Mazmur 6:9

6:9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;

the Lord has accepted ¹  my prayer.

Mazmur 22:18

22:18 They are dividing up my clothes among themselves;

they are rolling dice ²  for my garments.

Mazmur 22:28

22:28 For the Lord is king ³ 

and rules over the nations.

Mazmur 30:10

30:10 Hear, O Lord, and have mercy on me!

O Lord, deliver me!” ⁴ 

Mazmur 34:20

34:20 He protects ⁵  all his bones; ⁶ 

not one of them is broken. ⁷ 

Mazmur 38:7

38:7 For I am overcome with shame ⁸ 

and my whole body is sick. ⁹ 

Mazmur 38:18

38:18 Yes, ¹⁰  I confess my wrongdoing,

and I am concerned about my sins.

Mazmur 45:3

45:3 Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior! ¹¹ 

Appear in your majestic splendor! ¹² 

Mazmur 48:4

48:4 For ¹³  look, the kings assemble; ¹⁴ 

they advance together.

Mazmur 48:7

48:7 With an east wind

you shatter ¹⁵  the large ships. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 48:12

48:12 Walk around ¹⁷  Zion! Encircle it!

Count its towers!

Mazmur 49:3

49:3 I will declare a wise saying; ¹⁸ 

I will share my profound thoughts. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 51:2-3

51:2 Wash away my wrongdoing! ²⁰ 

Cleanse me of my sin! ²¹ 

51:3 For I am aware of ²²  my rebellious acts;

I am forever conscious of my sin. ²³ 

Mazmur 54:4

54:4 Look, God is my deliverer! ²⁴ 

The Lord is among those who support me. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 55:4-5

55:4 My heart beats violently ²⁶  within me;

the horrors of death overcome me. ²⁷ 

55:5 Fear and panic overpower me; ²⁸ 

terror overwhelms ²⁹  me.

Mazmur 65:7

65:7 You calm the raging seas ³⁰ 

and their roaring waves,

as well as the commotion made by the nations. ³¹ 

Mazmur 69:25

69:25 May their camp become desolate,

their tents uninhabited! ³² 

Mazmur 89:40

89:40 You have broken down all his ³³  walls;

you have made his strongholds a heap of ruins.

Mazmur 102:5

102:5 Because of the anxiety that makes me groan,

my bones protrude from my skin. ³⁴ 

Mazmur 4:1

Psalm 4 ³⁵ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a psalm of David.

4:1 When I call out, answer me,

O God who vindicates me! ³⁶ 

Though I am hemmed in, you will lead me into a wide, open place. ³⁷ 

Have mercy on me ³⁸  and respond to ³⁹  my prayer!

[6:9]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a preterite here; it is parallel to a perfect and refers to the fact that the Lord has responded favorably to the psalmist’s request.

[22:18]  ² tn Heb “casting lots.” The precise way in which this would have been done is not certain.

[22:28]  ³ tn Heb “for to the Lord [is] dominion.”

[30:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “be a helper to me.”

[34:20]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew participial form suggests such protection is characteristic.

[34:20]  ⁶ tn That is, he protects the godly from physical harm.

[34:20]  ⁷ sn Not one of them is broken. The author of the Gospel of John saw a fulfillment of these words in Jesus’ experience on the cross (see John 19:31-37), for the Roman soldiers, when they saw that Jesus was already dead, did not break his legs as was customarily done to speed the death of crucified individuals. John’s use of the psalm seems strange, for the statement in its original context suggests that the Lord protects the godly from physical harm. Jesus’ legs may have remained unbroken, but he was brutally and unjustly executed by his enemies. John seems to give the statement a literal sense that is foreign to its original literary context by applying a promise of divine protection to a man who was seemingly not saved by God. However, John saw in this incident a foreshadowing of Jesus’ ultimate deliverance and vindication. His unbroken bones were a reminder of God’s commitment to the godly and a sign of things to come. Jesus’ death on the cross was not the end of the story; God vindicated him, as John goes on to explain in the following context (John 19:38-20:18).

[38:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that נִקְלֶה (niqleh) is derived from קָלָה (qalah, “be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root קָלָה (qalah), meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).

[38:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).

[38:18]  ¹⁰ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[45:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “mighty one.”

[45:3]  ¹² tn The Hebrew text has simply, “your majesty and your splendor,” which probably refers to the king’s majestic splendor when he appears in full royal battle regalia.

[48:4]  ¹³ tn The logical connection between vv. 3-4 seems to be this: God is the protector of Zion and reveals himself as the city’s defender – this is necessary because hostile armies threaten the city.

