Mazmur 10:14

10:14 You have taken notice, ¹ 

for ²  you always see ³  one who inflicts pain and suffering. ⁴ 

The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; ⁵ 

you deliver ⁶  the fatherless. ⁷ 

Mazmur 11:2

11:2 For look, the wicked ⁸  prepare ⁹  their bows, ¹⁰ 

they put their arrows on the strings,

to shoot in the darkness ¹¹  at the morally upright. ¹² 

Mazmur 36:4

36:4 He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed;

he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; ¹³ 

he does not reject what is evil. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 52:2

52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans; ¹⁵ 

it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 55:9-11

55:9 Confuse them, ¹⁷  O Lord!

Frustrate their plans! ¹⁸ 

For I see violence and conflict in the city.

55:10 Day and night they walk around on its walls, ¹⁹ 

while wickedness and destruction ²⁰  are within it.

55:11 Disaster is within it;

violence ²¹  and deceit do not depart from its public square.

[10:14]  ¹ tn Heb “you see.” One could translate the perfect as generalizing, “you do take notice.”

[10:14]  ² tn If the preceding perfect is taken as generalizing, then one might understand כִּי (ki) as asseverative: “indeed, certainly.”

[10:14]  ³ tn Here the imperfect emphasizes God’s typical behavior.

[10:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.

[10:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “to give into your hand, upon you, he abandons, [the] unfortunate [one].” The syntax is awkward and the meaning unclear. It is uncertain who or what is being given into God’s hand. Elsewhere the idiom “give into the hand” means to deliver into one’s possession. If “to give” goes with what precedes (as the accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests), then this may refer to the wicked man being delivered over to God for judgment. The present translation assumes that “to give” goes with what follows (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The verb יַעֲזֹב (ya’azov) here has the nuance “entrust” (see Gen 39:6; Job 39:11); the direct object (“[his] cause”) is implied.

[10:14]  ⁶ tn Or “help.”

[10:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “[for] one who is fatherless, you are a deliverer.” The noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9).

[10:14]  sn The fatherless. Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 68:5; 82:3; 94:6; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).

[11:2]  ⁸ tn In the psalms the “wicked” (רְשָׁעִים, rÿsha’im) are typically proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and threaten his people (Ps 3:8).

[11:2]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form depicts the enemies’ hostile action as underway.

[11:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a bow.”

[11:2]  ¹¹ sn In the darkness. The enemies’ attack, the precise form of which is not indicated, is compared here to a night ambush by archers; the psalmist is defenseless against this deadly attack.

[11:2]  ¹² tn Heb “pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[36:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “he takes a stand in a way [that is] not good.” The word “way” here refers metaphorically to behavior or life style.

[36:4]  ¹⁴ tn The three imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 highlight the characteristic behavior of the typical evildoer.

[52:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”

[52:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (’asah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.

[55:9]  ¹⁷ tn Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallow” in the sense of “devour” or “destroy” (cf. KJV), but this may be a homonym meaning “confuse” (see BDB 118 s.v. בַּלַּע; HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע). “Their tongue” is the understood object of the verb (see the next line).

[55:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “split their tongue,” which apparently means “confuse their speech,” or, more paraphrastically, “frustrate the plans they devise with their tongues.”

[55:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “day and night they surround it, upon its walls.” Personified “violence and conflict” are the likely subjects. They are compared to watchmen on the city’s walls.

[55:10]  ²⁰ sn Wickedness and destruction. These terms are also closely associated in Ps 7:14.

[55:11]  ²¹ tn Or “injury, harm.”