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 9:10

9:10 Your loyal followers trust in you, ⁴ 

for you, Lord, do not abandon those who seek your help. ⁵ 

Mazmur 12:5

12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ⁶ 

because of the painful cries ⁷  of the needy,

I will spring into action,” ⁸  says the Lord.

“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ⁹ 

Mazmur 18:15

18:15 The depths ¹⁰  of the sea ¹¹  were exposed;

the inner regions ¹²  of the world were uncovered

by ¹³  your battle cry, ¹⁴  Lord,

by the powerful breath from your nose. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 18:50

18:50 He ¹⁶  gives his chosen king magnificent victories; ¹⁷ 

he is faithful ¹⁸  to his chosen ruler, ¹⁹ 

to David and his descendants ²⁰  forever.” ²¹ 

Mazmur 19:10

19:10 They are of greater value ²²  than gold,

than even a great amount of pure gold;

they bring greater delight ²³  than honey,

than even the sweetest honey from a honeycomb.

Mazmur 22:23

22:23 You loyal followers of the Lord, ²⁴  praise him!

All you descendants of Jacob, honor him!

All you descendants of Israel, stand in awe of him! ²⁵ 

Mazmur 22:26-27

22:26 Let the oppressed eat and be filled! ²⁶ 

Let those who seek his help praise the Lord!

May you ²⁷  live forever!

22:27 Let all the people of the earth acknowledge the Lord and turn to him! ²⁸ 

Let all the nations ²⁹  worship you! ³⁰ 

Mazmur 31:17

31:17 O Lord, do not let me be humiliated,

for I call out to you!

May evil men be humiliated!

May they go wailing to the grave! ³¹ 

Mazmur 52:9

52:9 I will continually ³²  thank you when ³³  you execute judgment; ³⁴ 

I will rely ³⁵  on you, ³⁶  for your loyal followers know you are good. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ³⁸ 

powerful men stalk ³⁹  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 59:11-12

59:11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,

because then my people might forget the lesson. ⁴¹ 

Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,

O Lord who shields us! ⁴² 

59:12 They speak sinful words. ⁴³ 

So let them be trapped by their own pride

and by the curses and lies they speak!

Mazmur 68:30

68:30 Sound your battle cry ⁴⁴  against the wild beast of the reeds, ⁴⁵ 

and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls! ⁴⁶ 

They humble themselves ⁴⁷  and offer gold and silver as tribute. ⁴⁸ 

God ⁴⁹  scatters ⁵⁰  the nations that like to do battle.

Mazmur 140:4

140:4 O Lord, shelter me from the power ⁵¹  of the wicked!

Protect me from violent men,

who plan to knock me over. ⁵² 

[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.

[9:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and the ones who know your name trust in you.” The construction vav (ו) conjunctive + imperfect at the beginning of the verse expresses another consequence of the statement made in v. 8. “To know” the Lord’s “name” means to be his follower, recognizing his authority and maintaining loyalty to him. See Ps 91:14, where “knowing” the Lord’s “name” is associated with loving him.

[9:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “the ones who seek you.”

[12:5]  ⁶ tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.

[12:5]  ⁷ tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).

[12:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “I will rise up.”

[12:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the Lord would be promising protection to those who have the courage to support the oppressed in the court of law. However, the first part of the verse focuses on the oppressed, not their advocates.

[18:15]  ¹⁰ tn Or “channels.”

[18:15]  ¹¹ tc Ps 18:15 reads “water” (cf. Ps 42:1); “sea” is the reading of 2 Sam 22:16.

[18:15]  ¹² tn Or “foundations.”

[18:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “from.” The preposition has a causal sense here.

[18:15]  ¹⁴ tn The noun is derived from the verb גָּעַר (ga’ar), which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[18:15]  ¹⁵ tn 2 Sam 22:16 reads “by the battle cry of the Lord, by the blast of the breath of his nose.” The phrase “blast of the breath” (Heb “breath of breath”) employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[18:50]  ¹⁶ tn Or “the one who.”

