Mazmur 14:1

Psalm 14 ¹ 

For the music director; by David.

14:1 Fools say to themselves, ²  “There is no God.” ³ 

They sin and commit evil deeds; ⁴ 

none of them does what is right. ⁵ 

Mazmur 19:1

Psalm 19 ⁶ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; ⁷ 

the sky displays his handiwork. ⁸ 

Mazmur 40:8

40:8 I want to do what pleases you, ⁹  my God.

Your law dominates my thoughts.” ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 42:3

42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; ¹¹ 

all day long they say to me, ¹²  “Where is your God?”

Mazmur 42:9

42:9 I will pray ¹³  to God, my high ridge: ¹⁴ 

“Why do you ignore ¹⁵  me?

Why must I walk around mourning ¹⁶ 

because my enemies oppress me?”

Mazmur 44:8

44:8 In God I boast all day long,

and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)

Mazmur 50:16

50:16 God says this to the evildoer: ¹⁷ 

“How can you declare my commands,

and talk about my covenant? ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 56:7

56:7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape! ¹⁹ 

In your anger ²⁰  bring down the nations, ²¹  O God!

Mazmur 56:12

56:12 I am obligated to fulfill the vows I made to you, O God; ²² 

I will give you the thank-offerings you deserve, ²³ 

Mazmur 57:5

57:5 Rise up ²⁴  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ²⁵ 

Mazmur 66:16

66:16 Come! Listen, all you who are loyal to God! ²⁶ 

I will declare what he has done for me.

Mazmur 68:5

68:5 He is a father to the fatherless

and an advocate for widows. ²⁷ 

God rules from his holy palace. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 68:10

68:10 for you live among them. ²⁹ 

You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.

Mazmur 68:17

68:17 God has countless chariots;

they number in the thousands. ³⁰ 

The Lord comes from Sinai in holy splendor. ³¹ 

Mazmur 68:21

68:21 Indeed God strikes the heads of his enemies,

the hairy foreheads of those who persist in rebellion. ³² 

Mazmur 74:1

Psalm 74 ³³ 

A well-written song ³⁴  by Asaph.

74:1 Why, O God, have you permanently rejected us? ³⁵ 

Why does your anger burn ³⁶  against the sheep of your pasture?

Mazmur 86:15

86:15 But you, O Lord, are a compassionate and merciful God.

You are patient ³⁷  and demonstrate great loyal love and faithfulness. ³⁸ 

Mazmur 89:6

89:6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord?

Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings, ³⁹ 

Mazmur 108:5

108:5 Rise up ⁴⁰  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ⁴¹ 

Mazmur 145:1

Psalm 145 ⁴² 

A psalm of praise, by David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God, O king!

I will praise your name continually! ⁴³ 

[14:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.

[14:1]  ² tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.

[14:1]  ³ sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).

[14:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.

[14:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[19:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 19. The psalmist praises God for his self-revelation in the heavens and in the Mosaic law. The psalmist concludes with a prayer, asking the Lord to keep him from sinning and to approve of his thoughts and words.

[19:1]  ⁷ sn God’s glory refers here to his royal majesty and power.

[19:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the work of his hands the sky declares.” The participles emphasize the ongoing testimony of the heavens/sky.

[40:8]  ⁹ tn Or “your will.”

[40:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “your law [is] in the midst of my inner parts.” The “inner parts” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s thought life and moral decision making.

[42:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”

[42:3]  ¹² tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.

[42:9]  ¹³ tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.

[42:9]  ¹⁴ tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.

[42:9]  ¹⁵ tn Or “forget.”

[42:9]  ¹⁶ sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.

[50:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “evil [one].” The singular adjective is used here in a representative sense; it refers to those within the larger covenant community who have blatantly violated the Lord’s commandments. 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, and cheat others (Ps 37:21).

[50:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “What to you to declare my commands and lift up my covenant upon your mouth?” The rhetorical question expresses sarcastic amazement. The Lord is shocked that such evildoers would give lip-service to his covenantal demands, for their lifestyle is completely opposed to his standards (see vv. 18-20).

