Mazmur 7:5

7:5 may an enemy relentlessly chase ¹  me ²  and catch me; ³ 

may he trample me to death ⁴ 

and leave me lying dishonored in the dust. ⁵  (Selah)

Mazmur 18:42

18:42 I grind them as fine windblown dust; ⁶ 

I beat them underfoot ⁷  like clay ⁸  in the streets.

Mazmur 35:8

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! ⁹ 

Let the net they hid catch them!

Let them fall into destruction! ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 38:2

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹¹  me,

and your hand presses me down. ¹² 

Mazmur 46:2

46:2 For this reason we do not fear ¹³  when the earth shakes, ¹⁴ 

and the mountains tumble into the depths of the sea, ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 46:9

46:9 He brings an end to wars throughout the earth; ¹⁶ 

he shatters ¹⁷  the bow and breaks ¹⁸  the spear;

he burns ¹⁹  the shields with fire. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 58:8

58:8 Let them be ²¹  like a snail that melts away as it moves along! ²² 

Let them be like ²³  stillborn babies ²⁴  that never see the sun!

Mazmur 74:3

74:3 Hurry and look ²⁵  at the permanent ruins,

and all the damage the enemy has done to the temple! ²⁶ 

Mazmur 75:10

75:10 God says, ²⁷ 

“I will bring down all the power of the wicked;

the godly will be victorious.” ²⁸ 

Mazmur 76:3

76:3 There he shattered the arrows, ²⁹ 

the shield, the sword, and the rest of the weapons of war. ³⁰  (Selah)

Mazmur 83:4

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ³¹ 

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

Mazmur 84:2

84:2 I desperately want to be ³² 

in the courts of the Lord’s temple. ³³ 

My heart and my entire being ³⁴  shout for joy

to the living God.

Mazmur 88:7

88:7 Your anger bears down on me,

and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)

Mazmur 88:16

88:16 Your anger overwhelms me; ³⁵ 

your terrors destroy me.

Mazmur 112:10

112:10 When the wicked ³⁶  see this, they will worry;

they will grind their teeth in frustration ³⁷  and melt away;

the desire of the wicked will perish. ³⁸ 

Mazmur 147:18

147:18 He then orders it all to melt; ³⁹ 

he breathes on it, ⁴⁰  and the water flows.

[7:5]  ¹ tn The vocalization of the verb form seems to be a mixture of Qal and Piel (see GKC 168 §63.n). The translation assumes the Piel, which would emphasize the repetitive nature of the action. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a jussive. The psalmist is so certain that he is innocent of the sins mentioned in vv. 3-4, he pronounces an imprecation on himself for rhetorical effect.

[7:5]  ² tn Heb “my life.” The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[7:5]  ³ tn Heb “and may he overtake.” The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive. The object “me,” though unexpressed, is understood from the preceding statement.

[7:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and may he trample down to the earth my life.”

[7:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and my honor in the dust may he cause to dwell.” The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive. Some emend כְבוֹדִי (khÿvodiy, “my honor”) to כְבֵדִי (khÿvediy, “my liver” as the seat of life), but the term כְבוֹדִי (khÿvodiy) is to be retained since it probably refers to the psalmist’s dignity or honor.

[18:42]  ⁶ tn Heb “I pulverize them like dust upon the face of the wind.” The phrase “upon the face of” here means “before.” 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “like dust of the earth.”

[18:42]  ⁷ tc Ps 18:42 reads, “I empty them out” (Hiphil of ריק), while 2 Sam 22:43 reads, “I crush them, I stomp on them” (juxtaposing the synonyms דקק and רקע). It is likely that the latter is a conflation of variants. One, but not both, of the verbs in 2 Sam 22:43 is probably original; “empty out” does not form as good a parallel with “grind, pulverize” in the parallel line.

[18:42]  ⁸ tn Or “mud.”

[35:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.

[35:8]  ¹⁰ tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.

