Mazmur 25:6

25:6 Remember ¹  your compassionate and faithful deeds, O Lord,

for you have always acted in this manner. ² 

Mazmur 31:21

31:21 The Lord deserves praise ³ 

for he demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to me when I was besieged by enemies. ⁴ 

Mazmur 36:9

36:9 For you are the one who gives

and sustains life. ⁵ 

Mazmur 41:4

41:4 As for me, I said: ⁶ 

“O Lord, have mercy on me!

Heal me, for I have sinned against you!

Mazmur 51:16

51:16 Certainly ⁷  you do not want a sacrifice, or else I would offer it; ⁸ 

you do not desire a burnt sacrifice. ⁹ 

Mazmur 54:6

54:6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice ¹⁰  to you!

I will give thanks to your name, O Lord, for it is good!

Mazmur 55:18

55:18 He will rescue ¹¹  me and protect me from those who attack me, ¹² 

even though ¹³  they greatly outnumber me. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 69:9

69:9 Certainly ¹⁵  zeal for ¹⁶  your house ¹⁷  consumes me;

I endure the insults of those who insult you. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 69:35

69:35 For God will deliver Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah,

and his people ¹⁹  will again live in them and possess Zion. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 71:15

71:15 I will tell about your justice,

and all day long proclaim your salvation, ²¹ 

though I cannot fathom its full extent. ²² 

Mazmur 90:4

90:4 Yes, ²³  in your eyes a thousand years

are like yesterday that quickly passes,

or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 143:3

143:3 Certainly ²⁵  my enemies ²⁶  chase me.

They smash me into the ground. ²⁷ 

They force me to live ²⁸  in dark regions, ²⁹ 

like those who have been dead for ages.

[25:6]  ¹ tn That is, “remember” with the intention of repeating.

[25:6]  ² tn Heb “for from antiquity [are] they.”

[31:21]  ³ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”

[31:21]  ⁴ tn Heb “for he caused his faithfulness to be amazing to me in a besieged city.” The psalmist probably speaks figuratively here. He compares his crisis to being trapped in a besieged city, but the Lord answered his prayer for help. Verses 19-24 were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18.

[36:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “for with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.” Water (note “fountain”) and light are here metaphors for life.

[41:4]  ⁶ sn In vv. 4-10 the psalmist recites the prayer of petition and lament he offered to the Lord.

[51:16]  ⁷ tn Or “For.” The translation assumes the particle is asseverative (i.e., emphasizing: “certainly”). (Some translations that consider the particle asseverative leave it untranslated.) If taken as causal or explanatory (“for”, cf. NRSV), the verse would explain why the psalmist is pleading for forgiveness, rather than merely offering a sacrifice.

[51:16]  ⁸ tn The translation assumes that the cohortative is used in a hypothetical manner in a formally unmarked conditional sentence, “You do not want a sacrifice, should I offer [it]” (cf. NEB). For other examples of cohortatives in the protasis (“if” clause) of a conditional sentence, see GKC 320 §108.e. (It should be noted, however, that GKC understands this particular verse in a different manner. See GKC 320 §108.f, where it is suggested that the cohortative is part of an apodosis with the protasis being suppressed.)

[51:16]  ⁹ sn You do not desire a burnt sacrifice. The terminology used in v. 16 does not refer to expiatory sacrifices, but to dedication and communion offerings. This is not a categorical denial of the sacrificial system in general or of the importance of such offerings. The psalmist is talking about his specific situation. Dedication and communion offerings have their proper place in worship (see v. 19), but God requires something more fundamental, a repentant and humble attitude (see v. 17), before these offerings can have real meaning.

[54:6]  ¹⁰ tn The cohortative verbal form expresses the psalmist’s resolve/vow to praise.

[55:18]  ¹¹ tn The perfect verbal form is here used rhetorically to indicate that the action is certain to take place (the so-called perfect of certitude).

[55:18]  ¹² tn Heb “he will redeem in peace my life from [those who] draw near to me.”

[55:18]  ¹³ tn Or “for.”

[55:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “among many they are against me.” For other examples of the preposition עִמָּד (’immad) used in the sense of “at, against,” see HALOT 842 s.v.; BDB 767 s.v.; IBHS 219 §11.2.14b.

[69:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.

[69:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “devotion to.”

[69:9]  ¹⁷ sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.

[69:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”

[69:9]  sn Jn 2:17 applies the first half of this verse to Jesus’ ministry in the context of John’s account of Jesus cleansing the temple.

[69:35]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they”; the referent (God’s people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[69:35]  ²⁰ tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to “Zion” (see Pss 48:12; 102:14); thus the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[71:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “my mouth declares your vindication, all the day your deliverance.”

[71:15]  ²² tn Heb “though I do not know [the] numbers,” that is, the tally of God’s just and saving acts. HALOT 768 s.v. סְפֹרוֹת understands the plural noun to mean “the art of writing.”

[90:4]  ²³ tn Or “for.”

[90:4]  ²⁴ sn The divisions of the nighttime. The ancient Israelites divided the night into distinct periods, or “watches.”

[143:3]  ²⁵ tn Or “for.”

[143:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “an enemy.” The singular is used in a representative sense to describe a typical member of the larger group of enemies (note the plural “enemies” in vv. 9, 12).

[143:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he crushes on the ground my life.”

[143:3]  ²⁸ tn Or “sit.”

[143:3]  ²⁹ sn Dark regions refers to Sheol, which the psalmist views as a dark place located deep in the ground (see Ps 88:6).