Mazmur 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ¹ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ²  (Selah)

Mazmur 9:4

9:4 For you defended my just cause; ³ 

from your throne you pronounced a just decision. ⁴ 

Mazmur 10:2

10:2 The wicked arrogantly chase the oppressed; ⁵ 

the oppressed are trapped ⁶  by the schemes the wicked have dreamed up. ⁷ 

Mazmur 27:12

27:12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, ⁸ 

for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. ⁹ 

Mazmur 34:16

34:16 But the Lord opposes evildoers

and wipes out all memory of them from the earth. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 35:8

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! ¹¹ 

Let the net they hid catch them!

Let them fall into destruction! ¹² 

Mazmur 36:4

36:4 He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed;

he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; ¹³ 

he does not reject what is evil. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 42:7

42:7 One deep stream calls out to another ¹⁵  at the sound of your waterfalls; ¹⁶ 

all your billows and waves overwhelm me. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 44:17

44:17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you ¹⁸ 

or violated your covenant with us. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 45:16

45:16 Your ²⁰  sons will carry ²¹  on the dynasty of your ancestors; ²² 

you will make them princes throughout the land.

Mazmur 48:6

48:6 Look at them shake uncontrollably, ²³ 

like a woman writhing in childbirth. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 55:3

55:3 because of what the enemy says, ²⁵ 

and because of how the wicked ²⁶  pressure me, ²⁷ 

for they hurl trouble ²⁸  down upon me ²⁹ 

and angrily attack me.

Mazmur 56:10

56:10 In God – I boast in his promise ³⁰  –

in the Lord – I boast in his promise ³¹  –

Mazmur 58:10

58:10 The godly ³²  will rejoice when they see vengeance carried out;

they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.

Mazmur 59:10

59:10 The God who loves me will help me; ³³ 

God will enable me to triumph over ³⁴  my enemies. ³⁵ 

Mazmur 68:17

68:17 God has countless chariots;

they number in the thousands. ³⁶ 

The Lord comes from Sinai in holy splendor. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 68:33

68:33 to the one who rides through the sky from ancient times! ³⁸ 

Look! He thunders loudly. ³⁹ 

Mazmur 73:25

73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?

I desire no one but you on earth. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 76:9

76:9 when God arose to execute judgment,

and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)

Mazmur 76:12

76:12 He humbles princes; ⁴¹ 

the kings of the earth regard him as awesome. ⁴² 

Mazmur 78:21

78:21 When ⁴³  the Lord heard this, he was furious.

A fire broke out against Jacob,

and his anger flared up ⁴⁴  against Israel,

Mazmur 78:49

78:49 His raging anger lashed out against them, ⁴⁵ 

He sent fury, rage, and trouble

as messengers who bring disaster. ⁴⁶ 

Mazmur 79:12

79:12 Pay back our neighbors in full! ⁴⁷ 

May they be insulted the same way they insulted you, O Lord! ⁴⁸ 

Mazmur 80:17

80:17 May you give support to the one you have chosen, ⁴⁹ 

to the one whom you raised up for yourself! ⁵⁰ 

Mazmur 89:16

89:16 They rejoice in your name all day long,

and are vindicated ⁵¹  by your justice.

Mazmur 92:2

92:2 It is fitting ⁵²  to proclaim your loyal love in the morning,

and your faithfulness during the night,

Mazmur 104:35

104:35 May sinners disappear ⁵³  from the earth,

and the wicked vanish!

Praise the Lord, O my soul!

Praise the Lord!

Mazmur 108:4

108:4 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, ⁵⁴ 

and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.

Mazmur 109:17

109:17 He loved to curse ⁵⁵  others, so those curses have come upon him. ⁵⁶ 

He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. ⁵⁷ 

Mazmur 135:6

135:6 He does whatever he pleases

in heaven and on earth,

in the seas and all the ocean depths.

