Mazmur 17:14

17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, ¹ 

from the murderers of this world! ² 

They enjoy prosperity; ³ 

you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. ⁴ 

They have many children,

and leave their wealth to their offspring. ⁵ 

Mazmur 37:1

Psalm 37 ⁶ 

By David.

37:1 Do not fret ⁷  when wicked men seem to succeed! ⁸ 

Do not envy evildoers!

Mazmur 37:35

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ⁹ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 73:11-12

73:11 They say, “How does God know what we do?

Is the sovereign one aware of what goes on?” ¹¹ 

73:12 Take a good look! This is what the wicked are like, ¹² 

those who always have it so easy and get richer and richer. ¹³ 

[17:14]  ¹ tc Heb “from men [by] your hand, Lord.” The translation assumes an emendation (both here and in the following line) of מִמְתִים (mimtim, “from men”) to מִמְמִתִים (mimmitim, “from those who kill”). For other uses of the plural form of the Hiphil participle of מוּת (mut, “die”), see 2 Kgs 17:26 (used with lions as subject), Job 33:22 (apparently referring to the agents of death), and Jer 26:15 (used of those seeking Jeremiah’s life).

[17:14]  ² tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”

[17:14]  ³ tn Heb “their portion, in life.”

[17:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”

[17:14]  sn You overwhelm them with the riches they desire. The psalmist is not accusing God of being unjust; he is simply observing that the wicked often prosper and that God is the ultimate source of all blessings that human beings enjoy (see Matt 5:45). When the wicked are ungrateful for God’s blessings, they become even more culpable and deserving of judgment. So this description of the wicked actually supports the psalmist’s appeal for deliverance. God should rescue him because he is innocent (see vv. 3-5) and because the wicked, though blessed abundantly by God, still have the audacity to attack God’s people.

[17:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”

[37:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 37. The psalmist urges his audience not to envy the wicked, but to trust in and obey the Lord, for he will destroy sinners and preserve the godly. When the smoke of judgment clears, the wicked will be gone, but the godly will remain and inherit God’s promised blessings. The psalm is an acrostic; every other verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

[37:1]  ⁷ tn The verb form is singular (see vv. 3-10 as well, where the second person verbs and pronouns are also singular). The psalmist’s exhortation has a wisdom flavor to it; it is personalized for each member of his audience.

[37:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “over sinners.” The context indicates that the psalmist has in mind the apparent power and success of sinners. See v. 7b.

[37:35]  ⁹ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mit’areh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (’arah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (’alah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.

[73:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “How does God know? Is there knowledge with the Most High?” They appear to be practical atheists, who acknowledge God’s existence and sovereignty in theory, but deny his involvement in the world (see Pss 10:4, 11; 14:1).

[73:12]  ¹² tn Heb “Look, these [are] the wicked.”

[73:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “the ones who are always at ease [who] increase wealth.”