[38:2]  ¹¹ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ¹² tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[46:2]  ¹³ tn The imperfect is taken in a generalizing sense (cf. NEB) because the situation described in vv. 2-3 is understood as symbolizing typical world conditions. In this case the imperfect draws attention to the typical nature of the response. The covenant community characteristically responds with confidence, not fear. Another option is to take the situation described as purely hypothetical. In this case one might translate, “We will not fear, even though the earth should shake” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[46:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Hiphil infinitival form is normally taken to mean “when [the earth] is altered,” being derived from מוּר (mur, “to change”). In this case the Hiphil would be intransitive, as in Ps 15:4. HALOT 560 s.v. II מור emends the form to a Niphal and derives it from a homonymic root מוּר attested in Arabic with the meaning “shake.”

[46:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “heart of the seas.” The plural may be used for emphasis, pointing to the deepest sea. Note that the next verse uses a singular pronoun (“its waters,” “its swelling”) in referring back to the plural noun.

[46:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[the] one who causes wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” The participle continues the description begun in v. 8b and indicates that this is the Lord’s characteristic activity. Ironically, he brings peace to the earth by devastating the warlike, hostile nations (vv. 8, 9b).

[46:9]  ¹⁷ tn The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Ps 29:5). 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). The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.

[46:9]  ¹⁸ tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries along the generalizing emphasis of the preceding imperfect.

[46:9]  ¹⁹ tn The imperfect verbal form carries on and emphasizes the generalizing nature of the description.

[46:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “wagons he burns with fire.” Some read “chariots” here (cf. NASB), but the Hebrew word refers to wagons or carts, not chariots, elsewhere in the OT. In this context, where military weapons are mentioned, it is better to revocalize the form as עֲגִלוֹת (’agilot, “round shields”), a word which occurs only here in the OT, but is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic.

[58:8]  ²¹ tn There is no “to be” verb in the Hebrew text at this point, but a jussive tone can be assumed based on vv. 6-7.

[58:8]  ²² tn Heb “like a melting snail [that] moves along.” A. Cohen (Psalms [SoBB], 184) explains that the text here alludes “to the popular belief that the slimy trail which the snail leaves in its track is the dissolution of its substance.”

[58:8]  ²³ tn The words “let them be like” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The jussive mood is implied from the preceding context, and “like” is understood by ellipsis (see the previous line).

[58:8]  ²⁴ tn This rare word also appears in Job 3:16 and Eccles 6:3.

[74:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “lift up your steps to,” which may mean “run, hurry.”

[74:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “everything [the] enemy has damaged in the holy place.”

[75:10]  ²⁷ tn The words “God says” are not in the Hebrew text. They are supplied in the translation to clarify that God speaks in v. 10.

[75:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and all the horns of the wicked I will cut off, the horns of the godly will be lifted up.” The imagery of the wild ox’s horn is once more utilized (see vv. 4-5).

[76:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “flames of the bow,” i.e., arrows.

[76:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “shield and sword and battle.” “Battle” probably here stands by metonymy for the weapons of war in general.

[76:3]  sn This verse may allude to the miraculous defeat of the Assyrians in 701 b.c. (see Isa 36-37).

[83:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

[84:2]  ³² tn Heb “my soul longs, it even pines for.”

[84:2]  ³³ tn Heb “the courts of the Lord” (see Ps 65:4).

[84:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “my flesh,” which stands for his whole person and being.

[88:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “passes over me.”

[112:10]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular; the representative wicked individual is in view as typifying the group (note the use of the plural form in v. 10).

[112:10]  ³⁷ tn Heb “his teeth he will gnash.” In Pss 35:16 and 37:12 this action is associated with a vicious attack.

[112:10]  ³⁸ tn This could mean that the desires of the wicked will go unfulfilled. Another possibility is that “desire” refers by metonymy to the object desired and acquired. In this case the point is that the wicked will lose what they desired so badly and acquired by evil means (see Ps 10:3).

[147:18]  ³⁹ tn Heb “he sends his word and melts them.”

[147:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he blows his breath.”