Mazmur 8:8

8:8 the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea

and everything that moves through the currents ¹  of the seas.

Mazmur 10:6

10:6 He says to himself, ² 

“I will never ³  be upended,

because I experience no calamity.” ⁴ 

Mazmur 15:2

15:2 Whoever lives a blameless life, ⁵ 

does what is right,

and speaks honestly. ⁶ 

Mazmur 26:3

26:3 For I am ever aware of your faithfulness, ⁷ 

and your loyalty continually motivates me. ⁸ 

Mazmur 34:14

34:14 Turn away from evil and do what is right! ⁹ 

Strive for peace and promote it! ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 35:20

35:20 For they do not try to make peace with others, ¹¹ 

but plan ways to deceive those who are unsuspecting. ¹² 

Mazmur 37:3

37:3 Trust in the Lord and do what is right!

Settle in the land and maintain your integrity! ¹³ 

Mazmur 37:16

37:16 The little bit that a godly man owns is better than

the wealth of many evil men, ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 49:4

49:4 I will learn a song that imparts wisdom;

I will then sing my insightful song to the accompaniment of a harp. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 49:12

49:12 but, despite their wealth, people do not last, ¹⁶ 

they are like animals ¹⁷  that perish. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 49:20

49:20 Wealthy people do not understand; ¹⁹ 

they are like animals ²⁰  that perish. ²¹ 

Mazmur 50:11

50:11 I keep track of ²²  every bird in the hills,

and the insects ²³  of the field are mine.

Mazmur 61:6

61:6 Give the king long life!

Make his lifetime span several generations! ²⁴ 

Mazmur 65:2

65:2 You hear prayers; ²⁵ 

all people approach you. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 69:23

69:23 May their eyes be blinded! ²⁷ 

Make them shake violently! ²⁸ 

Mazmur 72:1

Psalm 72 ²⁹ 

For ³⁰  Solomon.

72:1 O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! ³¹ 

Grant the king’s son ³²  the ability to make fair decisions! ³³ 

Mazmur 72:14

72:14 From harm and violence he will defend them; ³⁴ 

he will value their lives. ³⁵ 

Mazmur 73:12-13

73:12 Take a good look! This is what the wicked are like, ³⁶ 

those who always have it so easy and get richer and richer. ³⁷ 

73:13 I concluded, ³⁸  “Surely in vain I have kept my motives ³⁹  pure

and maintained a pure lifestyle. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 78:10

78:10 They did not keep their covenant with God, ⁴¹ 

and they refused to obey ⁴²  his law.

Mazmur 79:3

79:3 They have made their blood flow like water

all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them. ⁴³ 

Mazmur 91:1

Psalm 91 ⁴⁴ 

91:1 As for you, the one who lives ⁴⁵  in the shelter of the sovereign One, ⁴⁶ 

and resides in the protective shadow ⁴⁷  of the mighty king ⁴⁸  –

Mazmur 96:9

96:9 Worship the Lord in holy attire! ⁴⁹ 

Tremble before him, all the earth!

Mazmur 104:33

104:33 I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;

I will sing praise to my God as long as I exist! ⁵⁰ 

Mazmur 105:12

105:12 When they were few in number,

just a very few, and resident aliens within it,

Mazmur 115:18

115:18 But we will praise the Lord

now and forevermore.

Praise the Lord!

Mazmur 119:9

ב (Bet)

119:9 How can a young person ⁵¹  maintain a pure life? ⁵² 

By guarding it according to your instructions! ⁵³ 

Mazmur 119:33

ה (He)

119:33 Teach me, O Lord, the lifestyle prescribed by your statutes, ⁵⁴ 

so that I might observe it continually. ⁵⁵ 

Mazmur 119:94

119:94 I belong to you. Deliver me!

For I seek your precepts.

Mazmur 119:125

119:125 I am your servant. Give me insight,

so that I can understand ⁵⁶  your rules.

Mazmur 122:8

122:8 For the sake of my brothers and my neighbors

I will say, “May there be peace in you!”

Mazmur 132:9

132:9 May your priests be clothed with integrity! ⁵⁷ 

May your loyal followers shout for joy!

Mazmur 139:24

139:24 See if there is any idolatrous tendency ⁵⁸  in me,

and lead me in the reliable ancient path! ⁵⁹ 

Mazmur 145:15

145:15 Everything looks to you in anticipation, ⁶⁰ 

and you provide them with food on a regular basis. ⁶¹ 

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!

[8:8]  ¹ tn Heb “paths.”

[10:6]  ² tn Heb “he says in his heart/mind.”

[10:6]  ³ tn Heb “for a generation and a generation.” The traditional accentuation of the MT understands these words with the following line.

[10:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “who, not in calamity.” If אֲשֶׁר (’asher) is taken as a relative pronoun here, then one could translate, “[I] who [am] not in calamity.” Some emend אֲשֶׁר to אֹשֶׁר (’osher, “happiness”; see HALOT 99 s.v. אֹשֶׁר); one might then translate, “[I live in] happiness, not in calamity.” The present translation assumes that אֲשֶׁר functions here as a causal conjunction, “because, for.” For this use of אֲשֶׁר, see BDB 83 s.v. אֲשֶׁר 8.c (where the present text is not cited).

