Mazmur 3:8

3:8 The Lord delivers; ¹ 

you show favor to your people. ²  (Selah)

Mazmur 25:4

25:4 Make me understand your ways, O Lord!

Teach me your paths! ³ 

Mazmur 60:5

60:5 Deliver by your power ⁴  and answer me, ⁵ 

so that the ones you love may be safe. ⁶ 

Mazmur 72:1

Psalm 72 ⁷ 

For ⁸  Solomon.

72:1 O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! ⁹ 

Grant the king’s son ¹⁰  the ability to make fair decisions! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 88:2

88:2 Listen to my prayer! ¹² 

Pay attention ¹³  to my cry for help!

Mazmur 119:59

119:59 I consider my actions ¹⁴ 

and follow ¹⁵  your rules.

Mazmur 119:120

119:120 My body ¹⁶  trembles ¹⁷  because I fear you; ¹⁸ 

I am afraid of your judgments.

Mazmur 132:9

132:9 May your priests be clothed with integrity! ¹⁹ 

May your loyal followers shout for joy!

Mazmur 135:13

135:13 O Lord, your name endures, ²⁰ 

your reputation, O Lord, lasts. ²¹ 

Mazmur 132:10

132:10 For the sake of David, your servant,

do not reject your chosen king! ²² 

Mazmur 119:54

119:54 Your statutes have been my songs ²³ 

in the house where I live. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 54:6

54:6 With a freewill offering I will sacrifice ²⁵  to you!

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

Mazmur 104:24

104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! ²⁶ 

You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; ²⁷ 

the earth is full of the living things you have made.

Mazmur 74:7

74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire;

they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 92:2

92:2 It is fitting ²⁹  to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,

and your faithfulness during the night,

Mazmur 104:7

104:7 Your shout made the waters retreat;

at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off –

Mazmur 119:88

119:88 Revive me with ³⁰  your loyal love,

that I might keep ³¹  the rules you have revealed. ³² 

Mazmur 138:4

138:4 Let all the kings of the earth give thanks ³³  to you, O Lord,

when they hear the words you speak. ³⁴ 

Mazmur 143:2

143:2 Do not sit in judgment on ³⁵  your servant,

for no one alive is innocent before you. ³⁶ 

Mazmur 119:12

119:12 You deserve praise, ³⁷  O Lord!

Teach me your statutes!

Mazmur 68:29

68:29 as you come out of your temple in Jerusalem! ³⁸ 

Kings bring tribute to you.

Mazmur 145:4

145:4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,

and tell about your mighty acts! ³⁹ 

Mazmur 18:35

18:35 You give me your protective shield; ⁴⁰ 

your right hand supports me; ⁴¹ 

your willingness to help ⁴²  enables me to prevail. ⁴³ 

[3:8]  ¹ tn Heb “to the Lord [is] deliverance.”

[3:8]  ² tn Heb “upon your people [is] your blessing.” In this context God’s “blessing” includes deliverance/protection, vindication, and sustained life (see Pss 21:3, 6; 24:5).

[25:4]  ³ sn Teach me your paths. In this context the Lord’s “ways” and “paths” refer to the moral principles which the Lord prescribes for his followers. See vv. 8-10.

[60:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “right hand.”

[60:5]  ⁵ tn The Qere (marginal reading) has “me,” while the Kethib (consonantal text) has “us.”

[60:5]  ⁶ tn Or “may be rescued.” The lines are actually reversed in the Hebrew text, “So that the ones you love may be rescued, deliver by your power and answer me.”

[72:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 72. This royal psalm contains a prayer for the Davidic king (note the imperatival form in v. 1 and the jussive forms in vv. 16-17). It is not entirely clear if vv. 2-15 express a prayer or anticipate a future reign. The translation assumes a blend of petition and vision: (I) opening prayer (v. 1), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 2-7); (II) prayer (v. 8), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 9-14); (III) closing prayer (vv. 15-17). Whether a prayer, vision, or combination of the two, the psalm depicts the king’s universal rule of peace and prosperity. As such it is indirectly messianic, for the ideal it expresses will only be fully realized during the Messiah’s earthly reign. Verses 18-19 are a conclusion for Book 2 of the Psalter (Pss 42-72; cf. Ps 41:13, which contains a similar conclusion for Book 1), while v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter.

