Mazmur 22:28

22:28 For the Lord is king ¹ 

and rules over the nations.

Mazmur 33:19

33:19 by saving their lives from death ² 

and sustaining them during times of famine. ³ 

Mazmur 35:2

35:2 Grab your small shield and large shield, ⁴ 

and rise up to help me!

Mazmur 35:9

35:9 Then I will rejoice in the Lord

and be happy because of his deliverance. ⁵ 

Mazmur 35:16

35:16 When I tripped, they taunted me relentlessly, ⁶ 

and tried to bite me. ⁷ 

Mazmur 37:23

37:23 The Lord grants success to the one

whose behavior he finds commendable. ⁸ 

Mazmur 37:36

37:36 But then one passes by, and suddenly they have disappeared! ⁹ 

I looked for them, but they could not be found.

Mazmur 45:3

45:3 Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior! ¹⁰ 

Appear in your majestic splendor! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 47:7

47:7 For God is king of the whole earth!

Sing a well-written song! ¹² 

Mazmur 48:4

48:4 For ¹³  look, the kings assemble; ¹⁴ 

they advance together.

Mazmur 59:15

59:15 They wander around looking for something to eat;

they refuse to sleep until they are full. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 67:7

67:7 May God bless us! ¹⁶ 

Then all the ends of the earth will give him the honor he deserves. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 73:16

73:16 When I tried to make sense of this,

it was troubling to me. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 87:2

87:2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion

more than all the dwelling places of Jacob.

Mazmur 91:8

91:8 Certainly you will see it with your very own eyes –

you will see the wicked paid back. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 94:6

94:6 They kill the widow and the one residing outside his native land,

and they murder the fatherless. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 94:13

94:13 in order to protect him from times of trouble, ²¹ 

until the wicked are destroyed. ²² 

Mazmur 95:3

95:3 For the Lord is a great God,

a great king who is superior to ²³  all gods.

Mazmur 96:7

96:7 Ascribe to the Lord, O families of the nations,

ascribe to the Lord splendor and strength!

Mazmur 100:1

Psalm 100 ²⁴ 

A thanksgiving psalm.

100:1 Shout out praises to the Lord, all the earth!

Mazmur 106:3

106:3 How blessed are those who promote justice,

and do what is right all the time!

Mazmur 106:34

106:34 They did not destroy the nations, ²⁵ 

as the Lord had commanded them to do.

Mazmur 107:34

107:34 and a fruitful land into a barren place, ²⁶ 

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

Mazmur 109:14

109:14 May his ancestors’ ²⁷  sins be remembered by the Lord!

May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! ²⁸ 

Mazmur 109:23

109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; ²⁹ 

I am shaken off like a locust.

Mazmur 112:3

112:3 His house contains wealth and riches;

his integrity endures. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 113:8

113:8 that he might seat him with princes,

with the princes of his people.

Mazmur 116:15

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers. ³¹ 

Mazmur 118:14

118:14 The Lord gives me strength and protects me; ³² 

he has become my deliverer.” ³³ 

Mazmur 118:23

118:23 This is the Lord’s work.

We consider it amazing! ³⁴ 

Mazmur 119:18

119:18 Open ³⁵  my eyes so I can truly see ³⁶ 

the marvelous things in your law!

Mazmur 119:25

ד (Dalet)

119:25 I collapse in the dirt. ³⁷ 

Revive me with your word! ³⁸ 

Mazmur 135:1

Psalm 135 ³⁹ 

135:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the name of the Lord!

Offer praise, you servants of the Lord,

Mazmur 135:17

135:17 and ears, but cannot hear.

Indeed, they cannot breathe. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 144:12

144:12 Then ⁴¹  our sons will be like plants,

that quickly grow to full size. ⁴² 

Our daughters will be like corner pillars, ⁴³ 

carved like those in a palace. ⁴⁴ 

Mazmur 147:4

147:4 He counts the number of the stars;

he names all of them.

