Mazmur 59:9-15

59:9 You are my source of strength! I will wait for you! ¹ 

For God is my refuge. ² 

59:10 The God who loves me will help me; ³ 

God will enable me to triumph over ⁴  my enemies. ⁵ 

59:11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,

because then my people might forget the lesson. ⁶ 

Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,

O Lord who shields us! ⁷ 

59:12 They speak sinful words. ⁸ 

So let them be trapped by their own pride

and by the curses and lies they speak!

59:13 Angrily wipe them out! Wipe them out so they vanish!

Let them know that God rules

in Jacob and to the ends of the earth! (Selah)

59:14 They return in the evening;

they growl ⁹  like a dog

and prowl around outside ¹⁰  the city.

59:15 They wander around looking for something to eat;

they refuse to sleep until they are full. ¹¹ 

[59:9]  ¹ tc Heb “his strength, for you I will watch.” “His strength” should be emended to “my strength” (see v. 17). Some also emend אֶשְׁמֹרָה (’eshmorah, “I will watch”) to אֱזַמֵּרָה (’ezammerah, “I will sing praises [to you]”) See v. 17.

[59:9]  ² tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[59:10]  ³ tn Heb “the God of my [Qere (marginal reading); the Kethib (consonantal text) has “his”] loyal love will meet me.”

[59:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “will cause me to look upon.”

[59:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 56:2.

[59:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.”

[59:11]  sn My people might forget the lesson. Swift, sudden destruction might be quickly forgotten. The psalmist wants God’s judgment to be prolonged so that it might be a continual reminder of divine justice.

[59:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”

[59:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”

[59:14]  ⁹ tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”

[59:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “go around.”

[59:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “if they are not full, they stay through the night.”