83:5]  ²¹ tn Or “for.”

[83:5]  ²² tn Heb “they consult [with] a heart together.”

[83:5]  ²³ tn Heb “cut a covenant.”

[94:21]  ²⁴ tn Or “attack.”

[94:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”

[94:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and the blood of the innocent they declare guilty.”

[96:9]  ²⁷ tn Or “in holy splendor.”

[116:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”

[116:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”

[119:57]  ³⁰ tn Heb “my portion [is] the Lord.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel (see Ps 16:5).

[119:57]  ³¹ tn Heb “I said.”

[119:57]  ³² tn Heb “to keep your words” (see v. 9).

[130:3]  ³³ tn Heb “observe.”

[130:3]  ³⁴ tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”

[140:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”

[140:2]  ³⁶ tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.

[145:6]  ³⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as an imperfect, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they proclaim.”

[145:14]  ³⁸ tc Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the mem (מ) and samek (ס) verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing nun (נ) verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. L. C. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line.

[145:14]  ³⁹ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).