Mazmur 39:2

39:2 I was stone silent; ¹ 

I held back the urge to speak. ² 

My frustration grew; ³ 

Mazmur 38:13

38:13 But I am like a deaf man – I hear nothing;

I am like a mute who cannot speak. ⁴ 

Mazmur 83:1

Psalm 83 ⁵ 

A song, a psalm of Asaph.

83:1 O God, do not be silent!

Do not ignore us! ⁶  Do not be inactive, O God!

Mazmur 76:8

76:8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be. ⁷ 

The earth ⁸  was afraid and silent

Mazmur 115:17

115:17 The dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any of those who descend into the silence of death. ⁹ 

Mazmur 50:3

50:3 Our God approaches and is not silent; ¹⁰ 

consuming fire goes ahead of him

and all around him a storm rages. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 30:12

30:12 So now ¹²  my heart ¹³  will sing to you and not be silent;

O Lord my God, I will always ¹⁴  give thanks to you.

Mazmur 31:17

31:17 O Lord, do not let me be humiliated,

for I call out to you!

May evil men be humiliated!

May they go wailing to the grave! ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 28:1

Psalm 28 ¹⁶ 

By David.

28:1 To you, O Lord, I cry out!

My protector, ¹⁷  do not ignore me! ¹⁸ 

If you do not respond to me, ¹⁹ 

I will join ²⁰  those who are descending into the grave. ²¹ 

Mazmur 39:9

39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth

because of what you have done. ²² 

Mazmur 56:1

Psalm 56 ²³ 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ²⁴  a prayer ²⁵  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ²⁶ 

56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ²⁷ 

All day long hostile enemies ²⁸  are tormenting me. ²⁹ 

[39:2]  ¹ tn Heb “I was mute [with] silence.”

[39:2]  ² tn Heb “I was quiet from good.” He kept quiet, resisting the urge to find emotional release and satisfaction by voicing his lament.

[39:2]  sn I held back the urge to speak. For a helpful discussion of the relationship (and tension) between silence and complaint in ancient Israelite lamentation, see E. S. Gerstenberger, Psalms, Part I (FOTL), 166-67.

[39:2]  ³ tn Heb “and my pain was stirred up.” Emotional pain is in view here.

[38:13]  ⁴ sn I am like a deaf man…like a mute. The psalmist is like a deaf mute; he is incapable of defending himself and is vulnerable to his enemies’ deception (see v. 14).

[83:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 83. The psalmist asks God to deliver Israel from the attacks of foreign nations. Recalling how God defeated Israel’s enemies in the days of Deborah and Gideon, he prays that the hostile nations would be humiliated.

[83:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “do not be deaf.”

[76:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “a [legal] decision,” or “sentence.”

[76:8]  ⁸ tn “The earth” stands here by metonymy for its inhabitants.

[115:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “silence,” a metonymy here for death (see Ps 94:17).

[50:3]  ¹⁰ tn According to GKC 322 §109.e, the jussive (note the negative particle אַל, ’al) is used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.”

[50:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “fire before him devours, and around him it is very stormy.”

[30:12]  ¹² tn Heb “so that”; or “in order that.”

[30:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “glory.” Some view כָבוֹד (khavod, “glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.” “Heart” is used in the translation above for the sake of English idiom; the expression “my liver sings” would seem odd indeed to the modern reader.

[30:12]  ¹⁴ tn Or “forever.”

[31:17]  ¹⁵ tn The verb יִדְּמוּ (yiddÿmu) is understood as a form of דָּמַם (damam, “wail, lament”). Another option is to take the verb from דָּמַם (“be quiet”; see BDB 198-99 s.v. I דָּמַם), in which case one might translate, “May they lie silent in the grave.”

[28:1]  ¹⁶ sn Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.

[28:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

[28:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”

[28:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”

[28:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[28:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[39:9]  ²² tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).

[56:1]  ²³ 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]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ 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]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.