Mazmur 27:11

27:11 Teach me how you want me to live; ¹ 

lead me along a level path ²  because of those who wait to ambush me! ³ 

Mazmur 40:4

40:4 How blessed ⁴  is the one ⁵  who trusts in the Lord ⁶ 

and does not seek help from ⁷  the proud or from liars! ⁸ 

Mazmur 45:16

45:16 Your ⁹  sons will carry ¹⁰  on the dynasty of your ancestors; ¹¹ 

you will make them princes throughout the land.

Mazmur 49:11

49:11 Their grave becomes their permanent residence,

their eternal dwelling place. ¹² 

They name their lands after themselves, ¹³ 

Mazmur 63:7

63:7 For you are my deliverer; ¹⁴ 

under your wings ¹⁵  I rejoice.

Mazmur 64:6

64:6 They devise ¹⁶  unjust schemes;

they disguise ¹⁷  a well-conceived plot. ¹⁸ 

Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 68:9

68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall ²⁰  on your chosen people. ²¹ 

When they ²²  are tired, you sustain them, ²³ 

Mazmur 68:12

68:12 Kings leading armies run away – they run away! ²⁴ 

The lovely lady ²⁵  of the house divides up the loot.

Mazmur 72:4

72:4 He will defend ²⁶  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ²⁷  the children ²⁸  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Mazmur 72:6

72:6 He ²⁹  will descend like rain on the mown grass, ³⁰ 

like showers that drench ³¹  the earth. ³² 

Mazmur 77:11

77:11 I will remember the works of the Lord.

Yes, I will remember the amazing things you did long ago! ³³ 

Mazmur 78:15

78:15 He broke open rocks in the wilderness,

and gave them enough water to fill the depths of the sea. ³⁴ 

Mazmur 89:50

89:50 Take note, O Lord, ³⁵  of the way your servants are taunted, ³⁶ 

and of how I must bear so many insults from people! ³⁷ 

Mazmur 92:4

92:4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.

I will sing for joy because of what you have done. ³⁸ 

Mazmur 103:11

103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,

so his loyal love towers ³⁹  over his faithful followers. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 105:14

105:14 He let no one oppress them;

he disciplined kings for their sake,

Mazmur 105:37

105:37 He brought his people ⁴¹  out enriched ⁴²  with silver and gold;

none of his tribes stumbled.

Mazmur 106:43

106:43 Many times he delivered ⁴³  them,

but they had a rebellious attitude, ⁴⁴ 

and degraded themselves ⁴⁵  by their sin.

Mazmur 106:45

106:45 He remembered his covenant with them,

and relented ⁴⁶  because of his great loyal love.

Mazmur 110:6

110:6 He executes judgment ⁴⁷  against ⁴⁸  the nations;

he fills the valleys with corpses; ⁴⁹ 

he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield. ⁵⁰ 

Mazmur 111:6

111:6 He announced that he would do mighty deeds for his people,

giving them a land that belonged to other nations. ⁵¹ 

Mazmur 119:85

119:85 The arrogant dig pits to trap me, ⁵² 

which violates your law. ⁵³ 

Mazmur 144:14

144:14 Our cattle will be weighted down with produce. ⁵⁴ 

No one will break through our walls,

no one will be taken captive,

and there will be no terrified cries in our city squares. ⁵⁵ 

[27:11]  ¹ tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles which he expects the psalmist to follow. See Ps 25:4.

[27:11]  ² sn The level path refers to God’s moral principles (see the parallel line), which, if followed, will keep the psalmist blameless before his accusers (see v. 12).

[27:11]  ³ tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 54:5; 56:2.

[40:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[40:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “man.” See the note on the word “one” in Ps 1:1.

[40:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “who has made the Lord his [object of] trust.”

[40:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and does not turn toward.”

[40:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “those falling away toward a lie.”

[45:16]  ⁹ tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.

[45:16]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive and the statement interpreted as a prayer, “May your sons carry on the dynasty of your ancestors!” The next line could then be taken as a relative clause, “[your sons] whom you will make princes throughout the land.”

[45:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”

[49:11]  ¹² tc Heb “their inward part [is] their houses [are] permanent, their dwelling places for a generation and a generation.” If one follows the MT, then קֶרֶב (qerev, “inward part”) must refer to the seat of these people’s thoughts (for other examples of this use of the term, see BDB 899 s.v., though BDB prefers an emendation in this passage). In this case all three lines of v. 11 expose these people’s arrogant assumption that they will last forever, which then stands in sharp contrast to reality as summarized in v. 12. In this case one might translate the first two lines, “they think that their houses are permanent and that their dwelling places will last forever” (cf. NASB). Following the lead of several ancient versions, the present translation assumes an emendation of קִרְבָּם (qirbam, “their inward part”) to קְבָרִים (qÿvarim, “graves”). This assumes that the letters bet (ב) and resh (ר) were accidentally transposed in the MT. In this case the first two lines support the point made in v. 10, while the third line of v. 11 stands in contrast to v. 12. The phrase בֵּית עוֹלָם (bet ’olam, “permanent house”) is used of a tomb in Eccl 12:5 (as well as in Phoenician tomb inscriptions, see DNWSI 1:160 for a list of texts) and מִשְׁכָּן (mishkan, “dwelling place”) refers to a tomb in Isa 22:16. Cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV.