[15:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “one who walks blamelessly.”

[15:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “one who speaks truth in his heart”; or “one who speaks truth [that is] in his heart.” This apparently refers to formulating a truthful statement in one’s mind and then honestly revealing that statement in one’s speech.

[26:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “for your faithfulness [is] before my eyes.”

[26:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and I walk about in your loyalty.”

[26:3]  sn The psalmist’s awareness of the Lord’s faithfulness and…loyalty toward him motivates him to remain loyal to the Lord and to maintain his moral purity.

[34:14]  ⁹ tn Or “do good.”

[34:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “seek peace and pursue it.”

[35:20]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for they do not speak peace.”

[35:20]  ¹² tn Heb “but against the quiet ones of the land words of deceit they plan.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 20 highlight their characteristic behavior.

[37:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “tend integrity.” The verb רָעָה (ra’ah, “tend, shepherd”) is probably used here in the sense of “watch over, guard.” The noun אֱמוּנָה (’emunah, “faithfulness, honesty, integrity”) is understood as the direct object of the verb, though it could be taken as an adverbial accusative, “[feed] securely,” if the audience is likened to a flock of sheep.

[37:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Better [is] a little to the godly one than the wealth of many evil ones.” The following verses explain why this is true. Though a godly individual may seem to have only meager possessions, he always has what he needs and will eventually possess the land. The wicked may prosper for a brief time, but will eventually be destroyed by divine judgment and lose everything.

[49:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will turn my ear to a wise saying, I will open [i.e., “reveal; explain”] my insightful saying with a harp.” In the first line the psalmist speaks as a pupil who learns a song of wisdom from a sage. This suggests that the resulting insightful song derives from another source, perhaps God himself. Elsewhere the Hebrew word pair חִידָה/מָשָׁל (mashal/khidah) refers to a taunt song (Hab 2:6), a parable (Ezek 17:2), lessons from history (Ps 78:2), and proverbial sayings (Prov 1:6). Here it appears to refer to the insightful song that follows, which reflects on the mortality of humankind and the ultimate inability of riches to prevent the inevitable – death. Another option is that the word pair refers more specifically to the closely related proverbial sayings of vv. 12, 20 (note the use of the verb מָשָׁל, mashal, “to be like” in both verses). In this case the psalmist first hears the sayings and then explains (Heb “opens”) their significance (see vv. 5-11, 13-19).

[49:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “but mankind in honor does not remain.” The construction vav (ו) + noun at the beginning of the verse can be taken as contrastive in relation to what precedes. The Hebrew term יְקָר (yÿqar, “honor”) probably refers here to the wealth mentioned in the preceding context. The imperfect verbal form draws attention to what is characteristically true. Some scholars emend יָלִין (yalin, “remains”) to יָבִין (yavin, “understands”) but this is an unnecessary accommodation to the wording of v. 20.

[49:12]  ¹⁷ tn Or “cattle.”

[49:12]  ¹⁸ tn The verb is derived from דָּמָה (damah, “cease; destroy”; BDB 198 s.v.). Another option is to derive the verb from דָּמָה (“be silent”; see HALOT 225 s.v. II דמה, which sees two homonymic roots [דָּמָה, “be silent,” and דָּמָה, “destroy”] rather than a single root) and translate, “they are like dumb beasts.” This makes particularly good sense in v. 20, where the preceding line focuses on mankind’s lack of understanding.

[49:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “mankind in honor does not understand.” The Hebrew term יְקָר (yÿqar, “honor”) probably refers here to the wealth mentioned in the preceding context. The imperfect verbal form draws attention to what is characteristically true. Some emend יָבִין (yavin, “understands”) to יָלִין (yalin, “remains”), but this is an unnecessary accommodation to the wording of v. 12.

[49:20]  ²⁰ tn Or “cattle.”

[49:20]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew verb is derived from דָּמָה (damah, “cease, destroy”; BDB 198 s.v.). Another option is to derive the verb from דָּמָה (damah, “be silent”; see HALOT 225 s.v. II דמה, which sees two homonymic roots [I דָּמַה, “be silent,” and II דָּמַה, “destroy”] rather than a single root) and translate, “they are like dumb beasts.” This makes particularly good sense here, where the preceding line focuses on mankind’s lack of understanding.

[50:11]  ²² tn Heb “I know.”

[50:11]  ²³ tn The precise referent of the Hebrew word, which occurs only here and in Ps 80:13, is uncertain. Aramaic, Arabic and Akkadian cognates refer to insects, such as locusts or crickets.

[61:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “days upon days of the king add, his years like generation and generation.”

[61:6]  sn It is not certain if the (royal) psalmist is referring to himself in the third person in this verse, or if an exile is praying on behalf of the king.

[65:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “O one who hears prayer.”

[65:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to you all flesh comes.”

[69:23]  ²⁷ tn Heb “may their eyes be darkened from seeing.”