[56:7]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “because of wickedness, deliverance to them.” As it stands, the MT makes no sense. The negative particle אַיִן (’ayin, “there is not,” which is due to dittography of the immediately preceding אָוֶן, ’aven, “wickedness”), should probably be added before “deliverance” (see BHS, note a). The presence of an imperative in the next line (note “bring down”) suggests that this line should be translated as a prayer as well, “may there not be deliverance to them.”

[56:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in anger.” The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:7]  ²¹ tn Or perhaps “people” in a general sense.

[56:12]  ²² tn Heb “upon me, O God, [are] your vows.”

[56:12]  ²³ tn Heb “I will repay thank-offerings to you.”

[57:5]  ²⁴ tn Or “be exalted.”

[57:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)

[66:16]  ²⁶ tn Heb “all of the fearers of God.”

[68:5]  ²⁷ sn God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by the fatherless and widows.

[68:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “God [is] in his holy dwelling place.” He occupies his throne and carries out his royal responsibilities.

[68:10]  ²⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear; it appears to read, “your animals, they live in it,” but this makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some suggest that חָיָּה (khayah) is a rare homonym here, meaning “community” (BDB 312 s.v.) or “dwelling place” (HALOT 310 s.v. III *הַיָּה). In this case one may take “your community/dwelling place” as appositional to the third feminine singular pronominal suffix at the end of v. 9, the antecedent of which is “your inheritance.” The phrase יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ (yashvu-vah, “they live in it”) may then be understood as an asyndetic relative clause modifying “your community/dwelling place.” A literal translation of vv. 9b-10a would be, “when it [your inheritance] is tired, you sustain it, your community/dwelling place in [which] they live.”

[68:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “thousands of [?].” The meaning of the word שִׁנְאָן (shin’an), which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Perhaps the form should be emended to שַׁאֲנָן (sha’anan, “at ease”) and be translated here “held in reserve.”

[68:17]  ³¹ tc The MT reads, “the Lord [is] among them, Sinai, in holiness,” which is syntactically difficult. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֲדֹנָי בָּא מִסִּינַי (’adonay ba’ missinay; see BHS note b-b and Deut 33:2).

[68:21]  ³² tn Heb “the hairy forehead of the one who walks about in his guilt.” The singular is representative.

[74:1]  ³³ sn Psalm 74. The psalmist, who has just experienced the devastation of the Babylonian invasion of Jerusalem in 586 b.c., asks God to consider Israel’s sufferings and intervene on behalf of his people. He describes the ruined temple, recalls God’s mighty deeds in the past, begs for mercy, and calls for judgment upon God’s enemies.

[74:1]  ³⁴ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[74:1]  ³⁵ sn The psalmist does not really believe God has permanently rejected his people or he would not pray as he does in this psalm. But this initial question reflects his emotional response to what he sees and is overstated for the sake of emphasis. The severity of divine judgment gives the appearance that God has permanently abandoned his people.

[74:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “smoke.” The picture is that of a fire that continues to smolder.

[86:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “slow to anger.”

[86:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “and great of loyal love and faithfulness.”

[86:15]  sn The psalmist’s confession of faith in this verse echoes Exod 34:6.

[89:6]  ³⁹ tn Heb “sons of gods”; or “sons of God.” Though אֵלִים (’elim) is vocalized as a plural form (“gods”) in the Hebrew text, it is likely that the final mem (ם) is actually enclitic rather than a plural marker. In this case one may read “God.” Some, following a Qumran text and the LXX, also propose the phrase occurred in the original text of Deut 32:8. The phrase בְנֵי אֵלִים (vÿney ’elim, “sons of gods” or “sons of God”) occurs only here and in Ps 29:1. Since the “sons of gods/God” are here associated with “the assembly of the holy ones” and “council of the holy ones,” the heavenly assembly (comprised of so-called “angels” and other supernatural beings) appears to be in view. See Job 5:1; 15:15 and Zech 14:5, where these supernatural beings are referred to as “holy ones.” In Canaanite mythological texts the divine council of the high god El is called “the sons of El.” The OT apparently uses the Canaanite phrase, applying it to the supernatural beings that surround the Lord’s heavenly throne.

[108:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “be exalted.”

[108:5]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)

[145:1]  ⁴² sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ⁴³ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”