Mazmur 4:6

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

Smile upon us, Lord! ¹ 

Mazmur 9:10

9:10 Your loyal followers trust in you, ² 

for you, Lord, do not abandon those who seek your help. ³ 

Mazmur 12:5

12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ⁴ 

because of the painful cries ⁵  of the needy,

I will spring into action,” ⁶  says the Lord.

“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ⁷ 

Mazmur 18:15

18:15 The depths ⁸  of the sea ⁹  were exposed;

the inner regions ¹⁰  of the world were uncovered

by ¹¹  your battle cry, ¹²  Lord,

by the powerful breath from your nose. ¹³ 

Mazmur 20:5

20:5 Then we will shout for joy over your ¹⁴  victory;

we will rejoice ¹⁵  in the name of our God!

May the Lord grant all your requests!

Mazmur 22:26-27

22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! ¹⁶ 

Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!

May you ¹⁷  live forever!

22:27 Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to him! ¹⁸ 

Let all the nations ¹⁹  worship you! ²⁰ 

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! ²¹ 

Mazmur 40:16

40:16 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!

May those who love to experience ²²  your deliverance say continually, ²³ 

“May the Lord be praised!” ²⁴ 

Mazmur 42:8

42:8 By day the Lord decrees his loyal love, ²⁵ 

and by night he gives me a song, ²⁶ 

a prayer ²⁷  to the living God.

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 59:5

59:5 You, O Lord God, the invincible warrior, ³¹  the God of Israel,

rouse yourself and punish ³²  all the nations!

Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers! (Selah)

[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.

[9:10]  ² tn Heb “and the ones who know your name trust in you.” The construction vav (ו) conjunctive + imperfect at the beginning of the verse expresses another consequence of the statement made in v. 8. “To know” the Lord’s “name” means to be his follower, recognizing his authority and maintaining loyalty to him. See Ps 91:14, where “knowing” the Lord’s “name” is associated with loving him.

[9:10]  ³ tn Heb “the ones who seek you.”

[12:5]  ⁴ tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.

[12:5]  ⁵ tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).

[12:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will rise up.”

[12:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the Lord would be promising protection to those who have the courage to support the oppressed in the court of law. However, the first part of the verse focuses on the oppressed, not their advocates.

[18:15]  ⁸ tn Or “channels.”

[18:15]  ⁹ tc Ps 18:15 reads “water” (cf. Ps 42:1); “sea” is the reading of 2 Sam 22:16.

[18:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “foundations.”

[18:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from.” The preposition has a causal sense here.

[18:15]  ¹² tn The noun is derived from the verb גָּעַר (ga’ar), which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[18:15]  ¹³ tn 2 Sam 22:16 reads “by the battle cry of the Lord, by the blast of the breath of his nose.” The phrase “blast of the breath” (Heb “breath of breath”) 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.

[20:5]  ¹⁴ sn Your victory. Here the king is addressed (see v. 1).

[20:5]  ¹⁵ tc The Hebrew verb דָּגַל (dagal) occurs only here in the Qal. If accepted as original, it may carry the nuance “raise a banner,” but it is preferable to emend the form to נגיל (“we will rejoice”) which provides better parallelism with “shout for joy” and fits well with the prepositional phrase “in the name of our God” (see Ps 89:16).

[22:26]  ¹⁶ sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.

[22:26]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “may your heart[s].”

[22:27]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “may all the ends of the earth remember and turn to the Lord.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 27 are understood as jussives (cf. NEB). Another option (cf. NIV, NRSV) is to take the forms as imperfects and translate, “all the people of the earth will acknowledge and turn…and worship.” See vv. 29-32.

[22:27]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “families of the nations.”

[22:27]  ²⁰ tn Heb “before you.”

[31:17]  ²¹ 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.”

[40:16]  ²² tn Heb “those who love,” which stands metonymically for its cause, the experience of being delivered by the Lord.

[40:16]  ²³ tn The three prefixed verbal forms prior to the quotation are understood as jussives. The psalmist balances out his imprecation against his enemies with a prayer of blessing upon the godly.

[40:16]  ²⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great” (cf. NRSV). See Ps 35:27.

[42:8]  ²⁵ sn The psalmist believes that the Lord has not abandoned him, but continues to extend his loyal love. To this point in the psalm, the author has used the name “God,” but now, as he mentions the divine characteristic of loyal love, he switches to the more personal divine name Yahweh (rendered in the translation as “the Lord”).

[42:8]  ²⁶ tn Heb “his song [is] with me.”

[42:8]  ²⁷ tc A few medieval Hebrew mss read תְּהִלָּה (tÿhillah, “praise”) instead of תְּפִלָּה (tÿfillah, “prayer”).

[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.

[59:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “Lord, God, Hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’elohey) before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”). See Ps 89:9, but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yÿhvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 80:4, 19; 84:8 as well.

[59:5]  ³² tn Heb “wake up to punish” (see Pss 35:23; 44:23).