Mazmur 4:6

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

Smile upon us, Lord! ¹ 

Mazmur 8:1

Psalm 8 ² 

For the music director, according to the gittith style; ³  a psalm of David.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord, ⁴ 

how magnificent ⁵  is your reputation ⁶  throughout the earth!

You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! ⁷ 

Mazmur 27:9

27:9 Do not reject me! ⁸ 

Do not push your servant away in anger!

You are my deliverer! ⁹ 

Do not forsake or abandon me,

O God who vindicates me!

Mazmur 31:11

31:11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; ¹⁰ 

my neighbors are appalled by my suffering ¹¹  –

those who know me are horrified by my condition; ¹² 

those who see me in the street run away from me.

Mazmur 35:26

35:26 May those who want to harm me be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ¹³ 

May those who arrogantly taunt me be covered with shame and humiliation! ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 40:14

40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life

be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ¹⁵ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 47:9

47:9 The nobles of the nations assemble,

along with the people of the God of Abraham, ¹⁷ 

for God has authority over the rulers ¹⁸  of the earth.

He is highly exalted! ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 67:1

Psalm 67 ²⁰ 

For the music director; to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm, a song.

67:1 May God show us his favor ²¹  and bless us! ²² 

May he smile on us! ²³  (Selah)

Mazmur 67:4

67:4 Let foreigners ²⁴  rejoice and celebrate!

For you execute justice among the nations,

and govern the people living on earth. ²⁵  (Selah)

Mazmur 70:2

70:2 May those who are trying to take my life

be embarrassed and ashamed! ²⁶ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ²⁷ 

Mazmur 143:7

143:7 Answer me quickly, Lord!

My strength is fading. ²⁸ 

Do not reject me, ²⁹ 

or I will join ³⁰  those descending into the grave. ³¹ 

[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.

[8:1]  ² sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.

[8:1]  ³ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.

[8:1]  ⁴ tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the Lord’s absolute sovereignty.

[8:1]  ⁵ tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”

[8:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[8:1]  ⁷ tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.

[27:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[27:9]  ⁹ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[31:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”

[31:11]  ¹¹ tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).

[31:11]  ¹² tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”

[35:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones who rejoice over my harm.”

[35:26]  ¹⁴ 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.

[40:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ¹⁶ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse (“may those…be…embarrassed and ashamed…may those…be turned back and ashamed”) are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[40:14]  sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.

[47:9]  ¹⁷ tc The words “along with” do not appear in the MT. However, the LXX has “with,” suggesting that the original text may have read עִם עַם (’im ’am, “along with the people”). In this case the MT is haplographic (the consonantal sequence ayin-mem [עם] being written once instead of twice). Another option is that the LXX is simply and correctly interpreting “people” as an adverbial accusative and supplying the appropriate preposition.

[47:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for to God [belong] the shields of the earth.” Perhaps the rulers are called “shields” because they are responsible for protecting their people. See Ps 84:9, where the Davidic king is called “our shield,” and perhaps also Hos 4:18.

[47:9]  ¹⁹ tn The verb עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”) appears once more (see v. 5), though now in the Niphal stem.

[67:1]  ²⁰ sn Psalm 67. The psalmist prays for God’s blessing upon his people and urges the nations to praise him for he is the just ruler of the world.

[67:1]  ²¹ tn Or “have mercy on us.”

[67:1]  ²² tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. Note the jussive form יָאֵר (ya’er) in the next line.

[67:1]  ²³ tn Heb “may he cause his face to shine with us.”

[67:4]  ²⁴ tn Or “peoples.”

[67:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for you judge nations fairly, and [as for the] peoples in the earth, you lead them.” The imperfects are translated with the present tense because the statement is understood as a generalization about God’s providential control of the world. Another option is to understand the statement as anticipating God’s future rule (“for you will rule…and govern”).

[70:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed, the ones seeking my life.” Ps 40:14 has “together” after “ashamed,” and “to snatch it away” after “my life.”

[70:2]  ²⁷ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[70:2]  sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.

[143:7]  ²⁸ tn Heb “my spirit is failing.”

[143:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” (1) can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) can carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[143:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[143:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “the pit.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit; cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. See Ps 28:1.