Mazmur 69:22

69:22 May their dining table become a trap before them!

May it be a snare for that group of friends! ¹ 

Mazmur 72:9

72:9 Before him the coastlands ²  will bow down,

and his enemies will lick the dust. ³ 

Mazmur 73:17

73:17 Then I entered the precincts of God’s temple, ⁴ 

and understood the destiny of the wicked. ⁵ 

Mazmur 78:12

78:12 He did amazing things in the sight of their ancestors,

in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan. ⁶ 

Mazmur 89:36

89:36 His dynasty will last forever. ⁷ 

His throne will endure before me, like the sun, ⁸ 

Mazmur 89:45

89:45 You have cut short his youth, ⁹ 

and have covered him with shame. (Selah)

Mazmur 98:2

98:2 The Lord demonstrates his power to deliver; ¹⁰ 

in the sight of the nations he reveals his justice.

Mazmur 109:6

109:6 ¹¹ Appoint an evil man to testify against him! ¹² 

May an accuser stand ¹³  at his right side!

[69:22]  ¹ tc Heb “and to the friends for a snare.” The plural of שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) is used in Ps 55:20 of one’s “friends.” If the reading of the MT is retained here, the term depicts the psalmist’s enemies as a close-knit group of friends who are bound together by their hatred for the psalmist. Some prefer to revocalize the text as וּלְשִׁלּוּמִים (ulÿshillumim, “and for retribution”). In this case the noun stands parallel to פַּח (pakh, “trap”) and מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), and one might translate, “may their dining table become a trap before them, [a means of] retribution and a snare” (cf. NIV).

[72:9]  ² tn Or “islands.” The term here refers metonymically to those people who dwell in these regions.

[72:9]  ³ sn As they bow down before him, it will appear that his enemies are licking the dust.

[73:17]  ⁴ tn The plural of the term מִקְדָּשׁ (miqdash) probably refers to the temple precincts (see Ps 68:35; Jer 51:51).

[73:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “I discerned their end.” At the temple the psalmist perhaps received an oracle of deliverance announcing his vindication and the demise of the wicked (see Ps 12) or heard songs of confidence (for example, Ps 11), wisdom psalms (for example, Pss 1, 37), and hymns (for example, Ps 112) that describe the eventual downfall of the proud and wealthy.

[78:12]  ⁶ sn The region of Zoan was located in the Egyptian delta, where the enslaved Israelites lived (see Num 13:22; Isa 19:11, 13; 30:4; Ezek 30:14).

[89:36]  ⁷ tn Heb “his offspring forever will be.”

[89:36]  ⁸ tn Heb “and his throne like the sun before me.”

[89:45]  ⁹ tn Heb “the days of his youth” (see as well Job 33:25).

[98:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “makes known his deliverance.”

[109:6]  ¹¹ sn In vv. 6-19 the psalmist calls on God to judge his enemies severely. Some attribute this curse-list to the psalmist’s enemies rather than the psalmist. In this case one should paraphrase v. 6: “They say about me, ‘Appoint an evil man, etc.’” Those supporting this line of interpretation point out that vv. 2-5 and 20 refer to the enemies’ attack on the psalmist being a verbal one. Furthermore in vv. 1-5, 20 the psalmist speaks of his enemies in the plural, while vv. 6-19 refer to an individual. This use of the singular in vv. 6-19 could be readily explained if this is the psalmist’s enemies’ curse on him. However, it is much more natural to understand vv. 6-19 as the psalmist’s prayer against his enemies. There is no introductory quotation formula in v. 6 to indicate that the psalmist is quoting anyone, and the statement “may the Lord repay my accusers in this way” in v. 20 most naturally appears to be a fitting conclusion to the prayer in vv. 6-19. But what about the use of the singular in vv. 6-19? Often in the psalms the psalmist will describe his enemies as a group, but then speak of them as an individual as well, as if viewing his adversaries collectively as one powerful foe. See, for example, Ps 7, where the psalmist uses both the plural (vv. 1, 6) and the singular (vv. 2, 4-5) in referring to enemies. Perhaps by using the singular in such cases, the psalmist wants to single out each enemy for individual attention, or perhaps he has one especially hostile enemy in mind who epitomizes the opposition of the whole group. This may well be the case in Ps 109. Perhaps we should understand the singular throughout vv. 6-19 in the sense of “each and every one.” For a lengthy and well-reasoned defense of the opposite view – that vv. 6-19 are a quotation of what the enemies said about the psalmist – see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 72-73.

[109:6]  ¹² tn Heb “appoint against him an evil [man].”

[109:6]  ¹³ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive here (note the imperative in the preceding line).