Mazmur 6:5

6:5 For no one remembers you in the realm of death, ¹ 

In Sheol who gives you thanks? ² 

Mazmur 34:9

34:9 Remain loyal to ³  the Lord, you chosen people of his, ⁴ 

for his loyal followers ⁵  lack nothing!

Mazmur 36:1

Psalm 36 ⁶ 

For the music director; written by the Lord’s servant, David; an oracle. ⁷ 

36:1 An evil man is rebellious to the core. ⁸ 

He does not fear God, ⁹ 

Mazmur 39:9

39:9 I am silent and cannot open my mouth

because of what you have done. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 44:18

44:18 We have not been unfaithful, ¹¹ 

nor have we disobeyed your commands. ¹² 

Mazmur 49:8

49:8 (the ransom price for a human life ¹³  is too high,

and people go to their final destiny), ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 55:6

55:6 I say, ¹⁵  “I wish I had wings like a dove!

I would fly away and settle in a safe place!

Mazmur 59:7

59:7 Look, they hurl insults at me

and openly threaten to kill me, ¹⁶ 

for they say, ¹⁷ 

“Who hears?”

Mazmur 62:10

62:10 Do not trust in what you can gain by oppression! ¹⁸ 

Do not put false confidence in what you can gain by robbery! ¹⁹ 

If wealth increases, do not become attached to it! ²⁰ 

Mazmur 64:9

64:9 and all people will fear. ²¹ 

They will proclaim ²²  what God has done,

and reflect on his deeds.

Mazmur 68:31

68:31 They come with red cloth ²³  from Egypt,

Ethiopia ²⁴  voluntarily offers tribute ²⁵  to God.

Mazmur 73:25

73:25 Whom do I have in heaven but you?

I desire no one but you on earth. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 77:19

77:19 You walked through the sea; ²⁷ 

you passed through the surging waters, ²⁸ 

but left no footprints. ²⁹ 

Mazmur 90:2

90:2 Even before the mountains came into existence, ³⁰ 

or you brought the world into being, ³¹ 

you were the eternal God. ³² 

Mazmur 97:7

97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,

those who boast about worthless idols.

All the gods bow down before him. ³³ 

Mazmur 101:3

101:3 I will not even consider doing what is dishonest. ³⁴ 

I hate doing evil; ³⁵ 

I will have no part of it. ³⁶ 

Mazmur 104:28

104:28 You give food to them and they receive it;

you open your hand and they are filled with food. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 105:14

105:14 He let no one oppress them;

he disciplined kings for their sake,

Mazmur 135:6

135:6 He does whatever he pleases

in heaven and on earth,

in the seas and all the ocean depths.

Mazmur 139:12

139:12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, ³⁸ 

and the night is as bright as ³⁹  day;

darkness and light are the same to you. ⁴⁰ 

[6:5]  ¹ tn Heb “for there is not in death your remembrance.” The Hebrew noun זֵכֶר (zekher, “remembrance”) here refers to the name of the Lord as invoked in liturgy and praise. Cf. Pss 30:4; 97:12. “Death” here refers to the realm of death where the dead reside. See the reference to Sheol in the next line.

[6:5]  ² tn The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “no one.”

[6:5]  sn In Sheol who gives you thanks? According to the OT, those who descend into the realm of death/Sheol are cut off from God’s mighty deeds and from the worshiping covenant community that experiences divine intervention (Pss 30:9; 88:10-12; Isa 38:18). In his effort to elicit a positive divine response, the psalmist reminds God that he will receive no praise or glory if he allows the psalmist to die. Dead men do not praise God!

[34:9]  ³ tn Heb “fear.”

[34:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “O holy ones of his.”

[34:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[36:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 36. Though evil men plan to harm others, the psalmist is confident that the Lord is the just ruler of the earth who gives and sustains all life. He prays for divine blessing and protection and anticipates God’s judgment of the wicked.

[36:1]  ⁷ tn In the Hebrew text the word נאם (“oracle”) appears at the beginning of the next verse (v. 2 in the Hebrew text because the superscription is considered v. 1). The resulting reading, “an oracle of rebellion for the wicked [is] in the midst of my heart” (cf. NIV) apparently means that the psalm, which foresees the downfall of the wicked, is a prophetic oracle about the rebellion of the wicked which emerges from the soul of the psalmist. One could translate, “Here is a poem written as I reflected on the rebellious character of evil men.” Another option, followed in the translation above, is to attach נאם (nÿ’um, “oracle”) with the superscription. For another example of a Davidic poem being labeled an “oracle,” see 2 Sam 23:1.

[36:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “[the] rebellion of an evil man [is] in the midst of my heart.” The translation assumes a reading “in the midst of his heart” (i.e., “to the core”) instead of “in the midst of my heart,” a change which finds support in a a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Hebrew text of Origen’s Hexapla, and the Syriac.

[36:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “there is no dread of God before his eyes.” The phrase “dread of God” refers here to a healthy respect for God which recognizes that he will punish evil behavior.

