Mazmur 17:11

17:11 They attack me, now they surround me; ¹ 

they intend to throw me to the ground. ² 

Mazmur 18:27

18:27 For you deliver oppressed ³  people,

but you bring down those who have a proud look. ⁴ 

Mazmur 18:36

18:36 You widen my path; ⁵ 

my feet ⁶  do not slip.

Mazmur 145:15

145:15 Everything looks to you in anticipation, ⁷ 

and you provide them with food on a regular basis. ⁸ 

[17:11]  ¹ tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).

[17:11]  ² tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”

[18:27]  ³ tn Or perhaps, “humble” (note the contrast with those who are proud).

[18:27]  ⁴ tn Heb “but proud eyes you bring low.” 2 Sam 22:28 reads, “your eyes [are] upon the proud, [whom] you bring low.”

[18:36]  ⁵ tn Heb “you make wide my step under me.” “Step” probably refers metonymically to the path upon which the psalmist walks. Another option is to translate, “you widen my stride.” This would suggest that God gives the psalmist the capacity to run quickly.

[18:36]  ⁶ tn Heb “lower legs.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which occurs only here, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 112. A cognate Akkadian noun means “lower leg.”

[145:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “the eyes of all wait for you.”

[145:15]  ⁸ tn Heb “and you give to them their food in its season” (see Ps 104:27).