Mazmur 55:9

55:9 Confuse them, ¹  O Lord!

Frustrate their plans! ² 

For I see violence and conflict in the city.

Mazmur 55:13

55:13 But it is you, ³  a man like me, ⁴ 

my close friend in whom I confided. ⁵ 

[55:9]  ¹ tn Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallow” in the sense of “devour” or “destroy” (cf. KJV), but this may be a homonym meaning “confuse” (see BDB 118 s.v. בַּלַּע; HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע). “Their tongue” is the understood object of the verb (see the next line).

[55:9]  ² tn Heb “split their tongue,” which apparently means “confuse their speech,” or, more paraphrastically, “frustrate the plans they devise with their tongues.”

[55:13]  ³ sn It is you. The psalmist addresses the apparent ringleader of the opposition, an individual who was once his friend.

[55:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “a man according to my value,” i.e., “a person such as I.”

[55:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “my close friend, one known by me.”