Mazmur 18:36

18:36 You widen my path; ¹ 

my feet ²  do not slip.

Mazmur 25:20

25:20 Protect me ³  and deliver me!

Please do not let me be humiliated,

for I have taken shelter in you!

Mazmur 27:13

27:13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience

the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? ⁴ 

Mazmur 34:12

34:12 Do you want to really live? ⁵ 

Would you love to live a long, happy life? ⁶ 

Mazmur 50:4

50:4 He summons the heavens above,

as well as the earth, so that he might judge his people. ⁷ 

Mazmur 50:14

50:14 Present to God a thank-offering!

Repay your vows to the sovereign One! ⁸ 

Mazmur 51:8

51:8 Grant me the ultimate joy of being forgiven! ⁹ 

May the bones ¹⁰  you crushed rejoice! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 75:5

75:5 Do not be so certain you have won! ¹² 

Do not speak with your head held so high! ¹³ 

Mazmur 78:44

78:44 He turned their rivers into blood,

and they could not drink from their streams.

Mazmur 107:7

107:7 He led them on a level road, ¹⁴ 

that they might find a city in which to live.

Mazmur 110:2

110:2 The Lord ¹⁵  extends ¹⁶  your dominion ¹⁷  from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

Mazmur 118:19

118:19 Open for me the gates of the just king’s temple! ¹⁸ 

I will enter through them and give thanks to the Lord.

Mazmur 119:32-33

119:32 I run along the path of your commands,

for you enable me to do so. ¹⁹ 

ה (He)

119:33 Teach me, O Lord, the lifestyle prescribed by your statutes, ²⁰ 

so that I might observe it continually. ²¹ 

Mazmur 119:37

119:37 Turn my eyes away from what is worthless! ²² 

Revive me with your word! ²³ 

Mazmur 119:133

119:133 Direct my steps by your word! ²⁴ 

Do not let any sin dominate me!

Mazmur 119:153

ר (Resh)

119:153 See my pain and rescue me!

For I do not forget your law.

Mazmur 119:157

119:157 The enemies who chase me are numerous. ²⁵ 

Yet I do not turn aside from your rules.

Mazmur 128:5

128:5 May the Lord bless you ²⁶  from Zion,

that you might see ²⁷  Jerusalem ²⁸  prosper

all the days of your life,

Mazmur 130:3

130:3 If you, O Lord, were to keep track of ²⁹  sins,

O Lord, who could stand before you? ³⁰ 

Mazmur 139:11

139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, ³¹ 

and the light will turn to night all around me,” ³² 

Mazmur 140:8

140:8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way! ³³ 

Do not allow their ³⁴  plan to succeed when they attack! ³⁵  (Selah)

Mazmur 144:13

144:13 Our storehouses ³⁶  will be full,

providing all kinds of food. ³⁷ 

Our sheep will multiply by the thousands

and fill ³⁸  our pastures. ³⁹ 

Mazmur 147:14

147:14 He ⁴⁰  brings peace to your territory. ⁴¹ 

He abundantly provides for you ⁴²  the best grain.

[18:36]  ¹ 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]  ² 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.”

[25:20]  ³ tn Or “my life.”

[27:13]  ⁴ tn In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” The words “Where would I be” are supplied in the translation to clarify the intent of the statement.

[34:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “Who is the man who desires life?” The rhetorical question is used to grab the audience’s attention. “Life” probably refers here to quality of life, not just physical existence or even duration of life. See the following line.

[34:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “[Who] loves days to see good?”

[50:4]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “to testify against his people.”

[50:4]  sn The personified heavens and earth (see v. 1 as well) are summoned to God’s courtroom as witnesses against God’s covenant people (see Isa 1:2). Long before this Moses warned the people that the heavens and earth would be watching their actions (see Deut 4:26; 30:19; 31:28; 32:1).

[50:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “Most High.” This divine title (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. See especially Pss 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 21:7; 47:2.

