Mazmur 2:7

2:7 The king says, ¹  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ² 

‘You are my son! ³  This very day I have become your father!

Mazmur 4:3

4:3 Realize that ⁴  the Lord shows the godly special favor; ⁵ 

the Lord responds ⁶  when I cry out to him.

Mazmur 12:5

12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ⁷ 

because of the painful cries ⁸  of the needy,

I will spring into action,” ⁹  says the Lord.

“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 20:5

20:5 Then we will shout for joy over your ¹¹  victory;

we will rejoice ¹²  in the name of our God!

May the Lord grant all your requests!

Mazmur 28:1

Psalm 28 ¹³ 

By David.

28:1 To you, O Lord, I cry out!

My protector, ¹⁴  do not ignore me! ¹⁵ 

If you do not respond to me, ¹⁶ 

I will join ¹⁷  those who are descending into the grave. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 31:2

31:2 Listen to me! ¹⁹ 

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge, ²⁰ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ²¹ 

Mazmur 31:22

31:22 I jumped to conclusions and said, ²² 

“I am cut off from your presence!” ²³ 

But you heard my plea for mercy when I cried out to you for help.

Mazmur 55:19

55:19 God, the one who has reigned as king from long ago,

will hear and humiliate them. ²⁴  (Selah)

They refuse to change,

and do not fear God. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 57:3

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ²⁶ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ²⁷  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

[2:7]  ¹ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ² tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ³ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[4:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “and know that.”

[4:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “that the Lord sets apart a faithful one for himself.” The psalmist states a general principle, though the singular form and the parallel line indicate he has himself in mind as the representative godly person. A חָסִיד (khasid; here translated as “the godly”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “hears.”

[12:5]  ⁷ tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.

[12:5]  ⁸ tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).

[12:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will rise up.”

[12:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the Lord would be promising protection to those who have the courage to support the oppressed in the court of law. However, the first part of the verse focuses on the oppressed, not their advocates.

[20:5]  ¹¹ sn Your victory. Here the king is addressed (see v. 1).

[20:5]  ¹² tc The Hebrew verb דָּגַל (dagal) occurs only here in the Qal. If accepted as original, it may carry the nuance “raise a banner,” but it is preferable to emend the form to נגיל (“we will rejoice”) which provides better parallelism with “shout for joy” and fits well with the prepositional phrase “in the name of our God” (see Ps 89:16).

[28:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.

[28:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

[28:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”

[28:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”

[28:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[28:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[31:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[31:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”

[31:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”

[31:22]  ²² tn Heb “and I, I said in my haste.”

[31:22]  ²³ tn Heb “from before your eyes.”

[55:19]  ²⁴ tc Heb “God will hear and answer them, even [the] one who sits [from] ancient times.” The prefixed verbal from with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the anticipatory force of the preceding imperfect. The verb appears to be a Qal form from עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”). If this reading is retained, the point would be that God “answered” them in judgment. The translation assumes an emendation to the Piel וַיְעַנֵּם (vay’annem; see 2 Kgs 17:20) and understands the root as עָנָה (’anah, “to afflict”; see also 1 Kgs 8:35).

[55:19]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[the ones] for whom there are no changes, and they do not fear God.”

[57:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”