[69:23]  ²⁸ tn Heb “make their hips shake continually.”

[72:1]  ²⁹ sn Psalm 72. This royal psalm contains a prayer for the Davidic king (note the imperatival form in v. 1 and the jussive forms in vv. 16-17). It is not entirely clear if vv. 2-15 express a prayer or anticipate a future reign. The translation assumes a blend of petition and vision: (I) opening prayer (v. 1), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 2-7); (II) prayer (v. 8), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 9-14); (III) closing prayer (vv. 15-17). Whether a prayer, vision, or combination of the two, the psalm depicts the king’s universal rule of peace and prosperity. As such it is indirectly messianic, for the ideal it expresses will only be fully realized during the Messiah’s earthly reign. Verses 18-19 are a conclusion for Book 2 of the Psalter (Pss 42-72; cf. Ps 41:13, which contains a similar conclusion for Book 1), while v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter.

[72:1]  ³⁰ tn The preposition could be understood as indicating authorship (“Of Solomon”), but since the psalm is a prayer for a king, it may be that the superscription reflects a tradition that understood this as a prayer for Solomon.

[72:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “O God, your judgments to [the] king give.”

[72:1]  ³² sn Grant the king…Grant the king’s son. It is not entirely clear whether v. 1 envisions one individual or two. The phrase “the king’s son” in the second line may simply refer to “the king” of the first line, drawing attention to the fact that he has inherited his dynastic rule. Another option is that v. 1 envisions a co-regency between father and son (a common phenomenon in ancient Israel) or simply expresses a hope for a dynasty that champions justice.

[72:1]  ³³ tn Heb “and your justice to [the] son of [the] king.”

[72:14]  ³⁴ tn Or “redeem their lives.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Pss 19:14; 69:18).

[72:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “their blood will be precious in his eyes.”

[73:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “Look, these [are] the wicked.”

[73:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “the ones who are always at ease [who] increase wealth.”

[73:13]  ³⁸ tn The words “I concluded” are supplied in the translation. It is apparent that vv. 13-14 reflect the psalmist’s thoughts at an earlier time (see vv. 2-3), prior to the spiritual awakening he describes in vv. 17-28.

[73:13]  ³⁹ tn Heb “heart,” viewed here as the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

[73:13]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and washed my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The reference to “hands” suggests actions.

[78:10]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the covenant of God.”

[78:10]  ⁴² tn Heb “walk in.”

[79:3]  ⁴³ tn Heb “they have poured out their blood like water, all around Jerusalem, and there is no one burying.”

[91:1]  ⁴⁴ sn Psalm 91. In this psalm an individual (perhaps a priest) addresses one who has sought shelter in the Lord and assures him that God will protect him from danger (vv. 1-13). In vv. 14-16 God himself promises to keep his loyal follower safe.

[91:1]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “[O] one who lives.”

[91:1]  ⁴⁶ tn Traditionally “the Most High.”

[91:1]  ⁴⁷ sn The Lord is compared here to a bird who protects its young under the shadow of its wings (see v. 4).

[91:1]  ⁴⁸ sn The divine name used here is “Shaddai” (שַׁדַּי, shadday; see also Ps 68:14). Shaddai (or El Shaddai) is the mighty king (sovereign judge) of the world who grants life/blesses and kills/judges. In Genesis he blesses the patriarchs with fertility and promises numerous descendants. Outside Genesis he both blesses/protects and takes away life/happiness.

[96:9]  ⁴⁹ tn Or “in holy splendor.”

[104:33]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “in my duration.”

[119:9]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “young man.” Hebrew wisdom literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age. To facilitate modern application, the gender specific “young man” has been translated with the more neutral “young person.”

[119:9]  ⁵² tn Heb “purify his path.”

[119:9]  ⁵³ tn Heb “by keeping according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew mss as well as the LXX read the plural, “your words.”

[119:33]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “the way of your statutes.”

[119:33]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “and I will keep it to the end.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative. The Hebrew term עֵקֶב (’eqev) is understood to mean “end” here. Another option is to take עֵקֶב (’eqev) as meaning “reward” here (see Ps 19:11) and to translate, “so that I might observe it and be rewarded.”

[119:125]  ⁵⁶ tn or “know.” The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[132:9]  ⁵⁷ tn Or “righteousness.”

[139:24]  ⁵⁸ tn Many understand the Hebrew term עֹצֶב (’otsev) as a noun meaning “pain,” and translate the phrase דֶּרֶךְ עֹצֶב (derekh ’otsev) as “of pain,” but this makes little sense here. (Some interpret it to refer to actions which bring pain to others.) It is preferable to take עֹצֶב as “idol” (see HALOT 865 s.v. I עֹצֶב) and understand “way of an idol” to refer to idolatrous actions or tendency. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[139:24]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “in the path of antiquity.” This probably refers to the moral path prescribed by the Lord at the beginning of Israel’s history. See Jer 6:16; 18:15, as well as L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 253.

[145:15]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “the eyes of all wait for you.”

[145:15]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “and you give to them their food in its season” (see Ps 104:27).