Mazmur 10:11

10:11 He says to himself, ¹ 

“God overlooks it;

he does not pay attention;

he never notices.” ² 

Mazmur 13:6

13:6 I will sing praises ³  to the Lord

when he vindicates me. ⁴ 

Mazmur 18:47

18:47 The one true God ⁵  completely vindicates me; ⁶ 

he makes nations submit to me. ⁷ 

Mazmur 25:14

25:14 The Lord’s loyal followers receive his guidance, ⁸ 

and he reveals his covenantal demands to them. ⁹ 

Mazmur 32:10

32:10 An evil person suffers much pain, ¹⁰ 

but the Lord’s faithfulness overwhelms the one who trusts in him. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 46:8

46:8 Come! Witness the exploits ¹²  of the Lord,

who brings devastation to the earth! ¹³ 

Mazmur 54:7

54:7 Surely ¹⁴  he rescues me from all trouble, ¹⁵ 

and I triumph over my enemies. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 62:11

62:11 God has declared one principle;

two principles I have heard: ¹⁷ 

God is strong, ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 66:5

66:5 Come and witness ¹⁹  God’s exploits! ²⁰ 

His acts on behalf of people are awesome! ²¹ 

Mazmur 78:25

78:25 Man ate the food of the mighty ones. ²² 

He sent them more than enough to eat. ²³ 

Mazmur 91:11

91:11 For he will order his angels ²⁴ 

to protect you in all you do. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 98:9

98:9 before the Lord!

For he comes to judge the earth!

He judges the world fairly, ²⁶ 

and the nations in a just manner.

Mazmur 102:23

102:23 He has taken away my strength in the middle of life; ²⁷ 

he has cut short my days.

Mazmur 103:14

103:14 For he knows what we are made of; ²⁸ 

he realizes ²⁹  we are made of clay. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 104:4

104:4 He makes the winds his messengers,

and the flaming fire his attendant. ³¹ 

Mazmur 104:11

104:11 They provide water for all the animals in the field;

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

Mazmur 105:12

105:12 When they were few in number,

just a very few, and resident aliens within it,

Mazmur 105:24

105:24 The Lord ³²  made his people very fruitful,

and made them ³³  more numerous than their ³⁴  enemies.

Mazmur 105:39

105:39 He spread out a cloud for a cover, ³⁵ 

and provided a fire to light up the night.

Mazmur 106:26-27

106:26 So he made a solemn vow ³⁶ 

that he would make them die ³⁷  in the desert,

106:27 make their descendants ³⁸  die ³⁹  among the nations,

and scatter them among foreign lands. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 106:29

106:29 They made the Lord angry ⁴¹  by their actions,

and a plague broke out among them.

Mazmur 106:40

106:40 So the Lord was angry with his people ⁴² 

and despised the people who belong to him. ⁴³ 

Mazmur 110:5

110:5 O sovereign Lord, ⁴⁴  at your right hand

he strikes down ⁴⁵  kings in the day he unleashes his anger. ⁴⁶ 

Mazmur 111:7

111:7 His acts are characterized by ⁴⁷  faithfulness and justice;

all his precepts are reliable. ⁴⁸ 

Mazmur 113:7

113:7 He raises the poor from the dirt,

and lifts up the needy from the garbage pile, ⁴⁹ 

Mazmur 116:12

116:12 How can I repay the Lord

for all his acts of kindness to me?

Mazmur 118:5

118:5 In my distress ⁵⁰  I cried out to the Lord.

The Lord answered me and put me in a wide open place. ⁵¹ 

Mazmur 120:1

Psalm 120 ⁵² 

A song of ascents. ⁵³ 

120:1 In my distress I cried out

to the Lord and he answered me.

Mazmur 127:3

127:3 Yes, ⁵⁴  sons ⁵⁵  are a gift from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb is a reward.

Mazmur 128:1

Psalm 128 ⁵⁶ 

A song of ascents. ⁵⁷ 

128:1 How blessed is every one of the Lord’s loyal followers, ⁵⁸ 

each one who keeps his commands! ⁵⁹ 

Mazmur 135:8

135:8 He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

including both men and animals.

Mazmur 136:10

136:10 to the one who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,

for his loyal love endures,

Mazmur 136:13

136:13 to the one who divided ⁶⁰  the Red Sea ⁶¹  in two, ⁶² 

for his loyal love endures,

Mazmur 136:17-18

136:17 to the one who struck down great kings,

for his loyal love endures,

136:18 and killed powerful kings,

for his loyal love endures,

Mazmur 136:25

136:25 to the one who gives food to all living things, ⁶³ 

for his loyal love endures.