Mazmur 140:11

140:11 A slanderer ⁵⁸  will not endure on ⁵⁹  the earth;

calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down. ⁶⁰ 

[4:4]  ¹ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

[9:4]  ³ tn Heb “for you accomplished my justice and my legal claim.”

[9:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “you sat on a throne [as] one who judges [with] righteousness.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 4 probably allude to a recent victory (see vv. 5-7). Another option is to understand the verbs as describing what is typical (“you defend…you sit on a throne”).

[10:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “because of the pride of [the] wicked he burns [i.e. hotly pursues] [the] oppressed.” The singular forms רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) and עָנִי (’aniy, “oppressed”) are collective and representative, as indicated in the next line, which uses plural verb forms to describe the actions of both.

[10:2]  ⁶ tn The two imperfect verbal forms in v. 2 describe either what typically happens (from the psalmist’s perspective) or what the psalmist was experiencing at the time he offered this prayer.

[10:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “they are trapped in the schemes which they have thought up.” The referents of the two pronominal suffixes on the verbs have been specified in the translation for clarity. The referent of the first suffix (“they”) is taken as the oppressed, while the referent of the second (“they”) is taken to be the wicked (cf. NIV, which renders “wicked” in the previous line as a collective singular). Others take the referent of both occurrences of “they” in the line to be the wicked (cf. NRSV, “let them be caught in the schemes they have devised”).

[27:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”

[27:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.

[34:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the face of the Lord [is] against the doers of evil to cut off from the earth memory of them.”

[35:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.

[35:8]  ¹² tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.

[36:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “he takes a stand in a way [that is] not good.” The word “way” here refers metaphorically to behavior or life style.

[36:4]  ¹⁴ tn The three imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 highlight the characteristic behavior of the typical evildoer.

[42:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “deep calls to deep.” The Hebrew noun תְּהוֹם (tÿhom) often refers to the deep sea, but here, where it is associated with Hermon, it probably refers to mountain streams. The word can be used of streams and rivers (see Deut 8:7; Ezek 31:4).

[42:7]  ¹⁶ tn The noun צִנּוֹר (tsinnor, “waterfall”) occurs only here and in 2 Sam 5:8, where it apparently refers to a water shaft. The psalmist alludes to the loud rushing sound of mountain streams and cascading waterfalls. Using the poetic device of personification, he imagines the streams calling out to each other as they hear the sound of the waterfalls.

[42:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “pass over me” (see Jonah 2:3). As he hears the sound of the rushing water, the psalmist imagines himself engulfed in the current. By implication he likens his emotional distress to such an experience.

[44:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “we have not forgotten you.” To “forget” God refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see v. 20, as well as Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 9:17).Thus the translation “we have not rejected you” has been used.

[44:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and we did not deal falsely with your covenant.”

[45:16]  ²⁰ tn The pronoun is second masculine singular, indicating the king is being addressed from this point to the end of the psalm.

[45:16]  ²¹ 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]  ²² tn Heb “in place of your fathers will be your sons.”

[48:6]  ²³ tn Heb “trembling seizes them there.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[48:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[with] writhing like one giving birth.”

[48:6]  sn The language of vv. 5-6 is reminiscent of Exod 15:15.

[55:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”

[55:3]  ²⁶ tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.

[55:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (’aqah, “pressure”).

[55:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.

[55:3]  ²⁹ tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).

[56:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in God I praise a word.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult. The statement is similar to that of v. 4, except that the third person pronominal suffix is omitted here, where the text has simply “a word” instead of “his word.” (1) One could translate, “in God I will boast [with] a word.” In this case, the “word” refers to a song of praise. (2) If one assumes that God’s word is in view, as in v. 4, then one option is to translate, “in God I boast, [in] his word.” In this case the prepositional phrase “in God” goes with the following verb “I boast” (see Ps 44:8) and “[his] word” is appositional to “in God” and more specifically identifies the basis for the psalmist’s confidence. God’s “word” is here understood as an assuring promise of protection. (3) The present translation reflects another option: In this case “I praise [his] word” is a parenthetical statement, with “[his] word” being the object of the verb. The sentence begun with the prepositional phrase “in God” is then completed in v. 11, with the prepositional phrase being repeated after the parenthesis.

