Mazmur 7:8

7:8 The Lord judges the nations. ¹ 

Vindicate me, Lord, because I am innocent, ² 

because I am blameless, ³  O Exalted One! ⁴ 

Mazmur 7:11

7:11 God is a just judge;

he is angry throughout the day. ⁵ 

Mazmur 7:16

7:16 He becomes the victim of his own destructive plans ⁶ 

and the violence he intended for others falls on his own head. ⁷ 

Mazmur 10:12

10:12 Rise up, Lord! ⁸ 

O God, strike him down! ⁹ 

Do not forget the oppressed!

Mazmur 10:15

10:15 Break the arm ¹⁰  of the wicked and evil man!

Hold him accountable for his wicked deeds, ¹¹ 

which he thought you would not discover. ¹² 

Mazmur 18:27

18:27 For you deliver oppressed ¹³  people,

but you bring down those who have a proud look. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 19:8

19:8 The Lord’s precepts are fair ¹⁵ 

and make one joyful. ¹⁶ 

The Lord’s commands ¹⁷  are pure ¹⁸ 

and give insight for life. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 19:11

19:11 Yes, your servant finds moral guidance there; ²⁰ 

those who obey them receive a rich reward. ²¹ 

Mazmur 50:4

50:4 He summons the heavens above,

as well as the earth, so that he might judge his people. ²² 

Mazmur 51:8

51:8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! ²³ 

May the bones ²⁴  you crushed rejoice! ²⁵ 

Mazmur 51:18

51:18 Because you favor Zion, do what is good for her! ²⁶ 

Fortify ²⁷  the walls of Jerusalem! ²⁸ 

Mazmur 89:32

89:32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club, ²⁹ 

their sin by inflicting them with bruises. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 91:11

91:11 For he will order his angels ³¹ 

to protect you in all you do. ³² 

Mazmur 93:5--94:1

93:5 The rules you set down ³³  are completely reliable. ³⁴ 

Holiness ³⁵  aptly adorns your house, O Lord, forever. ³⁶ 

Psalm 94 ³⁷ 

94:1 O Lord, the God who avenges!

O God who avenges, reveal your splendor! ³⁸ 

Mazmur 105:22

105:22 giving him authority to imprison his officials ³⁹ 

and to teach his advisers. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 118:18

118:18 The Lord severely ⁴¹  punished me,

but he did not hand me over to death.

Mazmur 119:8

119:8 I will keep your statutes.

Do not completely abandon me! ⁴² 

Mazmur 119:21

119:21 You reprimand arrogant people.

Those who stray from your commands are doomed. ⁴³ 

Mazmur 119:48

119:48 I will lift my hands to ⁴⁴  your commands,

which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

Mazmur 119:95-96

119:95 The wicked prepare to kill me, ⁴⁵ 

yet I concentrate on your rules.

119:96 I realize that everything has its limits,

but your commands are beyond full comprehension. ⁴⁶ 

Mazmur 119:135

119:135 Smile ⁴⁷  on your servant!

Teach me your statutes!

Mazmur 119:153

ר (Resh)

119:153 See my pain and rescue me!

For I do not forget your law.

Mazmur 119:161

שׂ/שׁ (Sin/Shin)

119:161 Rulers pursue me for no reason,

yet I am more afraid of disobeying your instructions. ⁴⁸ 

Mazmur 135:9

135:9 He performed awesome deeds ⁴⁹  and acts of judgment ⁵⁰ 

in your midst, O Egypt,

against Pharaoh and all his servants.

Mazmur 135:14

135:14 For the Lord vindicates ⁵¹  his people,

and has compassion on his servants. ⁵² 

Mazmur 149:6

149:6 May they praise God

while they hold a two-edged sword in their hand, ⁵³ 

[7:8]  ¹ sn The Lord judges the nations. In hyperbolic fashion the psalmist pictures the nations assembled around the divine throne (v. 7a). He urges God to take his rightful place on the throne (v. 7b) and then pictures him making judicial decisions that vindicate the innocent (see vv. 8-16).

[7:8]  ² tn Heb “judge me, O Lord, according to my innocence.”

[7:8]  ³ tn Heb “according to my blamelessness.” The imperative verb translated “vindicate” governs the second line as well.

[7:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew form עָלָי (’alay) has been traditionally understood as the preposition עַל (’al, “over”) with a first person suffix. But this is syntactically awkward and meaningless. The form is probably a divine title derived from the verbal root עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”). This relatively rare title appears elsewhere in the OT (see HALOT 824-25 s.v. I עַל, though this text is not listed) and in Ugaritic as an epithet for Baal (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 98). See M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:44-45, and P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 98.

[7:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “God (the divine name אֵל [’el] is used) is angry during all the day.” The verb זֹעֵם (zo’em) means “be indignant, be angry, curse.” Here God’s angry response to wrongdoing and injustice leads him to prepare to execute judgment as described in the following verses.

[7:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “his harm [i.e., the harm he conceived for others, see v. 14] returns on his head.”

[7:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “and on his forehead his violence [i.e., the violence he intended to do to others] comes down.”

[10:12]  ⁸ sn Rise up, O Lord! The psalmist’s mood changes from lament to petition and confidence.

[10:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “lift up your hand.” Usually the expression “lifting the hand” refers to praying (Pss 28:2; 134:2) or making an oath (Ps 106:26), but here it probably refers to “striking a blow” (see 2 Sam 18:28; 20:21). Note v. 15, where the psalmist asks the Lord to “break the arm of the wicked.” A less likely option is that the psalmist is requesting that the Lord declare by oath his intention to intervene.

[10:15]  ¹⁰ sn The arm symbolizes the strength of the wicked, which they use to oppress and exploit the weak.

