Mazmur 4:6

4:6 Many say, “Who can show us anything good?”

Smile upon us, Lord! ¹ 

Mazmur 7:9

7:9 May the evil deeds of the wicked ²  come to an end! ³ 

But make the innocent ⁴  secure, ⁵ 

O righteous God,

you who examine ⁶  inner thoughts and motives! ⁷ 

Mazmur 17:3

17:3 You have scrutinized my inner motives; ⁸ 

you have examined me during the night. ⁹ 

You have carefully evaluated me, but you find no sin.

I am determined I will say nothing sinful. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 31:19

31:19 How great is your favor, ¹¹ 

which you store up for your loyal followers! ¹² 

In plain sight of everyone you bestow it on those who take shelter ¹³  in you. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 35:26

35:26 May those who want to harm me be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ¹⁵ 

May those who arrogantly taunt me be covered with shame and humiliation! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 48:2

48:2 It is lofty and pleasing to look at, ¹⁷ 

a source of joy to the whole earth. ¹⁸ 

Mount Zion resembles the peaks of Zaphon; ¹⁹ 

it is the city of the great king.

Mazmur 51:4

51:4 Against you – you above all ²⁰  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ²¹  you are just when you confront me; ²² 

you are right when you condemn me. ²³ 

Mazmur 57:6

57:6 They have prepared a net to trap me; ²⁴ 

I am discouraged. ²⁵ 

They have dug a pit for me. ²⁶ 

They will fall ²⁷  into it! (Selah)

Mazmur 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ²⁸ 

powerful men stalk ²⁹  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 65:8

65:8 Even those living in the most remote areas are awestruck by your acts; ³¹ 

you cause those living in the east and west to praise you. ³² 

Mazmur 68:11

68:11 The Lord speaks; ³³ 

many, many women spread the good news. ³⁴ 

Mazmur 123:2

123:2 Look, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,

as the eyes of a female servant look to the hand of her mistress, ³⁵ 

so my eyes will look to the Lord, our God, until he shows us favor.

[4:6]  ¹ tn Heb “lift up upon us the light of your face, Lord.” The verb נסה is apparently an alternate form of נשׂא, “lift up.” See GKC 217 §76.b. The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

[4:6]  sn Smile upon us. Though many are discouraged, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and transform the situation.

[7:9]  ² tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.

[7:9]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation here.

[7:9]  ⁴ tn Or “the godly” (see Ps 5:12). The singular form is collective (see the plural “upright in heart” in v. 10), though it may reflect the personal focus of the psalmist in this context.

[7:9]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form expresses the psalmist’s prayer or wish.

[7:9]  ⁶ tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.

[7:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [the one who] tests hearts and kidneys, just God.” The translation inverts the word order to improve the English style. The heart and kidneys were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.

[17:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “you tested my heart.”

[17:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “you visited [at] night.”

[17:3]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “you tested me, you do not find, I plan, my mouth will not cross over.” The Hebrew verbal form זַמֹּתִי (zammotiy) is a Qal perfect, first person singular from the root זָמַם (zamam, “plan, plan evil”). Some emend the form to a suffixed form of the noun, זִמָּתִי (zimmatiy, “my plan/evil plan”), and take it as the object of the preceding verb “find.” However, the suffix seems odd, since the psalmist is denying that he has any wrong thoughts. If one takes the form with what precedes, it might make better sense to read זִמּוֹת (zimmot, “evil plans”). However, this emendation leaves an unclear connection with the next line. The present translation maintains the verbal form found in the MT and understands it in a neutral sense, “I have decided” (see Jer 4:28). The words “my mouth will not cross over” (i.e., “transgress, sin”) can then be taken as a noun clause functioning as the object of the verb.

[31:19]  ¹¹ tn Or “How abundant are your blessings!”

[31:19]  ¹² tn Heb “for those who fear you.”

[31:19]  ¹³ tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 34:21-22).

[31:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “you work [your favor] for the ones seeking shelter in you before the sons of men.”

[35:26]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones who rejoice over my harm.”

[35:26]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “may they be clothed with shame and humiliation, the ones who magnify [themselves] against me.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 26 are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-25, where the negative particle אַל (’al) appears before the prefixed verbal forms, indicating they are jussives). The psalmist is calling down judgment on his enemies.

[48:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “beautiful of height.” The Hebrew term נוֹף (nof, “height”) is a genitive of specification after the qualitative noun “beautiful.” The idea seems to be that Mount Zion, because of its lofty appearance, is pleasing to the sight.

[48:2]  ¹⁸ sn A source of joy to the whole earth. The language is hyperbolic. Zion, as the dwelling place of the universal king, is pictured as the world’s capital. The prophets anticipated this idealized picture becoming a reality in the eschaton (see Isa 2:1-4).

[48:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Mount Zion, the peaks of Zaphon.” Like all the preceding phrases in v. 2, both phrases are appositional to “city of our God, his holy hill” in v. 1, suggesting an identification in the poet’s mind between Mount Zion and Zaphon. “Zaphon” usually refers to the “north” in a general sense (see Pss 89:12; 107:3), but here, where it is collocated with “peaks,” it refers specifically to Mount Zaphon, located in the vicinity of ancient Ugarit and viewed as the mountain where the gods assembled (see Isa 14:13). By alluding to West Semitic mythology in this way, the psalm affirms that Mount Zion is the real divine mountain, for it is here that the Lord God of Israel lives and rules over the nations. See P. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 353, and T. N. D. Mettinger, In Search of God, 103.

[51:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ²² tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ²³ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[57:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for my feet.”

[57:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my life bends low.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[57:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “before me.”

[57:6]  ²⁷ tn The perfect form is used rhetorically here to express the psalmist’s certitude. The demise of the enemies is so certain that he can speak of it as already accomplished.

[59:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ³⁰ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.

[65:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “and the inhabitants of the ends fear because of your signs.” God’s “signs” are the “awesome acts” (see v. 5) he performs in the earth.

[65:8]  ³² tn Heb “the goings out of the morning and the evening you cause to shout for joy.” The phrase “goings out of the morning and evening” refers to the sunrise and sunset, that is, the east and the west.

[68:11]  ³³ tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.

[68:11]  ³⁴ tn Heb “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army.” The participle translated “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural form. Apparently the good news here is the announcement that enemy kings have been defeated (see v. 12).

[123:2]  ³⁵ sn Servants look to their master for food, shelter, and other basic needs.