Mazmur 145:9

145:9 The Lord is good to all,

and has compassion on all he has made. ⁶⁴ 

[10:11]  ¹ tn Heb “he says in his heart.” See v. 6.

[10:11]  ² tn Heb “God forgets, he hides his face, he never sees.”

[13:6]  ³ tn The verb form is cohortative, indicating the psalmist’s resolve (or vow) to praise the Lord when deliverance arrives.

[13:6]  ⁴ tn Or “for he will have vindicated me.” The verb form indicates a future perfect here. The idiom גָמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense.

[18:47]  ⁵ tn Heb “the God.” See v. 32.

[18:47]  ⁶ tn Heb “is the one who grants vengeance to me.” The plural form of the noun indicates degree here, suggesting complete vengeance or vindication.

[18:47]  sn Completely vindicates me. In the ancient Near East military victory was sometimes viewed as a sign that one’s God had judged in favor of the victor, avenging and/or vindicating him. See, for example, Judg 11:27, 32-33, 36.

[18:47]  ⁷ tn Heb “he subdues nations beneath me.” On the meaning of the verb דָּבַר (davar, “subdue,” a homonym of דָּבַר, davar, “speak”), see HALOT 209-10 s.v. I דבר. See also Ps 47:3 and 2 Chr 22:10. 2 Sam 22:48 reads “and [is the one who] brings down nations beneath me.”

[25:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “the advice of the Lord belongs to those who fear him.”

[25:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and his covenant, to make them know.”

[32:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “many [are the] pains of evil [one].” The singular form is representative here; the typical evildoer, representative of the larger group of wicked people, is in view.

[32:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “but the one who trusts in the Lord, faithfulness surrounds him.”

[46:8]  ¹² sn In this context the Lord’s exploits are military in nature (see vv. 8b-9).

[46:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “who sets desolations in the earth” (see Isa 13:9). The active participle describes God’s characteristic activity as a warrior.

[54:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “for,” indicating a more specific reason why he will praise the Lord’s name (cf. v. 6).

[54:7]  ¹⁵ tn The perfects in v. 7 are probably rhetorical, indicating the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance and his own vindication as if they were occurring or had already occurred.

[54:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and on my enemies my eyes look.”

[62:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “one God spoke, two which I heard.” This is a numerical saying utilizing the “x” followed by “x + 1” pattern to facilitate poetic parallelism. (See W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament [VTSup], 55-56.) As is typical in such sayings, a list corresponding to the second number (in this case “two”) follows. Another option is to translate, “God has spoken once, twice [he has spoken] that which I have heard.” The terms אַחַת (’akhat, “one; once”) and שְׁתַּיִם (shÿtayim, “two; twice”) are also juxtaposed in 2 Kgs 6:10 (where they refer to an action that was done more than “once or twice”) and in Job 33:14 (where they refer to God speaking “one way” and then in “another manner”).

[62:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “that strength [belongs] to God.”

[66:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “see.”

[66:5]  ²⁰ tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).

[66:5]  ²¹ tn Heb “awesome [is] an act toward the sons of man.” It is unclear how the prepositional phrase relates to what precedes. If collocated with “act,” it may mean “on behalf of” or “toward.” If taken with “awesome” (see 1 Chr 16:25; Pss 89:7; 96:4; Zeph 2:11), one might translate “his awesome acts are beyond human comprehension” or “his awesome acts are superior to anything men can do.”

[78:25]  ²² sn Because of the reference to “heaven” in the preceding verse, it is likely that mighty ones refers here to the angels of heaven. The LXX translates “angels” here, as do a number of modern translations (NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[78:25]  ²³ tn Heb “provision he sent to them to satisfaction.”

[91:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for his angels he will command concerning you.”

[91:11]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in all your ways.”

[98:9]  ²⁶ tn The verbal forms in v. 9 probably describe God’s typical, characteristic behavior, though they may depict in dramatic fashion the outworking of divine judgment or anticipate a future judgment of worldwide proportions (“will judge…”).

[102:23]  ²⁷ tn Heb “he has afflicted my strength in the way.” The term “way” refers here to the course of the psalmist’s life, which appears to be ending prematurely (vv. 23b-24).

[103:14]  ²⁸ tn Heb “our form.”

[103:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “remembers.”

[103:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “we [are] clay.”

[104:4]  ³¹ tc Heb “and his attendants a flaming fire.” The lack of agreement between the singular “fire” and plural “attendants” has prompted various emendations. Some read “fire and flame.” The present translation assumes an emendation to “his attendant” (יו in the Hebrew text being virtually dittographic).

[104:4]  sn In Ugaritic mythology Yam’s messengers appear as flaming fire before the assembly of the gods. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 42.