[10:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “you seek his wickedness.” As in v. 13, the verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as describing a fact, “you hold him accountable,” or as anticipating divine judgment, “you will hold him accountable.” However, since the verb is in apparent parallelism with the preceding imperative (“break”), it is better to understand the imperfect as expressing the psalmist’s desire or request.

[10:15]  ¹² tn Heb “you will not find.” It is uncertain how this statement relates to what precedes. Some take בַל (bal), which is used as a negative particle in vv. 4, 6, 11, 18, as asseverative here, “Indeed find (i.e., judge his wickedness).” The translation assumes that the final words are an asyndetic relative clause which refers back to what the wicked man boasted in God’s face (“you will not find [i.e., my wickedness]”). See v. 13.

[18:27]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps, “humble” (note the contrast with those who are proud).

[18:27]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “but proud eyes you bring low.” 2 Sam 22:28 reads, “your eyes [are] upon the proud, [whom] you bring low.”

[19:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “just.” Perhaps the idea is that they impart a knowledge of what is just and right.

[19:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[they] make happy [the] heart.” Perhaps the point is that they bring a sense of joyful satisfaction to the one who knows and keeps them, for those who obey God’s law are richly rewarded. See v. 11b.

[19:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “command.” The singular here refers to the law as a whole.

[19:8]  ¹⁸ tn Because they reflect God’s character, his commands provide a code of moral and ethical purity.

[19:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb [they] enlighten [the] eyes.

[19:11]  ²⁰ tn Heb “moreover your servant is warned by them.”

[19:11]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the keeping of them [there is] a great reward.”

[50:4]  ²² tn Or perhaps “to testify against his people.”

[50:4]  sn The personified heavens and earth (see v. 1 as well) are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people (see Isa 1:2). Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).

[51:8]  ²³ tn Heb “cause me to hear happiness and joy.” The language is metonymic: the effect of forgiveness (joy) has been substituted for its cause. The psalmist probably alludes here to an assuring word from God announcing that his sins are forgiven (a so-called oracle of forgiveness). The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request. The synonyms “happiness” and “joy” are joined together as a hendiadys to emphasize the degree of joy he anticipates.

[51:8]  ²⁴ sn May the bones you crushed rejoice. The psalmist compares his sinful condition to that of a person who has been physically battered and crushed. Within this metaphorical framework, his “bones” are the seat of his emotional strength.

[51:8]  ²⁵ tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “do what is good for Zion in your favor.”

[51:18]  ²⁷ tn Or “Build.” The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:18]  ²⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[89:32]  ²⁹ tn Heb “I will punish with a club their rebellion.”

[89:32]  sn Despite the harsh image of beating…with a club, the language reflects a father-son relationship (see v. 30; 2 Sam 7:14). According to Proverbs, a שֵׁבֶט (shevet, “club”) was sometimes utilized to administer corporal punishment to rebellious children (see Prov 13:24; 22:15; 23:13-14; 29:15).

[89:32]  ³⁰ tn Heb “with blows their sin.”

[91:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “for his angels he will command concerning you.”

[91:11]  ³² tn Heb “in all your ways.”

[93:5]  ³³ tn Traditionally “your testimonies.” The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to the demands of God’s covenant law. See Ps 19:7.

[93:5]  ³⁴ sn The rules you set down. God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.

[93:5]  ³⁵ sn Holiness refers here to God’s royal transcendence (see vv. 1-4), as well as his moral authority and perfection (see v. 5a).

[93:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for your house holiness is fitting, O Lord, for length of days.”

[94:1]  ³⁷ sn Psalm 94. The psalmist asks God to judge the wicked and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.

[94:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “shine forth” (see Pss 50:2; 80:1).

[105:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to bind his officials by his will.”

[105:22]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and his elders he taught wisdom.”

[118:18]  ⁴¹ tn The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea.

[119:8]  ⁴² tn Heb “do not abandon me to excess.” For other uses of the phrase עַד מְאֹד (’ad mÿ’od, “to excess”), see Ps 38:6, 8.

[119:21]  ⁴³ tn Heb “accursed.” The traditional punctuation of the Hebrew text takes “accursed” with the previous line (“arrogant, accursed ones”), but it is preferable to take it with the second line as the predicate of the statement.

[119:48]  ⁴⁴ tn Lifting the hands is often associated with prayer (Pss 28:2; 63:4; Lam 2:19). (1) Because praying to God’s law borders on the extreme, some prefer to emend the text to “I lift up my hands to you,” eliminating “your commands, which I love” as dittographic. In this view these words were accidentally repeated from the previous verse. (2) However, it is possible that the psalmist closely associates the law with God himself because he views the law as the expression of the divine will. (3) Another option is that “lifting the hands” does not refer to prayer here, but to the psalmist’s desire to receive and appropriate the law. (4) Still others understand this to be an action praising God’s commands (so NCV; cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[119:95]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “the wicked wait for me to kill me.”

[119:96]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “to every perfection I have seen an end, your command is very wide.” God’s law is beyond full comprehension, which is why the psalmist continually studies it (vv. 95, 97).

[119:135]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”

[119:161]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and because of your instructions my heart trembles.” The psalmist’s healthy “fear” of the consequences of violating God’s instructions motivates him to obey them. See v. 120.

[135:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “signs” (see Ps 65:8).

[135:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “portents”; “omens” (see Ps 71:7). The Egyptian plagues are alluded to here.

[135:14]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “judges,” but here the idea is that the Lord “judges on behalf of” his people. The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the Lord’s characteristic actions.

[135:14]  ⁵² sn Verse 14 echoes Deut 32:36, where Moses affirms that God mercifully relents from fully judging his wayward people.

[149:6]  ⁵³ tn Heb “[May] praises of God [be] in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand.”