Mazmur 64:4

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent ¹  in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ² 

Mazmur 102:4

102:4 My heart is parched ³  and withered like grass,

for I am unable ⁴  to eat food. ⁵ 

Mazmur 109:17

109:17 He loved to curse ⁶  others, so those curses have come upon him. ⁷ 

He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. ⁸ 

[64:4]  ¹ tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4]  ² tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[102:4]  ³ tn Heb “struck, attacked.”

[102:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “I forget.”

[102:4]  ⁵ sn I am unable to eat food. During his time of mourning, the psalmist refrained from eating. In the following verse he describes metaphorically the physical effects of fasting.

[109:17]  ⁶ sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.

[109:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.

[109:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”