[49:11]  ¹³ sn Naming their lands after themselves is a claim of possession.

[63:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[63:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in the shadow of your wings.”

[64:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”

[64:6]  ¹⁷ tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).

[64:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.

[64:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.

[68:9]  ²⁰ tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).

[68:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “[on] your inheritance.” This refers to Israel as God’s specially chosen people (see Pss 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 106:40). Some take “your inheritance” with what follows, but the vav (ו) prefixed to the following word (note וְנִלְאָה, vÿnil’ah) makes this syntactically unlikely.

[68:9]  ²² tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:9]  ²³ tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:12]  ²⁴ tn The verbal repetition draws attention to the statement.

[68:12]  ²⁵ tn The Hebrew form appears to be the construct of נוּה (nuh, “pasture”) but the phrase “pasture of the house” makes no sense here. The translation assumes that the form is an alternative or corruption of נצוה (“beautiful woman”). A reference to a woman would be appropriate in light of v. 11b.

[72:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ²⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “sons.”

[72:6]  ²⁹ tn That is, the king (see vv. 2, 4).

[72:6]  ³⁰ tn The rare term zg refers to a sheep’s fleece in Deut 18:4 and Job 31:20, but to “mown” grass or crops here and in Amos 7:1.

[72:6]  ³¹ tc The form in the Hebrew text appears to be an otherwise unattested noun. Many prefer to emend the form to a verb from the root זָרַף (zaraf). BHS in textual note b on this verse suggests a Hiphil imperfect, third masculine plural יַזְרִיפוּ (yazrifu), while HALOT 283 s.v. *זרף prefers a Pilpel perfect, third masculine plural זִרְזְפוּ (zirzÿfu). The translation assumes the latter.

[72:6]  ³² sn The imagery of this verse compares the blessings produced by the king’s reign to fructifying rains that cause the crops to grow.

[77:11]  ³³ tn Heb “yes, I will remember from old your wonders.”

[77:11]  sn The psalmist refuses to allow skepticism to win out. God has revealed himself to his people in tangible, incontrovertible ways in the past and the psalmist vows to remember the historical record as a source of hope for the future.

[78:15]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and caused them to drink, like the depths, abundantly.”

[89:50]  ³⁵ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read here יְהוָה (yehvah, “the Lord”).

[89:50]  ³⁶ tn Heb “remember, O Lord, the taunt against your servants.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the singular here, “your servant” (that is, the psalmist).

[89:50]  ³⁷ tn Heb “my lifting up in my arms [or “against my chest”] all of the many, peoples.” The term רַבִּים (rabbim, “many”) makes no apparent sense here. For this reason some emend the text to רִבֵי (rivey, “attacks by”), a defectively written plural construct form of רִיב (riv, “dispute; quarrel”).

[92:4]  ³⁸ tn Heb “the works of your hands.”

[103:11]  ³⁹ tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[103:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[105:37]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Lord’s people) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[105:37]  ⁴² tn The word “enriched” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[106:43]  ⁴³ tn The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“he would deliver”).

[106:43]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “but they rebelled in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite or imperfect, in which case it is customary, describing repeated action in past time (“they would have a rebellious attitude”).

[106:43]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “they sank down.” The Hebrew verb מָכַךְ (makhakh, “to lower; to sink”) occurs only here in the Qal.

[106:45]  ⁴⁶ tn The Niphal of נָחַם (nakham) refers here to God relenting from a punishment already underway.

[110:6]  ⁴⁷ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 6-7 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though they could be taken as future.

[110:6]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “among.”

[110:6]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת(ge’ayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton.

[110:6]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “he strikes [the verb is מָחַץ (makhats), translated “strikes down” in v. 5] head[s] over a great land.” The Hebrew term רַבָּה (rabbah, “great”) is here used of distance or spatial measurement (see 1 Sam 26:13).

[111:6]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “the strength of his deeds he proclaimed to his people, to give to them an inheritance of nations.”

[119:85]  ⁵² tn Heb “for me.”

[119:85]  ⁵³ tn Heb “which [is] not according to your law.”

[144:14]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “weighted down.” This probably refers (1) to the cattle having the produce from the harvest placed on their backs to be transported to the storehouses (see BDB 687 s.v. סָבַל). Other options are (2) to take this as reference to the cattle being pregnant (see HALOT 741 s.v. סבל pu) or (3) to their being well-fed or fattened (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 288).

[144:14]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “there [will be] no breach, and there [will be] no going out, and there [will be] no crying out in our broad places.”