Mazmur 7:6

7:6 Stand up angrily, ¹  Lord!

Rise up with raging fury against my enemies! ² 

Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! ³ 

Mazmur 17:14

17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, ⁴ 

from the murderers of this world! ⁵ 

They enjoy prosperity; ⁶ 

you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. ⁷ 

They have many children,

and leave their wealth to their offspring. ⁸ 

Mazmur 19:10

19:10 They are of greater value ⁹  than gold,

than even a great amount of pure gold;

they bring greater delight ¹⁰  than honey,

than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.

Mazmur 26:1

Psalm 26 ¹¹ 

By David.

26:1 Vindicate me, O Lord,

for I have integrity, ¹² 

and I trust in the Lord without wavering.

Mazmur 31:23

31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers ¹³  of his!

The Lord protects those who have integrity,

but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 40:10

40:10 I have not failed to tell about your justice; ¹⁵ 

I spoke about your reliability and deliverance;

I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 50:21

50:21 When you did these things, I was silent, ¹⁷ 

so you thought I was exactly like you. ¹⁸ 

But now I will condemn ¹⁹  you

and state my case against you! ²⁰ 

Mazmur 67:4

67:4 Let foreigners ²¹  rejoice and celebrate!

For you execute justice among the nations,

and govern the people living on earth. ²²  (Selah)

Mazmur 95:10

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ²³  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ²⁴ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ²⁵ 

Mazmur 96:10

96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

The world is established, it cannot be moved.

He judges the nations fairly.”

[7:6]  ¹ tn Heb “in your anger.”

[7:6]  ² tn Heb “Lift yourself up in the angry outbursts of my enemies.” Many understand the preposition prefixed to עַבְרוֹת (’avrot, “angry outbursts”) as adversative, “against,” and the following genitive “enemies” as subjective. In this case one could translate, “rise up against my furious enemies” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The present translation, however, takes the preposition as indicating manner (cf. “in your anger” in the previous line) and understands the plural form of the noun as indicating an abstract quality (“fury”) or excessive degree (“raging fury”). Cf. Job 21:30.

[7:6]  ³ tc Heb “Wake up to me [with the] judgment [which] you have commanded.” The LXX understands אֵלִי (’eliy, “my God”) instead of אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”; the LXX reading is followed by NEB, NIV, NRSV.) If the reading of the MT is retained, the preposition probably has the sense of “on account of, for the sake of.” The noun מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “judgment”) is probably an adverbial accusative, modifying the initial imperative, “wake up.” In this case צִוִּיתָ (tsivvita, “[which] you have commanded”) is an asyndetic relative clause. Some take the perfect as precative. In this case one could translate the final line, “Wake up for my sake! Decree judgment!” (cf. NIV). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[17:14]  ⁴ tc Heb “from men [by] your hand, Lord.” The translation assumes an emendation (both here and in the following line) of מִמְתִים (mimtim, “from men”) to מִמְמִתִים (mimmitim, “from those who kill”). For other uses of the plural form of the Hiphil participle of מוּת (mut, “die”), see 2 Kgs 17:26 (used with lions as subject), Job 33:22 (apparently referring to the agents of death), and Jer 26:15 (used of those seeking Jeremiah’s life).

[17:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”

[17:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “their portion, in life.”

[17:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”

[17:14]  sn You overwhelm them with the riches they desire. The psalmist is not accusing God of being unjust; he is simply observing that the wicked often prosper and that God is the ultimate source of all blessings that human beings enjoy (see Matt 5:45). When the wicked are ungrateful for God’s blessings, they become even more culpable and deserving of judgment. So this description of the wicked actually supports the psalmist’s appeal for deliverance. God should rescue him because he is innocent (see vv. 3-5) and because the wicked, though blessed abundantly by God, still have the audacity to attack God’s people.

[17:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”

[19:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “more desirable.”

[19:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “are sweeter.” God’s law is “sweet’ in the sense that, when obeyed, it brings a great reward (see v. 11b).

[26:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 26. The author invites the Lord to test his integrity, asserts his innocence and declares his loyalty to God.

[26:1]  ¹² tn Heb “for I in my integrity walk.”

[31:23]  ¹³ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).

[31:23]  ¹⁴ tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.

[40:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “your justice I have not hidden in the midst of my heart.”

[40:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I have not hidden your loyal love and reliability.”

[50:21]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “these things you did and I was silent.” Some interpret the second clause (“and I was silent”) as a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, “[When you do these things], should I keep silent?” (cf. NEB). See GKC 335 §112.cc.

[50:21]  sn The Lord was silent in the sense that he delayed punishment. Of course, God’s patience toward sinners eventually runs out. The divine “silence” is only temporary (see v. 3, where the psalmist, having described God’s arrival, observes that “he is not silent”).

[50:21]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew infinitive construct (הֱיוֹת, heyot) appears to function like the infinitive absolute here, adding emphasis to the following finite verbal form (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh). See GKC 339-40 §113.a. Some prefer to emend הֱיוֹת (heyot) to the infinitive absolute form הָיוֹ (hayo).

[50:21]  ¹⁹ tn Or “rebuke” (see v. 8).

[50:21]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and I will set in order [my case against you] to your eyes.” The cohortative form expresses the Lord’s resolve to accuse and judge the wicked.

[67:4]  ²¹ tn Or “peoples.”

[67:4]  ²² tn Heb “for you judge nations fairly, and [as for the] peoples in the earth, you lead them.” The imperfects are translated with the present tense because the statement is understood as a generalization about God’s providential control of the world. Another option is to understand the statement as anticipating God’s future rule (“for you will rule…and govern”).

[95:10]  ²³ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.