[39:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “because you acted.” The psalmist has in mind God’s disciplinary measures (see vv. 10-13).

[44:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “our heart did not turn backward.” Cf. Ps 78:57.

[44:18]  ¹² tn Heb “and our steps did [not] turn aside from your path.” The negative particle is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line). God’s “path” refers to his commands, i.e., the moral pathway he has prescribed for the psalmist. See Pss 17:5; 25:4.

[49:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “their life.” Some emend the text to “his life,” understanding the antecedent of the pronoun as “brother” in v. 7. However, the man and brother of v. 7 are representative of the human race in general, perhaps explaining why a plural pronoun appears in v. 8. Of course, the plural pronoun could refer back to “the rich” mentioned in v. 6. Another option (the one assumed in the translation) is that the suffixed mem is enclitic. In this case the “ransom price for human life” is referred to an abstract, general way.

[49:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and one ceases forever.” The translation assumes an indefinite subject which in turn is representative of the entire human race (“one,” that refers to human beings without exception). The verb חָדַל (khadal, “cease”) is understood in the sense of “come to an end; fail” (i.e., die). Another option is to translate, “and one ceases/refrains forever.” In this case the idea is that the living, convinced of the reality of human mortality, give up all hope of “buying off” God and refrain from trying to do so.

[55:6]  ¹⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the verbs in v. 5.

[59:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “look, they gush forth with their mouth, swords [are] in their lips.”

[59:7]  ¹⁷ tn The words “for they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The following question (“Who hears?”) is spoken by the psalmist’s enemies, who are confident that no one else can hear their threats against the psalmist. They are aggressive because they feel the psalmist is vulnerable and has no one to help him.

[62:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “do not trust in oppression.” Here “oppression” stands by metonymy for the riches that can be gained by oppressive measures, as the final line of the verse indicates.

[62:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and in robbery do not place vain hope.” Here “robbery” stands by metonymy for the riches that can be gained by theft, as the next line of the verse indicates.

[62:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[as for] wealth, when it bears fruit, do not set [your] heart [on it].”

[64:9]  ²¹ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read וַיִּרְאוּ (vayyir’u, “and they will see”) instead of וַיִּירְאוּ (vayyirÿ’u, “and they will proclaim”).

[64:9]  ²² tn Heb “the work of God,” referring to the judgment described in v. 7.

[68:31]  ²³ tn This noun, which occurs only here in the OT, apparently means “red cloth” or “bronze articles” (see HALOT 362 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NEB “tribute”). Traditionally the word has been taken to refer to “nobles” (see BDB 365 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NIV “envoys”). Another option would be to emend the text to הַשְׁמַנִּים (hashmannim, “the robust ones,” i.e., leaders).

[68:31]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Cush.”

[68:31]  ²⁵ tn Heb “causes its hands to run,” which must mean “quickly stretches out its hands” (to present tribute).

[73:25]  ²⁶ tn Heb “Who [is there] for me in heaven? And besides you I do not desire [anyone] in the earth.” The psalmist uses a merism (heaven/earth) to emphasize that God is the sole object of his desire and worship in the entire universe.

[77:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in the sea [was] your way.”

[77:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and your paths [were] in the mighty waters.”

[77:19]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and your footprints were not known.”

[90:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “were born.”

[90:2]  ³¹ tn Heb “and you gave birth to the earth and world.” The Polel verbal form in the Hebrew text pictures God giving birth to the world. The LXX and some other ancient textual witnesses assume a polal (passive) verbal form here. In this case the earth becomes the subject of the verb and the verb is understood as third feminine singular rather than second masculine singular.

[90:2]  ³² tn Heb “and from everlasting to everlasting you [are] God.” Instead of אֵל (’el, “God”) the LXX reads אַל (’al, “not”) and joins the negative particle to the following verse, making the verb תָּשֵׁב (tashev) a jussive. In this case v. 3a reads as a prayer, “do not turn man back to a low place.” However, taking תָּשֵׁב as a jussive is problematic in light of the following following wayyiqtol form וַתֹּאמֶר (vato’mer, “and you said/say”).

[97:7]  ³³ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the Lord’s mighty theophany on those who witness it (see vv. 5, 8). Another option is to take the prefixed form in the first line as a jussive (“let all who worship idols be ashamed”) and the ambiguous form in the third line as an imperative (“All you gods, bow down before him!”; cf. NIV).

[101:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “I will not set before my eyes a thing of worthlessness.”

[101:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the doing of swerving [deeds] I hate.” The Hebrew term סֵטִים (setim) is probably an alternate spelling of שֵׂטִים (setim), which appears in many medieval Hebrew mss. The form appears to be derived from a verbal root שׂוּט (sut, “to fall away; to swerve”; see Ps 40:4).

[101:3]  ³⁶ tn Heb “it [i.e., the doing of evil deeds] does not cling to me.”

[104:28]  ³⁷ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] good.”

[139:12]  ³⁸ tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[139:12]  ³⁹ tn Heb “shines like.”

[139:12]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”