[72:1]  ⁸ tn The preposition could be understood as indicating authorship (“Of Solomon”), but since the psalm is a prayer for a king, it may be that the superscription reflects a tradition that understood this as a prayer for Solomon.

[72:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “O God, your judgments to [the] king give.”

[72:1]  ¹⁰ sn Grant the king…Grant the king’s son. It is not entirely clear whether v. 1 envisions one individual or two. The phrase “the king’s son” in the second line may simply refer to “the king” of the first line, drawing attention to the fact that he has inherited his dynastic rule. Another option is that v. 1 envisions a co-regency between father and son (a common phenomenon in ancient Israel) or simply expresses a hope for a dynasty that champions justice.

[72:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and your justice to [the] son of [the] king.”

[88:2]  ¹² tn Heb “may my prayer come before you.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s desire or prayer.

[88:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “turn your ear.”

[119:59]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “my ways.”

[119:59]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and I turn my feet toward.”

[119:120]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “my flesh.”

[119:120]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew verb סָמַר (samar, “to tremble”) occurs only here and in Job 4:15.

[119:120]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from fear of you.” The pronominal suffix on the noun is an objective genitive.

[132:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “righteousness.”

[135:13]  ²⁰ tn Or “is forever.”

[135:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “O Lord, your remembrance [is] for a generation and a generation.” See Ps 102:12.

[132:10]  ²² tn Heb “do not turn away the face of your anointed one.”

[119:54]  ²³ tn Heb “songs were your statutes to me.”

[119:54]  ²⁴ 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).

[54:6]  ²⁵ tn The cohortative verbal form expresses the psalmist’s resolve/vow to praise.

[104:24]  ²⁶ tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O Lord.” In this case the Lord’s “works” are the creatures he has made, as the preceding and following contexts make clear.

[104:24]  ²⁷ tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”

[74:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “to the ground they desecrate the dwelling place of your name.”

[92:2]  ²⁹ tn The words “it is fitting” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. Verses 1-3 are actually one long sentence in the Hebrew text, but this has been divided up into two shorter sentences in the translation in keeping with contemporary English style.

[119:88]  ³⁰ tn Heb “according to.”

[119:88]  ³¹ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:88]  ³² tn Heb “of your mouth.”

[138:4]  ³³ tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in the following verse are understood as jussives, for the psalmist appears to be calling upon the kings to praise God. Another option is to take them as imperfects and translate, “the kings of the earth will give thanks…and will sing.” In this case the psalmist anticipates a universal response to his thanksgiving song.

[138:4]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the words of your mouth.”

[143:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

[143:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”

[119:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “[are] blessed.”

[68:29]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Be strong, O God, [you] who have acted for us, from your temple in Jerusalem.”

[68:29]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[145:4]  ³⁹ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may one generation praise…and tell about.”

[18:35]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and you give to me the shield of your deliverance.”

[18:35]  sn You give me your protective shield. Ancient Near Eastern literature often refers to a god giving a king special weapons. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 260-61.

[18:35]  ⁴¹ tc 2 Sam 22:36 omits this line, perhaps due to homoioarcton. A scribe’s eye may have jumped from the vav (ו) prefixed to “your right hand” to the vav prefixed to the following “and your answer,” causing the copyist to omit by accident the intervening words (“your right hand supports me and”).

[18:35]  ⁴² tn The MT of Ps 18:35 appears to read, “your condescension,” apparently referring to God’s willingness to intervene (cf. NIV “you stoop down”). However, the noun עֲנָוָה (’anavah) elsewhere means “humility” and is used only here of God. The form עַנְוַתְךָ (’anvatÿkha) may be a fully written form of the suffixed infinitive construct of עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”; a defectively written form of the infinitive appears in 2 Sam 22:36). In this case the psalmist refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer; one might translate, “your favorable response.”

[18:35]  ⁴³ tn Heb “makes me great.”