Mazmur 2:8

2:8 Ask me,

and I will give you the nations as your inheritance, ¹ 

the ends of the earth as your personal property.

Mazmur 9:17

9:17 The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; ² 

this is the destiny of ³  all the nations that ignore ⁴  God,

Mazmur 18:5

18:5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, ⁵ 

the snares of death trapped me. ⁶ 

Mazmur 19:3

19:3 There is no actual speech or word,

nor is its ⁷  voice literally heard.

Mazmur 46:8

46:8 Come! Witness the exploits ⁸  of the Lord,

who brings devastation to the earth! ⁹ 

Mazmur 63:9

63:9 Enemies seek to destroy my life, ¹⁰ 

but they will descend into the depths of the earth. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 68:32

68:32 O kingdoms of the earth, sing to God!

Sing praises to the Lord, (Selah)

Mazmur 73:12

73:12 Take a good look! This is what the wicked are like, ¹² 

those who always have it so easy and get richer and richer. ¹³ 

Mazmur 82:8

82:8 Rise up, O God, and execute judgment on the earth!

For you own ¹⁴  all the nations.

Mazmur 88:3

88:3 For my life ¹⁵  is filled with troubles

and I am ready to enter Sheol. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 94:17

94:17 If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have laid down in the silence of death. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 97:1

Psalm 97 ¹⁸ 

97:1 The Lord reigns!

Let the earth be happy!

Let the many coastlands rejoice!

Mazmur 98:7

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

along with the world and those who live in it!

Mazmur 107:23

107:23 ¹⁹ Some traveled on ²⁰  the sea in ships,

and carried cargo over the vast waters. ²¹ 

Mazmur 116:3

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ²² 

the snares ²³  of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted ²⁴  with trouble and sorrow.

Mazmur 118:10

118:10 All the nations surrounded me. ²⁵ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord ²⁶  I pushed them away. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 119:54

119:54 Your statutes have been my songs ²⁸ 

in the house where I live. ²⁹ 

Mazmur 119:72

119:72 The law you have revealed is more important to me

than thousands of pieces of gold and silver. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 141:7

141:7 As when one plows and breaks up the soil, ³¹ 

so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

Mazmur 147:15

147:15 He ³²  sends his command through the earth; ³³ 

swiftly his order reaches its destination. ³⁴ 

[2:8]  ¹ sn I will give you the nations. The Lord promises the Davidic king universal dominion.

[9:17]  ² tn Heb “the wicked turn back to Sheol.” The imperfect verbal form either emphasizes what typically happens or describes vividly the aftermath of the Lord’s victory over the psalmist’s enemies. See v. 3.

[9:17]  ³ tn The words “this is the destiny of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The verb “are turned back” is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[9:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “forget.” “Forgetting God” refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see also Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 44:20). The nations’ refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty accounts for their brazen attempt to attack and destroy his people.

[18:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[18:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “confronted me.”

[19:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “their.” The antecedent of the plural pronoun is “heavens” (v. 1).

[46:8]  ⁸ sn In this context the Lord’s exploits are military in nature (see vv. 8b-9).

[46:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “who sets desolations in the earth” (see Isa 13:9). The active participle describes God’s characteristic activity as a warrior.

[63:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “but they for destruction seek my life.” The pronoun “they” must refer here to the psalmist’s enemies, referred to at this point for the first time in the psalm.

[63:9]  ¹¹ sn The depths of the earth refers here to the underworld dwelling place of the dead (see Ezek 26:20; 31:14, 16, 18; 32:18, 24). See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 167.

[73:12]  ¹² tn Heb “Look, these [are] the wicked.”

[73:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “the ones who are always at ease [who] increase wealth.”

[82:8]  ¹⁴ tn The translation assumes that the Qal of נָחַל (nakhal) here means “to own; to possess,” and that the imperfect emphasizes a general truth. Another option is to translate the verb as future, “for you will take possession of all the nations” (cf. NIV “all the nations are your inheritance”).

[88:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “my soul.”

[88:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”

[94:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.

[97:1]  ¹⁸ sn Psalm 97. The psalmist depicts the Lord as the sovereign, just king of the world who comes in power to vindicate his people.

[107:23]  ¹⁹ sn Verses 23-30, which depict the Lord rescuing sailors from a storm at sea, do not seem to describe the exiles’ situation, unless the word picture is metaphorical. Perhaps the psalmist here broadens his scope and offers an example of God’s kindness to the needy beyond the covenant community.

[107:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “those going down [into].”

[107:23]  ²¹ tn Heb “doers of work on the mighty waters.”

[116:3]  ²² tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  ²³ tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.

[116:3]  ²⁴ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.

[118:10]  ²⁵ sn The reference to an attack by the nations suggests the psalmist may have been a military leader.

[118:10]  ²⁶ tn In this context the phrase “in the name of the Lord” means “by the Lord’s power.”

[118:10]  ²⁷ tn Traditionally the verb has been derived from מוּל (mul, “to circumcise”) and translated “[I] cut [them] off” (see BDB 557-58 s.v. II מוּל). However, it is likely that this is a homonym meaning “to fend off” (see HALOT 556 s.v. II מול) or “to push away.” In this context, where the psalmist is reporting his past experience, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite. The phrase also occurs in vv. 11, 12.

[119:54]  ²⁸ tn Heb “songs were your statutes to me.”

[119:54]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in the house of my dwelling place.” Some take the Hebrew noun מָגוֹר (magor) in the sense of “temporary abode,” and see this as a reference to the psalmist’s status as a resident alien (see v. 19). But the noun can refer to a dwelling place in general (see Ps 55:15).

[119:72]  ³⁰ tn Heb “better to me [is] the law of your mouth than thousands of gold and silver.”

[141:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “like splitting and breaking open in the earth.” The meaning of the statement and the point of the comparison are not entirely clear. Perhaps the psalmist is suggesting that he and other godly individuals are as good as dead; their bones are scattered about like dirt that is dug up and tossed aside.

[147:15]  ³² tn Heb “the one who.”

[147:15]  ³³ tn Heb “the one who sends his word, the earth.” The Hebrew term אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) is an adverbial accusative; one must supply a preposition before it (such as “through” or “to”) in the English translation.

[147:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “swiftly his word runs.”