Mazmur 8:9

8:9 O Lord, our Lord, ¹ 

how magnificent ²  is your reputation ³  throughout the earth! ⁴ 

Mazmur 10:11

10:11 He says to himself, ⁵ 

“God overlooks it;

he does not pay attention;

he never notices.” ⁶ 

Mazmur 21:10

21:10 You destroy their offspring ⁷  from the earth,

their descendants ⁸  from among the human race. ⁹ 

Mazmur 26:4

26:4 I do not associate ¹⁰  with deceitful men,

or consort ¹¹  with those who are dishonest. ¹² 

Mazmur 44:25

44:25 For we lie in the dirt,

with our bellies pressed to the ground. ¹³ 

Mazmur 47:2

47:2 For the sovereign Lord ¹⁴  is awe-inspiring; ¹⁵ 

he is the great king who rules the whole earth! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 66:20

66:20 God deserves praise, ¹⁷ 

for ¹⁸  he did not reject my prayer

or abandon his love for me! ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 69:22

69:22 May their dining table become a trap before them!

May it be a snare for that group of friends! ²⁰ 

Mazmur 73:10

73:10 Therefore they have more than enough food to eat,

and even suck up the water of the sea. ²¹ 

Mazmur 74:12

74:12 But God has been my ²²  king from ancient times,

performing acts of deliverance on the earth. ²³ 

Mazmur 80:3

80:3 O God, restore us!

Smile on us! ²⁴  Then we will be delivered! ²⁵ 

Mazmur 84:9

84:9 O God, take notice of our shield! ²⁶ 

Show concern for your chosen king! ²⁷ 

Mazmur 88:14

88:14 O Lord, why do you reject me,

and pay no attention to me? ²⁸ 

Mazmur 89:15

89:15 How blessed are the people who worship you! ²⁹ 

O Lord, they experience your favor. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 119:135

119:135 Smile ³¹  on your servant!

Teach me your statutes!

Mazmur 141:7

141:7 As when one plows and breaks up the soil, ³² 

so our bones are scattered at the mouth of Sheol.

[8:9]  ¹ tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the Lord’s absolute sovereignty.

[8:9]  ² tn Or “awesome, majestic.”

[8:9]  ³ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[8:9]  ⁴ sn Using the poetic device of inclusio, the psalmist ends the psalm the way he began it. The concluding refrain is identical to v. 1.

[10:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “he says in his heart.” See v. 6.

[10:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “God forgets, he hides his face, he never sees.”

[21:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “fruit.” The next line makes it clear that offspring is in view.

[21:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “seed.”

[21:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “sons of man.”

[26:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sit.”

[26:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “go.” The psalmist uses the imperfect form of the verb to emphasize that he does not make a practice of associating with such people.

[26:4]  ¹² tn Heb “[those who] conceal themselves.”

[44:25]  ¹³ tn Heb “for our being/life sinks down to the dirt, our belly clings to the earth.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[47:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the Lord Most High.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures the Lord as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked.

[47:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “awesome.” The Niphal participle נוֹרָא (nora’), when used of God in the psalms, focuses on the effect that his royal splendor and powerful deeds have on those witnessing his acts (Pss 66:3, 5; 68:35; 76:7, 12; 89:7; 96:4; 99:3; 111:9). Here it refers to his capacity to fill his defeated foes with terror and his people with fearful respect.

[47:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a great king over all the earth.”

[66:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “blessed [be] God.”

[66:20]  ¹⁸ tn Or “who.” In a blessing formula after בָּרוּךְ (barukh, “blessed be”) the form אֲשֶׁר (’asher), whether taken as a relative pronoun or causal particle, introduces the basis for the blessing/praise.

[66:20]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “did not turn aside my prayer and his loyal love with me.”

[69:22]  ²⁰ tc Heb “and to the friends for a snare.” The plural of שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) is used in Ps 55:20 of one’s “friends.” If the reading of the MT is retained here, the term depicts the psalmist’s enemies as a close-knit group of friends who are bound together by their hatred for the psalmist. Some prefer to revocalize the text as וּלְשִׁלּוּמִים (ulÿshillumim, “and for retribution”). In this case the noun stands parallel to פַּח (pakh, “trap”) and מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), and one might translate, “may their dining table become a trap before them, [a means of] retribution and a snare” (cf. NIV).

[73:10]  ²¹ tc Heb “therefore his people return [so Qere (marginal reading); Kethib (consonantal text) has “he brings back”] to here, and waters of abundance are sucked up by them.” The traditional Hebrew text (MT) defies explanation. The present translation reflects M. Dahood’s proposed emendations (Psalms [AB], 2:190) and reads the Hebrew text as follows: לָכֵן יִשְׂבְעוּם לֶחֶם וּמֵי מָלֵא יָמֹצּוּ לָמוֹ (“therefore they are filled with food, and waters of abundance they suck up for themselves”). The reading יִשְׂבְעוּם לֶחֶם (yisvÿ’um lekhem, “they are filled with food”) assumes (1) an emendation of יָשׁיּב עַמּוֹ (yashyyv, “he will bring back his people”) to יִשְׂבְעוּם (yisvÿ’um, “they will be filled”; a Qal imperfect third masculine plural form from שָׂבַע [sava’] with enclitic mem [ם]), and (2) an emendation of הֲלֹם (halom, “to here”) to לֶחֶם (“food”). The expression “be filled/fill with food” appears elsewhere at least ten times (see Ps 132:15, for example). In the second line the Niphal form יִמָּצוּ (yimmatsu, derived from מָצָה, matsah, “drain”) is emended to a Qal form יָמֹצּוּ (yamotsu), derived from מָצַץ (matsats, “to suck”). In Isa 66:11 the verbs שָׂבַע (sava’; proposed in Ps 73:10a) and מָצַץ (proposed in Ps 73:10b) are parallel. The point of the emended text is this: Because they are seemingly sovereign (v. 9), they become greedy and grab up everything they need and more.

[74:12]  ²² tn The psalmist speaks as Israel’s representative here.

[74:12]  ²³ tn Heb “in the midst of the earth.”

[80:3]  ²⁴ tn The idiom “cause your face to shine” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 89:15; Dan 9:17).

[80:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “cause your face to shine in order that we may be delivered.” After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.

[84:9]  ²⁶ tn The phrase “our shield” refers metaphorically to the Davidic king, who, as God’s vice-regent, was the human protector of the people. Note the parallelism with “your anointed one” here and with “our king” in Ps 89:18.

[84:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “look [on] the face of your anointed one.” The Hebrew phrase מְשִׁיחֶךָ (mÿshikhekha, “your anointed one”) refers here to the Davidic king (see Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17).

[88:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[why] do you hide your face from me?”

[89:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “who know the shout.” “Shout” here refers to the shouts of the Lord’s worshipers (see Pss 27:6; 33:3; 47:5).

[89:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “in the light of your face they walk.” The idiom “light of your face” probably refers to a smile (see Eccl 8:1), which in turn suggests favor and blessing (see Num 6:25; Pss 4:6; 31:16; 44:3; 67:1; 80:3, 7, 19; Dan 9:17).

[119:135]  ³¹ tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”

[141:7]  ³² tn Heb “like splitting and breaking open in the earth.” The meaning of the statement and the point of the comparison are not entirely clear. Perhaps the psalmist is suggesting that he and other godly individuals are as good as dead; their bones are scattered about like dirt that is dug up and tossed aside.