[48:4]  ¹⁴ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 4-6 are understood as descriptive. In dramatic style (note הִנֵּה, hinneh, “look”) the psalm describes an enemy attack against the city as if it were occurring at this very moment. Another option is to take the perfects as narrational (“the kings assembled, they advanced”), referring to a particular historical event, such as Sennacherib’s siege of the city in 701 b.c. (cf. NIV, NRSV). Even if one translates the verses in a dramatic-descriptive manner (as the present translation does), the Lord’s victory over the Assyrians was probably what served as the inspiration of the description (see v. 8).

[48:7]  ¹⁵ tn The switch to the imperfect, as well as the introduction of the ship metaphor, perhaps signals a change to a generalizing tone; the Lord typically shatters these large ships, symbolic of the human strength of hostile armies (see the following note on “large ships”). The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Pss 29:5; 46:9). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3).

[48:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to and from the distant western port of Tarshish. These ships, which were the best of their class, here symbolize the mere human strength of hostile armies, which are incapable of withstanding the Lord’s divine power (see Isa 2:16).

[48:12]  ¹⁷ tn The verb forms in vv. 12-13 are plural; the entire Judahite community is addressed.

[49:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “my mouth will speak wisdom.” According to BDB 315 s.v. חָכְמָה the plural חָכְמוֹת (khokhmot, “wisdom”) indicates degree or emphasis here.

[49:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and the meditation of my heart [i.e., mind] is understanding.” The Hebrew term הָגוּת (hagut, “meditation”), derived from הָגָה (hagah, “to recite quietly; to meditate”), here refers to thoughts that are verbalized (see the preceding line). The plural form תְבוּנוֹת (tÿvunot, “understanding”) indicates degree or emphasis (see GKC 397-98 §124.e).

[51:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Thoroughly wash me from my wrongdoing.”

[51:2]  ²¹ sn In vv. 1b-2 the psalmist uses three different words to emphasize the multifaceted character and degree of his sin. Whatever one wants to call it (“rebellious acts,” “wrongdoing,” “sin”), he has done it and stands morally polluted in God’s sight. The same three words appear in Exod 34:7, which emphasizes that God is willing to forgive sin in all of its many dimensions. In v. 2 the psalmist compares forgiveness and restoration to physical cleansing. Perhaps he likens spiritual cleansing to the purification rites of priestly law.

[51:3]  ²² tn Heb “know.”

[51:3]  ²³ tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

[54:4]  ²⁴ tn Or “my helper.”

[54:4]  ²⁵ tn Or “sustain my life.”

[55:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “shakes, trembles.”

[55:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “the terrors of death have fallen on me.”

[55:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “fear and trembling enter into me.”

[55:5]  ²⁹ tn Heb “covers.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the descriptive (present progressive) force of the preceding imperfect.

[65:7]  ³⁰ tn Heb “the roar of the seas.”

[65:7]  ³¹ sn The raging seas…the commotion made by the nations. The raging seas symbolize the turbulent nations of the earth (see Ps 46:2-3, 6; Isa 17:12).

[69:25]  ³² tn Heb “in their tents may there not be one who dwells.”

[69:25]  sn In Acts 1:20 Peter applies the language of this verse to Judas’ experience. By changing the pronouns from plural to singular, he is able to apply the ancient curse, pronounced against the psalmist’s enemies, to Judas in particular.

[89:40]  ³³ tn The king here represents the land and cities over which he rules.

[102:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from the sound of my groaning my bone[s] stick to my flesh.” The preposition at the beginning of the verse is causal; the phrase “sound of my groaning” is metonymic for the anxiety that causes the groaning. The point seems to be this: Anxiety (which causes the psalmist to groan) keeps him from eating (v. 4). This physical deprivation in turn makes him emaciated – he is turned to “skin and bones,” so to speak.

[4:1]  ³⁵ sn Psalm 4. The psalmist asks God to hear his prayer, expresses his confidence that the Lord will intervene, and urges his enemies to change their ways and place their trust in God. He concludes with another prayer for divine intervention and again affirms his absolute confidence in God’s protection.

[4:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “God of my righteousness.”

[4:1]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in distress (or “a narrow place”) you make (a place) large for me.” The function of the Hebrew perfect verbal form here is uncertain. The translation above assumes that the psalmist is expressing his certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm (vv. 3, 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“lead me”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[4:1]  ³⁸ tn Or “show me favor.”

[4:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “hear.”