Mazmur 18:11

18:11 He shrouded himself in darkness, ¹ 

in thick rain clouds. ² 

Mazmur 27:6

27:6 Now I will triumph

over my enemies who surround me! ³ 

I will offer sacrifices in his dwelling place and shout for joy! ⁴ 

I will sing praises to the Lord!

Mazmur 31:2

31:2 Listen to me! ⁵ 

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge, ⁶ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ⁷ 

Mazmur 46:1

Psalm 46 ⁸ 

For the music director; by the Korahites; according to the alamoth style; ⁹  a song.

46:1 God is our strong refuge; ¹⁰ 

he is truly our helper in times of trouble. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 55:1

Psalm 55 ¹² 

For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a well-written song ¹³  by David.

55:1 Listen, O God, to my prayer!

Do not ignore ¹⁴  my appeal for mercy!

Mazmur 58:1

Psalm 58 ¹⁵ 

For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; ¹⁶  a prayer ¹⁷  of David.

58:1 Do you rulers really pronounce just decisions? ¹⁸ 

Do you judge people ¹⁹  fairly?

Mazmur 73:28

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ²⁰ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ²¹  I declare all the things you have done.

Mazmur 77:2

77:2 In my time of trouble I sought ²²  the Lord.

I kept my hand raised in prayer throughout the night. ²³ 

I ²⁴  refused to be comforted.

Mazmur 78:8

78:8 Then they will not be like their ancestors,

who were a stubborn and rebellious generation,

a generation that was not committed

and faithful to God. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 89:49

89:49 Where are your earlier faithful deeds, ²⁶  O Lord, ²⁷ 

the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David? ²⁸ 

Mazmur 102:2

102:2 Do not ignore me in my time of trouble! ²⁹ 

Listen to me! ³⁰ 

When I call out to you, quickly answer me!

Mazmur 140:10

140:10 May he rain down ³¹  fiery coals upon them!

May he throw them into the fire!

From bottomless pits they will not escape. ³² 

[18:11]  ¹ tc Heb “he made darkness his hiding place around him, his covering.” 2 Sam 22:12 reads, “he made darkness around him coverings,” omitting “his hiding place” and pluralizing “covering.” Ps 18:11 may include a conflation of synonyms (“his hiding place” and “his covering”) or 2 Sam 22:12 may be the result of haplography/homoioarcton. Note that three successive words in Ps 18:11 begin with the Hebrew letter samek: סִתְרוֹ סְבִיבוֹתָיו סֻכָּתוֹ (sitro sÿvivotayv sukkato).

[18:11]  ² tc Heb “darkness of water, clouds of clouds.” The noun “darkness” (חֶשְׁכַת, kheshkhat) is probably a corruption of an original reading חשׁרת, a form that is preserved in 2 Sam 22:12. The latter is a construct form of חַשְׁרָה (khashrah, “sieve”) which occurs only here in the OT. A cognate Ugaritic noun means “sieve,” and a related verb חָשַׁר (khashar, “to sift”) is attested in postbiblical Hebrew and Aramaic. The phrase חַשְׁרַת מַיִם (khashrat mayim) means literally “a sieve of water.” It pictures the rain clouds as a sieve through which the rain falls to the ground (see F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry [SBLDS], 146, n. 33).

[27:6]  ³ tn Heb “and now my head will be lifted up over my enemies all around me.”

[27:6]  sn In vv. 1-3 the psalmist generalizes, but here we discover that he is facing a crisis and is under attack from enemies (see vv. 11-12).

[27:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will sacrifice in his tent sacrifices of a shout for joy” (that is, “sacrifices accompanied by a joyful shout”).

[31:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[31:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”

[31:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”

[46:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 46. In this so-called “Song Of Zion” God’s people confidently affirm that they are secure because the great warrior-king dwells within Jerusalem and protects it from the nations that cause such chaos in the earth. A refrain (vv. 7, 11) concludes the song’s two major sections.

[46:1]  ⁹ sn The meaning of the Hebrew term עֲלָמוֹת (alamoth, which means “young women”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music. Cf. 1 Chr 15:20.

[46:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “our refuge and strength,” which is probably a hendiadys meaning “our strong refuge” (see Ps 71:7). Another option is to translate, “our refuge and source of strength.”

[46:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a helper in times of trouble he is found [to be] greatly.” The perfect verbal form has a generalizing function here. The adverb מְאֹד (mÿ’od, “greatly”) has an emphasizing function.

[55:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 55. The suffering and oppressed author laments that one of his friends has betrayed him, but he is confident that God will vindicate him by punishing his deceitful enemies.

[55:1]  ¹³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.

[55:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “hide yourself from.”

[58:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 58. The psalmist calls on God to punish corrupt judges because a vivid display of divine judgment will convince observers that God is the just judge of the world who vindicates the godly.

[58:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the heading to Pss 57, 59, and 75.

[58:1]  ¹⁷ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam) which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 56-57, 59-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[58:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Really [in] silence, what is right do you speak?” The Hebrew noun אֵלֶם (’elem, “silence”) makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some feel that this is an indictment of the addressees’ failure to promote justice; they are silent when they should make just decisions. The present translation assumes an emendation to אֵלִם (’elim), which in turn is understood as a defectively written form of אֵילִים (’elim, “rulers,” a metaphorical use of אַיִל, ’ayil, “ram”; see Exod 15:15; Ezek 17:13). The rhetorical question is sarcastic, challenging their claim to be just. Elsewhere the collocation of דָּבַר (davar, “speak”) with צֶדֶק (tsedeq, “what is right”) as object means “to speak the truth” (see Ps 52:3; Isa 45:19). Here it refers specifically to declaring what is right in a legal setting, as the next line indicates.

[58:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the sons of mankind.” The translation assumes the phrase is the object of the verb “to judge.” Some take it as a vocative, “Do you judge fairly, O sons of mankind?” (Cf. NASB; see Ezek 20:4; 22:2; 23:36.)

[73:28]  ²⁰ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ²¹ tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).

[77:2]  ²² tn Here the psalmist refers back to the very recent past, when he began to pray for divine help.

[77:2]  ²³ tn Heb “my hand [at] night was extended and was not growing numb.” The verb נָגַר (nagar), which can mean “flow” in certain contexts, here has the nuance “be extended.” The imperfect form (תָפוּג, tafug, “to be numb”) is used here to describe continuous action in the past.

[77:2]  ²⁴ tn Or “my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[78:8]  ²⁵ tn Heb “a generation that did not make firm its heart and whose spirit was not faithful with God.” The expression “make firm the heart” means “to be committed, devoted” (see 1 Sam 7:3).

[89:49]  ²⁶ sn The Lord’s faithful deeds are also mentioned in Pss 17:7 and 25:6.

[89:49]  ²⁷ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read here יְהוָה (yehvah, “the Lord”).

[89:49]  ²⁸ tn Heb “[which] you swore on oath to David by your faithfulness.”

[102:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me in the day of my trouble.” The idiom “to hide the face” can mean “to ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “to reject” (see Pss 29:7; 30:7; 88:14).

[102:2]  ³⁰ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[140:10]  ³¹ tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.

[140:10]  ³² tn Heb “into bottomless pits, they will not arise.” The translation assumes that the preposition -בְּ (bet) has the nuance “from” here. Another option is to connect the line with what precedes, take the final clause as an asyndetic relative clause, and translate, “into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot arise.” The Hebrew noun מַהֲמֹרָה (mahamorah, “bottomless pit”) occurs only here in the OT.