Mazmur 7:14

7:14 See the one who is pregnant with wickedness,

who conceives destructive plans,

and gives birth to harmful lies – ¹ 

Mazmur 26:11

26:11 But I have integrity! ² 

Rescue me ³  and have mercy on me!

Mazmur 33:20

33:20 We ⁴  wait for the Lord;

he is our deliverer ⁵  and shield. ⁶ 

Mazmur 35:21

35:21 They are ready to devour me; ⁷ 

they say, “Aha! Aha! We’ve got you!” ⁸ 

Mazmur 38:11

38:11 Because of my condition, ⁹  even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; ¹⁰ 

my neighbors stand far away. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 50:8

50:8 I am not condemning ¹²  you because of your sacrifices,

or because of your burnt sacrifices that you continually offer me. ¹³ 

Mazmur 73:8

73:8 They mock ¹⁴  and say evil things; ¹⁵ 

they proudly threaten violence. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 73:10

73:10 Therefore they have more than enough food to eat,

and even suck up the water of the sea. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 94:5

94:5 O Lord, they crush your people;

they oppress the nation that belongs to you. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 94:18

94:18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.

Mazmur 95:9

95:9 where your ancestors challenged my authority, ¹⁹ 

and tried my patience, even though they had seen my work.

Mazmur 105:28-29

105:28 He made it dark; ²⁰ 

they did not disobey his orders. ²¹ 

105:29 He turned their water into blood,

and killed their fish.

Mazmur 106:27

106:27 make their descendants ²²  die ²³  among the nations,

and scatter them among foreign lands. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 119:126

119:126 It is time for the Lord to act –

they break your law!

Mazmur 122:1

Psalm 122 ²⁵ 

A song of ascents, ²⁶  by David.

122:1 I was glad because ²⁷  they said to me,

“We will go to the Lord’s temple.”

Mazmur 129:2

129:2 “Since my youth they have often attacked me,

but they have not defeated me.

Mazmur 135:9

135:9 He performed awesome deeds ²⁸  and acts of judgment ²⁹ 

in your midst, O Egypt,

against Pharaoh and all his servants.

Mazmur 136:22

136:22 as an inheritance to Israel his servant,

for his loyal love endures,

Mazmur 138:3

138:3 When ³⁰  I cried out for help, you answered me.

You made me bold and energized me. ³¹ 

Mazmur 146:2

146:2 I will praise the Lord as long as I live!

I will sing praises to my God as long as I exist!

[7:14]  ¹ tn Heb “and he conceives harm and gives birth to a lie.”

[7:14]  sn Pregnant with wickedness…gives birth to harmful lies. The psalmist metaphorically pictures the typical sinner as a pregnant woman, who is ready to give birth to wicked, destructive schemes and actions.

[26:11]  ² tn Heb “and I in my integrity walk.” The psalmist uses the imperfect verbal form to emphasize this is his practice. The construction at the beginning of the verse (conjunction + pronoun) highlights the contrast between the psalmist and the sinners mentioned in vv. 9-10.

[26:11]  ³ tn Or “redeem me.”

[33:20]  ⁴ tn Or “our lives.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[33:20]  ⁵ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[33:20]  ⁶ tn Or “protector.”

[35:21]  ⁷ tn Heb “and they cause their mouth to be wide against me.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the generalizing mood of the previous verse. For other examples of this use of the prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive, see GKC 329 §111.t.

[35:21]  ⁸ tn Heb “our eye sees.” Apparently this is an idiom meaning to “look in triumph” or “gloat over” (see Ps 54:7).

[38:11]  ⁹ tn Or “wound,” or “illness.”

[38:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stand [aloof].”

[38:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the ones near me off at a distance stand.”

[50:8]  ¹² tn Or “rebuking.”

[50:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “and your burnt sacrifices before me continually.”

[73:8]  ¹⁴ tn The verb מוּק (muq, “mock”) occurs only here in the OT.

[73:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and speak with evil.”

[73:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “oppression from an elevated place they speak.” The traditional accentuation of the MT places “oppression” with the preceding line. In this case, one might translate, “they mock and speak with evil [of] oppression, from an elevated place [i.e., “proudly”] they speak.” By placing “oppression” with what follows, one achieves better poetic balance in the parallelism.

[73:10]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “therefore his people return [so Qere (marginal reading); Kethib (consonantal text) has “he brings back”] to here, and waters of abundance are sucked up by them.” The traditional Hebrew text (MT) defies explanation. The present translation reflects M. Dahood’s proposed emendations (Psalms [AB], 2:190) and reads the Hebrew text as follows: לָכֵן יִשְׂבְעוּם לֶחֶם וּמֵי מָלֵא יָמֹצּוּ לָמוֹ (“therefore they are filled with food, and waters of abundance they suck up for themselves”). The reading יִשְׂבְעוּם לֶחֶם (yisvÿ’um lekhem, “they are filled with food”) assumes (1) an emendation of יָשׁיּב עַמּוֹ (yashyyv, “he will bring back his people”) to יִשְׂבְעוּם (yisvÿ’um, “they will be filled”; a Qal imperfect third masculine plural form from שָׂבַע [sava’] with enclitic mem [ם]), and (2) an emendation of הֲלֹם (halom, “to here”) to לֶחֶם (“food”). The expression “be filled/fill with food” appears elsewhere at least ten times (see Ps 132:15, for example). In the second line the Niphal form יִמָּצוּ (yimmatsu, derived from מָצָה, matsah, “drain”) is emended to a Qal form יָמֹצּוּ (yamotsu), derived from מָצַץ (matsats, “to suck”). In Isa 66:11 the verbs שָׂבַע (sava’; proposed in Ps 73:10a) and מָצַץ (proposed in Ps 73:10b) are parallel. The point of the emended text is this: Because they are seemingly sovereign (v. 9), they become greedy and grab up everything they need and more.

[94:5]  ¹⁸ tn Or “your inheritance.”

[95:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “where your fathers tested me.”

[105:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “he sent darkness and made it dark.”

[105:28]  sn He made it dark. The psalmist begins with the ninth plague (see Exod 10:21-29).

[105:28]  ²¹ tn Heb “they did not rebel against his words.” Apparently this refers to Moses and Aaron, who obediently carried out God’s orders.

[106:27]  ²² tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[106:27]  ²³ tn Heb “and to cause their offspring to fall.” Some emend the verb to “scatter” to form tighter parallelism with the following line (cf. NRSV “disperse”).

[106:27]  ²⁴ tn Heb “among the lands.” The word “foreign” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[122:1]  ²⁵ sn Psalm 122. The psalmist expresses his love for Jerusalem and promises to pray for the city’s security.

[122:1]  ²⁶ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[122:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in the ones saying to me.” After the verb שָׂמַח (samakh), the preposition בְּ (bet) usually introduces the reason for joy.

[135:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “signs” (see Ps 65:8).

[135:9]  ²⁹ tn Or “portents”; “omens” (see Ps 71:7). The Egyptian plagues are alluded to here.

[138:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in the day.”

[138:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “you made me bold in my soul [with] strength.”