Mazmur 55:3-5

55:3 because of what the enemy says, ¹ 

and because of how the wicked ²  pressure me, ³ 

for they hurl trouble ⁴  down upon me ⁵ 

and angrily attack me.

55:4 My heart beats violently ⁶  within me;

the horrors of death overcome me. ⁷ 

55:5 Fear and panic overpower me; ⁸ 

terror overwhelms ⁹  me.

[55:3]  ¹ tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”

[55:3]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.

[55:3]  ⁵ 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).

[55:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”

[55:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”

[55:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”

[55:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.