[56:10]  ³¹ tn The phrase “in the Lord” parallels “in God” in the first line. Once again the psalmist parenthetically remarks “I boast in [his] word” before completing the sentence in v. 11.

[58:10]  ³² tn The singular is representative here, as is the singular from “wicked” in the next line.

[59:10]  ³³ tn Heb “the God of my [Qere (marginal reading); the Kethib (consonantal text) has “his”] loyal love will meet me.”

[59:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “will cause me to look upon.”

[59:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 56:2.

[68:17]  ³⁶ tn Heb “thousands of [?].” The meaning of the word שִׁנְאָן (shin’an), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Perhaps the form should be emended to שַׁאֲנָן (sha’anan, “at ease”) and be translated here “held in reserve.”

[68:17]  ³⁷ tc The MT reads, “the Lord [is] among them, Sinai, in holiness,” which is syntactically difficult. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֲדֹנָי בָּא מִסִּינַי (’adonay ba’ missinay; see BHS note b-b and Deut 33:2).

[68:33]  ³⁸ tc Heb “to the one who rides through the skies of skies of ancient times.” If the MT is retained, one might translate, “to the one who rides through the ancient skies.” (שְׁמֵי [shÿmey, “skies of”] may be accidentally repeated.) The present translation assumes an emendation to בַּשָּׁמַיִם מִקֶּדֶם (bashamayim miqqedem, “[to the one who rides] through the sky from ancient times”), that is, God has been revealing his power through the storm since ancient times.

[68:33]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he gives his voice a strong voice.” In this context God’s “voice” is the thunder that accompanies the rain (see vv. 8-9, as well as Deut 33:26).

[73:25]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “Who [is there] for me in heaven? And besides you I do not desire [anyone] in the earth.” The psalmist uses a merism (heaven/earth) to emphasize that God is the sole object of his desire and worship in the entire universe.

[76:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he reduces the spirit of princes.” According to HALOT 148 s.v. II בצר, the Hebrew verb בָּצַר (batsar) is here a hapax legomenon meaning “reduce, humble.” The statement is generalizing, with the imperfect tense highlighting God’s typical behavior.

[76:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “[he is] awesome to the kings of the earth.”

[78:21]  ⁴³ tn Heb “therefore.”

[78:21]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and also anger went up.”

[78:49]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he sent against them the rage of his anger.” The phrase “rage of his anger” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[78:49]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “fury and indignation and trouble, a sending of messengers of disaster.”

[79:12]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap.” The number seven is used rhetorically to express the thorough nature of the action. For other rhetorical/figurative uses of the Hebrew phrase שִׁבְעָתַיִם (shiv’atayim, “seven times”) see Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 12:6; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.

[79:12]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “their reproach with which they reproached you, O Lord.”

[80:17]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “may your hand be upon the man of your right hand.” The referent of the otherwise unattested phrase “man of your right hand,” is unclear. It may refer to the nation collectively as a man. (See the note on the word “yourself” in v. 17b.)

[80:17]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “upon the son of man you strengthened for yourself.” In its only other use in the Book of Psalms, the phrase “son of man” refers to the human race in general (see Ps 8:4). Here the phrase may refer to the nation collectively as a man. Note the use of the statement “you strengthened for yourself” both here and in v. 15, where the “son” (i.e., the branch of the vine) refers to Israel.

[89:16]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “are lifted up.”

[92:2]  ⁵² 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.

[104:35]  ⁵³ tn Or “be destroyed.”

[108:4]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”

[109:17]  ⁵⁵ sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.

[109:17]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.

[109:17]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”

[140:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “a man of a tongue.”

[140:11]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “be established in.”

[140:11]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “for blows.” The Hebrew noun מַדְחֵפֹה (madkhefoh, “blow”) occurs only here in the OT.