[18:50]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “magnifies the victories of his king.” “His king” refers to the psalmist, the Davidic king whom God has chosen to rule Israel.

[18:50]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[the one who] does loyalty.”

[18:50]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “his anointed [one],” i.e., the psalmist/Davidic king. See Ps 2:2.

[18:50]  ²⁰ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[18:50]  ²¹ sn If David is the author of the psalm (see the superscription), then he here anticipates that God will continue to demonstrate loyalty to his descendants who succeed him. If the author is a later Davidic king, then he views the divine favor he has experienced as the outworking of God’s faithful promises to David his ancestor.

[19:10]  ²² tn Heb “more desirable.”

[19:10]  ²³ tn Heb “are sweeter.” God’s law is “sweet’ in the sense that, when obeyed, it brings a great reward (see v. 11b).

[22:23]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[you] fearers of the Lord.” See Ps 15:4.

[22:23]  ²⁵ tn Heb “fear him.”

[22:26]  ²⁶ sn Eat and be filled. In addition to praising the Lord, the psalmist also offers a thank offering to the Lord and invites others to share in a communal meal.

[22:26]  ²⁷ tn Heb “may your heart[s].”

[22:27]  ²⁸ tn Heb “may all the ends of the earth remember and turn to the Lord.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 27 are understood as jussives (cf. NEB). Another option (cf. NIV, NRSV) is to take the forms as imperfects and translate, “all the people of the earth will acknowledge and turn…and worship.” See vv. 29-32.

[22:27]  ²⁹ tn Heb “families of the nations.”

[22:27]  ³⁰ tn Heb “before you.”

[31:17]  ³¹ tn The verb יִדְּמוּ (yiddÿmu) is understood as a form of דָּמַם (damam, “wail, lament”). Another option is to take the verb from דָּמַם (“be quiet”; see BDB 198-99 s.v. I דָּמַם), in which case one might translate, “May they lie silent in the grave.”

[52:9]  ³² tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[52:9]  ³³ tn Or “for.”

[52:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.

[52:9]  ³⁵ tn Or “wait.”

[52:9]  ³⁶ tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.

[52:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”

[59:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ⁴⁰ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.

[59:11]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.”

[59:11]  sn My people might forget the lesson. Swift, sudden destruction might be quickly forgotten. The psalmist wants God’s judgment to be prolonged so that it might be a continual reminder of divine justice.

[59:11]  ⁴² tn Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”

[59:12]  ⁴³ tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”

[68:30]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar) is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts such as Ps 68 this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Ps 106:9 and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 18:15; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[68:30]  ⁴⁵ sn The wild beast of the reeds probably refers to a hippopotamus, which in turn symbolizes the nation of Egypt.

[68:30]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “an assembly of bulls, with calves of the nations.”

[68:30]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “humbling himself.” The verb form is a Hitpael participle from the root רָפַס (rafas, “to trample”). The Hitpael of this verb appears only here and in Prov 6:3, where it seems to mean, “humble oneself,” a nuance that fits nicely in this context. The apparent subject is “wild beast” or “assembly,” though both of these nouns are grammatically feminine, while the participle is a masculine form. Perhaps one should emend the participial form to a masculine plural (מִתְרַפִּם, mitrapim) and understand “bulls” or “calves” as the subject.

[68:30]  ⁴⁸ tc Heb “with pieces [?] of silver.” The meaning of the Hebrew term רַצֵּי (ratsey) is unclear. It is probably best to emend the text to בֶּצֶר וְכָסֶף (betser vÿkhasef, “[with] gold and silver”).

[68:30]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[68:30]  ⁵⁰ tn The verb בָּזַר (bazar) is an alternative form of פָּזַר (pazar, “scatter”).

[140:4]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “hands.”

[140:4]  ⁵² tn Heb “to push down my steps.”