Mazmur 18:16

18:16 He reached down ¹  from above and took hold of me;

he pulled me from the surging water. ² 

Mazmur 49:18

49:18 He pronounces this blessing on himself while he is alive:

“May men praise you, for you have done well!”

Mazmur 102:19

102:19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above; ³ 

from heaven the Lord will look toward earth, ⁴ 

Mazmur 109:18

109:18 He made cursing a way of life, ⁵ 

so curses poured into his stomach like water

and seeped into his bones like oil. ⁶ 

[18:16]  ¹ tn Heb “stretched.” Perhaps “his hand” should be supplied by ellipsis (see Ps 144:7). In this poetic narrative context the three prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:16]  ² tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see v. 4 and Ps 144:7).

[102:19]  ³ tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”

[102:19]  ⁴ tn The perfect verbal forms in v. 19 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 18.

[109:18]  ⁵ tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”

[109:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”