Mazmur 17:2

17:2 Make a just decision on my behalf! ¹ 

Decide what is right! ² 

Mazmur 34:12

34:12 Do you want to really live? ³ 

Would you love to live a long, happy life? ⁴ 

Mazmur 40:7

40:7 Then I say,

“Look! I come!

What is written in the scroll pertains to me. ⁵ 

Mazmur 84:9

84:9 O God, take notice of our shield! ⁶ 

Show concern for your chosen king! ⁷ 

[17:2]  ¹ tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsa’) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.

[17:2]  ² tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)

[34:12]  ³ tn Heb “Who is the man who desires life?” The rhetorical question is used to grab the audience’s attention. “Life” probably refers here to quality of life, not just physical existence or even duration of life. See the following line.

[34:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “[Who] loves days to see good?”

[40:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “in the roll of the scroll it is written concerning me.” Apparently the psalmist refers to the law of God (see v. 8), which contains the commandments God desires him to obey. If this is a distinctly royal psalm, then the psalmist/king may be referring specifically to the regulations of kingship prescribed in Deut 17:14-20. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 315.

[84:9]  ⁶ tn The phrase “our shield” refers metaphorically to the Davidic king, who, as God’s vice-regent, was the human protector of the people. Note the parallelism with “your anointed one” here and with “our king” in Ps 89:18.

[84:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “look [on] the face of your anointed one.” The Hebrew phrase מְשִׁיחֶךָ (mÿshikhekha, “your anointed one”) refers here to the Davidic king (see Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17).