[22:28]  ¹ tn Heb “for to the Lord [is] dominion.”

[33:19]  ² tn Heb “to save from death their live[s].”

[33:19]  ³ tn Heb “and to keep them alive in famine.”

[35:2]  ⁴ tn Two different types of shields are mentioned here. See also Ezek 38:4. Many modern translations render the first term (translated here “small shield”) as “buckler” (cf. NASB “buckler and shield”; the order is often reversed in the translation, apparently for stylistic reasons: cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV “shield and buckler”). The English term “buckler,” referring to a small round shield held on the arm to protect the upper body, is unfamiliar to many modern readers, so the term “small shield” was used in the present translation for clarity.

[35:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “then my soul will rejoice in the Lord and be happy in his deliverance.”

[35:16]  ⁶ tc The MT reads “as profane [ones] of mockers of food,” which is nonsensical. The present translation assumes (1) an emendation of בְּחַנְפֵי (bÿkhanfey, “as profane men”) to בְּחַנְפִי (bekhanfiy, “when I tripped”; preposition + Qal infinitive construct from II חָנַף [“limp”] + first common singular pronominal suffix) and (2) an emendation of לַעֲגֵי מָעוֹג (la’agey ma’og, “mockers of food”) to עָגוּ[ם]לַעְגָּ (la’gam ’agu, “[with] taunting they taunted”; masculine plural noun with enclitic mem + Qal perfect third common plural from לַּעַג [la’ag, “taunt”]).

[35:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “gnashing at me with their teeth.” The infinitive absolute adds a complementary action – they gnashed with their teeth as they taunted.

[37:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the Lord the steps of a man are established, and in his way he delights.” The second line qualifies the first. The man whose behavior is commendable in God’s sight is the one whose ways are established by God. Another option is that the second line refers to the godly man delighting in God’s “way,” namely the lifestyle which he prescribes for men. In this case one might translate, “The Lord grants success to the one who desires to obey his commands.”

[37:36]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he passes by and, look, he is not [there].” The subject of the verb “passes by” is probably indefinite, referring to any passerby. Some prefer to change the form to first person, “and I passed by” (cf. NEB; note the first person verbal forms in preceding verse and in the following line).

[45:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “mighty one.”

[45:3]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text has simply, “your majesty and your splendor,” which probably refers to the king’s majestic splendor when he appears in full royal battle regalia.

[47:7]  ¹² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term also occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142. Here, in a context of celebration, the meaning “skillful, well-written” would fit particularly well.

[48:4]  ¹³ tn The logical connection between vv. 3-4 seems to be this: God is the protector of Zion and reveals himself as the city’s defender – this is necessary because hostile armies threaten the city.

[48:4]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 4-6 are understood as descriptive. In dramatic style (note הִנֵּה, hinneh, “look”) the psalm describes an enemy attack against the city as if it were occurring at this very moment. Another option is to take the perfects as narrational (“the kings assembled, they advanced”), referring to a particular historical event, such as Sennacherib’s siege of the city in 701 b.c. (cf. NIV, NRSV). Even if one translates the verses in a dramatic-descriptive manner (as the present translation does), the Lord’s victory over the Assyrians was probably what served as the inspiration of the description (see v. 8).

[59:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “if they are not full, they stay through the night.”

[67:7]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verb forms in vv. 6b-7a are understood as jussives.

[67:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “will fear him.” After the jussive of the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive is understood as indicating purpose/result. (Note how v. 3 anticipates the universal impact of God showing his people blessing.) Another option is to take the verb as a jussive and translate, “Let all the ends of the earth fear him.”

[73:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and [when] I pondered to understand this, troubling it [was] in my eyes.”

[91:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “retribution on the wicked.”

[94:6]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9). Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 10:14; 68:5; 82:3; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).

[94:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “to give him rest from the days of trouble.”