[105:24]  ³² tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[105:24]  ³³ tn Heb “him,” referring to “his people.”

[105:24]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his,” referring to “his people.”

[105:39]  ³⁵ tn Or “curtain.”

[106:26]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and he lifted his hand to [or “concerning”] them.” The idiom “to lift a hand” here refers to swearing an oath. One would sometimes solemnly lift one’s hand when making such a vow (see Ezek 20:5-6, 15).

[106:26]  ³⁷ tn Heb “to cause them to fall.”

[106:27]  ³⁸ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[106:27]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and to cause their offspring to fall.” Some emend the verb to “scatter” to form tighter parallelism with the following line (cf. NRSV “disperse”).

[106:27]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “among the lands.” The word “foreign” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[106:29]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “They made angry [him].” The pronominal suffix is omitted here, but does appear in a few medieval Hebrew mss. Perhaps it was accidentally left off, an original וַיַּכְעִיסוּהוּ (vayyakh’isuhu) being misread as וַיַּכְעִיסוּ (vayyakh’isu). In the translation the referent of the pronominal suffix (the Lord) has been specified for clarity to avoid confusion with Baal of Peor (mentioned in the previous verse).

[106:40]  ⁴² tn Heb “the anger of the Lord burned against his people.”

[106:40]  ⁴³ tn Heb “his inheritance.”

[110:5]  ⁴⁴ tn As pointed in the Hebrew text, this title refers to God (many medieval Hebrew mss read יְהוָה, yehveh, “Lord” here). The present translation assumes that the psalmist here addresses the Lord as he celebrates what the king is able to accomplish while positioned at God’s “right hand.” According to this view the king is the subject of the third person verb forms in vv. 5b-7. (2) Another option is to understand the king as the addressee (as in vv. 2-3). In this case “the Lord” is the subject of the third person verbs throughout vv. 5-7 and is depicted as a warrior in a very anthropomorphic manner. In this case the Lord is pictured as being at the psalmist’s right hand (just the opposite of v. 1). See Pss 16:8; 121:5. (3) A third option is to revocalize אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “Lord”) as אֲדֹנִי (’adoniy, “my lord”; see v. 1). In this case one may translate, “My lord, at his [God’s] right hand, strikes down.” In this case the king is the subject of the third person verbs in vv. 5b-7.

[110:5]  ⁴⁵ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 5-6 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing. Another option is to take them as rhetorical. In this case the psalmist describes anticipated events as if they had already taken place.

[110:5]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “in the day of his anger.”

[111:7]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “the deeds of his hands [are].”

[111:7]  ⁴⁸ tn That is, fair and for man’s good.

[113:7]  ⁴⁹ sn The language of v. 7 is almost identical to that of 1 Sam 2:8.

[118:5]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “from the distress.” The noun מֵצַר (metsar, “straits; distress”) occurs only here and in Lam 1:3. In Ps 116:3 מצר should probably be emended to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”).

[118:5]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “the Lord answered me in a wide open place.”

[120:1]  ⁵² sn Psalm 120. The genre and structure of this psalm are uncertain. It begins like a thanksgiving psalm, with a brief notice that God has heard the psalmist’s prayer for help and has intervened. But v. 2 is a petition for help, followed by a taunt directed toward enemies (vv. 3-4) and a lament (vv. 5-7). Perhaps vv. 2-7 recall the psalmist’s prayer when he cried out to the Lord.

[120:1]  ⁵³ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[127:3]  ⁵⁴ tn or “look.”

[127:3]  ⁵⁵ tn Some prefer to translate this term with the gender neutral “children,” but “sons” are plainly in view here, as the following verses make clear. Daughters are certainly wonderful additions to a family, but in ancient Israelite culture sons were the “arrows” that gave a man security in his old age, for they could defend the family interests at the city gate, where the legal and economic issues of the community were settled.

[128:1]  ⁵⁶ sn Psalm 128. The psalmist observes that the godly individual has genuine happiness because the Lord rewards such a person with prosperity and numerous children.

[128:1]  ⁵⁷ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[128:1]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “every fearer of the Lord.”

[128:1]  ⁵⁹ tn Heb “the one who walks in his ways.”

[136:13]  ⁶⁰ tn Or “cut.”

[136:13]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “Reed Sea” (also in v. 15). “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See the note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

[136:13]  ⁶² tn Heb “into pieces.”

[136:25]  ⁶³ tn Heb “to all flesh,” which can refer to all people (see Pss 65:2; 145:21) or more broadly to mankind and animals. Elsewhere the psalms view God as the provider for all living things (see Pss 104:27-28; 145:15).

[145:9]  ⁶⁴ tn Heb “and his compassion is over all his works.”