[51:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “cause me to hear happiness and joy.” The language is metonymic: the effect of forgiveness (joy) has been substituted for its cause. The psalmist probably alludes here to an assuring word from God announcing that his sins are forgiven (a so-called oracle of forgiveness). The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request. The synonyms “happiness” and “joy” are joined together as a hendiadys to emphasize the degree of joy he anticipates.

[51:8]  ¹⁰ sn May the bones you crushed rejoice. The psalmist compares his sinful condition to that of a person who has been physically battered and crushed. Within this metaphorical framework, his “bones” are the seat of his emotional strength.

[51:8]  ¹¹ tn In this context of petitionary prayer, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, expressing the psalmist’s wish or request.

[75:5]  ¹² tn Heb “do not lift up on high your horn.”

[75:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “[do not] speak with unrestrained neck.” The negative particle is understood in this line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[75:5]  sn The image behind the language of vv. 4-5 is that of a powerful wild ox that confidently raises its head before its enemies.

[107:7]  ¹⁴ sn A level road. See Jer 31:9.

[110:2]  ¹⁵ tn Since the Lord is mentioned in the third person (note the use of the first person in v. 1), it is likely that these are the psalmist’s words to the king, not a continuation of the oracle per se.

[110:2]  ¹⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though it could be taken as future.

[110:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “your strong scepter,” symbolic of the king’s royal authority and dominion.

[118:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the gates of justice.” The gates of the Lord’s temple are referred to here, as v. 20 makes clear. They are called “gates of justice” because they are the entrance to the just king’s palace. This has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[119:32]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “for you make wide my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and understanding. The Lord gives the psalmist the desire and moral understanding that are foundational to the willing obedience depicted metaphorically in the preceding line. In Isa 60:5 the expression “your heart will be wide” means “your heart will swell with pride,” but here the nuance appears to be different.

[119:33]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the way of your statutes.”

[119:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “and I will keep it to the end.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative. The Hebrew term עֵקֶב (’eqev) is understood to mean “end” here. Another option is to take עֵקֶב (’eqev) as meaning “reward” here (see Ps 19:11) and to translate, “so that I might observe it and be rewarded.”

[119:37]  ²² tn Heb “Make my eyes pass by from looking at what is worthless.”

[119:37]  ²³ tn Heb “by your word.”

[119:133]  ²⁴ tn God’s “word” refers here to his law (see v. 11).

[119:157]  ²⁵ tn Heb “many [are] those who chase me and my enemies.”

[128:5]  ²⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer (note the imperatives that are subordinated to this clause in vv. 5b-6a). Having described the blessings that typically come to the godly, the psalmist concludes by praying that this ideal may become reality for the representative godly man being addressed.

[128:5]  ²⁷ tn The imperative with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding jussive.

[128:5]  ²⁸ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[130:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “observe.”

[130:3]  ³⁰ tn The words “before you” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist must be referring to standing before God’s judgment seat. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one.”

[139:11]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.

[139:11]  ³² tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”

[140:8]  ³³ tn Heb “do not grant the desires of the wicked.”

[140:8]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his.” The singular is used in a representative sense (see v. 1).

[140:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “his plot do not promote, they rise up.” The translation understands the final verb as being an unmarked temporal clause. Another option is to revocalize the verb as a Hiphil and take the verb with the next verse, “those who surround me lift up [their] head,” which could refer to their proud attitude as they anticipate victory (see Ps 27:6).

[144:13]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[144:13]  ³⁷ tn Heb “from kind to kind.” Some prefer to emend the text to מָזוֹן עַל מָזוֹן (mazon ’al mazon, “food upon food”).

[144:13]  ³⁸ tn Heb “they are innumerable.”

[144:13]  ³⁹ tn Heb “in outside places.” Here the term refers to pastures and fields (see Job 5:10; Prov 8:26).

[147:14]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the one who.”

[147:14]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “he makes your boundary peace.”

[147:14]  ⁴² tn Heb “satisfies you with.”