Mazmur 34:1

Psalm 34 ¹ 

Written by David, when he pretended to be insane before Abimelech, causing the king to send him away. ² 

34:1 I will praise ³  the Lord at all times;

my mouth will continually praise him. ⁴ 

Mazmur 9:1

Psalm 9 ⁵ 

For the music director; according to the alumoth-labben style; ⁶  a psalm of David.

9:1 I will thank the Lord with all my heart!

I will tell about all your amazing deeds! ⁷ 

Mazmur 57:3

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ⁸ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ⁹  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

Mazmur 56:1

Psalm 56 ¹⁰ 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ¹¹  a prayer ¹²  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ¹³ 

56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ¹⁴ 

All day long hostile enemies ¹⁵  are tormenting me. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 31:7

31:7 I will be happy and rejoice in your faithfulness,

because you notice my pain

and you are aware of how distressed I am. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 40:17

40:17 I am oppressed and needy! ¹⁸ 

May the Lord pay attention to me! ¹⁹ 

You are my helper and my deliverer!

O my God, do not delay!

Mazmur 52:9

52:9 I will continually ²⁰  thank you when ²¹  you execute judgment; ²² 

I will rely ²³  on you, ²⁴  for your loyal followers know you are good. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 88:5

88:5 adrift ²⁶  among the dead,

like corpses lying in the grave,

whom you remember no more,

and who are cut off from your power. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 40:9

40:9 I have told the great assembly ²⁸  about your justice. ²⁹ 

Look! I spare no words! ³⁰ 

O Lord, you know this is true.

Mazmur 70:5

70:5 I am oppressed and needy! ³¹ 

O God, hurry to me! ³² 

You are my helper and my deliverer!

O Lord, ³³  do not delay!

[34:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 34. In this song of thanksgiving the psalmist praises God for delivering him from distress. He encourages others to be loyal to the Lord, tells them how to please God, and assures them that the Lord protects his servants. The psalm is an acrostic; vv. 1-21 begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. (Verse 6 begins with the letter he (ה) and v. 7 with the letter zayin (ז). The letter vav (ו), which comes between ה and ז, seems to be omitted, although it does appear at the beginning of v. 6b. The final verse of the psalm, which begins with the letter pe (פ), is outside the acrostic scheme.

[34:1]  ² tn Heb “By David, when he changed his sense before Abimelech and he drove him away and he went.”

[34:1]  sn Pretended to be insane. The psalm heading appears to refer to the account in 1 Sam 21:10-15 which tells how David, fearful that King Achish of Gath might kill him, pretended to be insane in hopes that the king would simply send him away. The psalm heading names the king Abimelech, not Achish, suggesting that the tradition is confused on this point. However, perhaps “Abimelech” was a royal title, rather than a proper name. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 278.

[34:1]  ³ tn Heb “bless.”

[34:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “continually [will] his praise [be] in my mouth.”

[9:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 9. The psalmist, probably speaking on behalf of Israel or Judah, praises God for delivering him from hostile nations. He celebrates God’s sovereignty and justice, and calls on others to join him in boasting of God’s greatness. Many Hebrew mss and the ancient Greek version (LXX) combine Psalms 9 and 10 into a single psalm.

[9:1]  ⁶ tc The meaning of the Hebrew term עַלְמוּת (’almut) is uncertain. Some mss divide the form into עַל מוּת (’al mut, “according to the death [of the son]”), while the LXX assumes a reading עֲלֻמוֹת עַל (’al ’alumot, “according to alumoth”). The phrase probably refers to a particular tune or musical style.

[9:1]  ⁷ tn The cohortative forms in vv. 1-2 express the psalmist’s resolve to praise God publicly.

[57:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”

[56:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.

[56:1]  ¹¹ tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.

[56:1]  ¹² tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[56:1]  ¹³ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).

[56:1]  ¹⁴ tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”

[56:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.

[56:1]  ¹⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.

[31:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “you know the distresses of my life.”

[40:17]  ¹⁸ sn See Pss 35:10; 37:14.

[40:17]  ¹⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a jussive of prayer (as in the present translation; cf. NIV) or as an imperfect, “The Lord will pay attention to me” (cf. NRSV). The parallel in Ps 70:5 has, “O God, hurry to me!” For this reason some prefer to emend יַחֲשָׁב (yakhashav, “may he pay attention”) to חוּשָׁה (khushah, “hurry!”). The syntax of the Hebrew text is awkward; elsewhere when the Qal of חָשַׁב (khashav, “reckon; consider”) is collocated with the preposition -ל (lamed) and a pronominal suffix there is an accompanying direct object or additional prepositional phrase/adverbial accusative (see Gen 15:6; 2 Sam 19:19; Job 13:24; 19:11; 33:10; Pss 32:2; 41:7; Amos 6:5).

[52:9]  ²⁰ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[52:9]  ²¹ tn Or “for.”

[52:9]  ²² tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.

[52:9]  ²³ tn Or “wait.”

[52:9]  ²⁴ tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.

[52:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”

[88:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “set free.”

[88:5]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from your hand.”

[40:9]  ²⁸ sn The great assembly is also mentioned in Pss 22:25 and 35:18.

[40:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “I proclaim justice in the great assembly.” Though “justice” appears without a pronoun here, the Lord’s just acts are in view (see v. 10). His “justice” (צֶדֶק, tsedeq) is here the deliverance that originates in his justice; he protects and vindicates the one whose cause is just.

[40:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “Look! My lips I do not restrain.”

[70:5]  ³¹ sn See Pss 35:10; 37:14.

[70:5]  ³² tn Ps 40:17 has “may the Lord pay attention to me.”

[70:5]  ³³ tn Ps 40:17 has “my God” instead of “Lord.”