[94:13]  ²² tn Heb “until a pit is dug for the wicked.”

[95:3]  ²³ tn Heb “above.”

[100:1]  ²⁴ sn Psalm 100. The psalmist celebrates the fact that Israel has a special relationship to God and summons worshipers to praise the Lord for his faithfulness.

[106:34]  ²⁵ tn That is, the nations of Canaan.

[107:34]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a salty land.”

[109:14]  ²⁷ tn Or “fathers’ sins.”

[109:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “not be wiped out.”

[109:14]  sn According to ancient Israelite theology and its doctrine of corporate solidarity and responsibility, children could be and often were punished for the sins of their parents. For a discussion of this issue see J. Kaminsky, Corporate Responsibility in the Hebrew Bible (JSOTSup). (Kaminsky, however, does not deal with Ps 109.)

[109:23]  ²⁹ tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.

[112:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “stands forever.”

[116:15]  ³¹ tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.

[118:14]  ³² tn Heb “my strength and protection [is] the Lord.” The Hebrew term זִמְרָת (zimrat) is traditionally understood as meaning “song” (“my strength and song [is] the Lord”) in which case one might translate, “for the Lord gives me strength and joy” (i.e., a reason to sing). However, many recent commentators have argued that the noun זִמְרָת is here a homonym, meaning “protection” or “strength.” See HALOT 274 s.v.; cf. NEB “The Lord is my refuge and defence”; NRSV “my strength and my might.”

[118:14]  ³³ tn Or “salvation.”

[118:23]  ³⁴ tn Heb “it is amazing in our eyes.” The use of the plural pronoun here and in vv. 24-27 suggests that the psalmist may be speaking for the entire nation. However, it is more likely that vv. 22-27 are the people’s response to the psalmist’s thanksgiving song (see especially v. 26). They rejoice with him because his deliverance on the battlefield (see vv. 10-12) had national repercussions.

[119:18]  ³⁵ tn Heb “uncover.” The verb form גַּל (gal) is an apocopated Piel imperative from גָּלָה (galah, see GKC 214 §75.cc).

[119:18]  ³⁶ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:25]  ³⁷ tn Heb “my soul clings to the dirt.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[119:25]  ³⁸ tn Heb “according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the plural “your words.”

[135:1]  ³⁹ sn Psalm 135. The psalmist urges God’s people to praise him because he is the incomparable God and ruler of the world who has accomplished great things for Israel.

[135:17]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “indeed, there is not breath in their mouth.” For the collocation אַף אֵין (’af ’en, “indeed, there is not”) see Isa 41:26. Another option is to take אַף as “nose” (see Ps 115:6), in which case one might translate, “a nose, [but] they have no breath in their mouths.”

[144:12]  ⁴¹ tn Some consider אֲשֶׁר (’asher) problematic, but here it probably indicates the anticipated consequence of the preceding request. (For other examples of אֲשֶׁר indicating purpose/result, see BDB 83 s.v. and HALOT 99 s.v.) If the psalmist – who appears to be a Davidic king preparing to fight a battle (see vv. 10-11) – is victorious, the whole nation will be spared invasion and defeat (see v. 14) and can flourish. Some prefer to emend the form to אַשְׁרֵי (“how blessed [are our sons]”). A suffixed noun sometimes follows אַשְׁרֵי (’ashrey; see 1 Kgs 10:8; Prov 20:7), but the presence of a comparative element (see “like plants”) after the suffixed noun makes the proposed reading too awkward syntactically.

[144:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “grown up in their youth.” The translation assumes that “grown up” modifies “plants” (just as “carved” modifies “corner pillars” in the second half of the verse). Another option is to take “grown up” as a predicate in relation to “our sons,” in which case one might translate, “they will be strapping youths.”

[144:12]  ⁴³ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here and in Zech 9:15, where it refers to the corners of an altar.

[144:12]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “carved [in] the pattern of a palace.”