Mazmur 18:38

18:38 I beat them ¹  to death; ² 

they fall at my feet. ³ 

Mazmur 22:15

22:15 The roof of my mouth ⁴  is as dry as a piece of pottery;

my tongue sticks to my gums. ⁵ 

You ⁶  set me in the dust of death. ⁷ 

Mazmur 36:12

36:12 I can see the evildoers! They have fallen! ⁸ 

They have been knocked down and are unable to get up! ⁹ 

Mazmur 37:35

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men ¹⁰ 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 45:10

45:10 Listen, O princess! ¹² 

Observe and pay attention! ¹³ 

Forget your homeland ¹⁴  and your family! ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 58:7

58:7 Let them disappear ¹⁶  like water that flows away! ¹⁷ 

Let them wither like grass! ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 60:2

60:2 You made the earth quake; you split it open. ¹⁹ 

Repair its breaches, for it is ready to fall. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 65:13

65:13 The meadows are clothed with sheep,

and the valleys are covered with grain.

They shout joyfully, yes, they sing.

Mazmur 68:7

68:7 O God, when you lead your people into battle, ²¹ 

when you march through the desert, ²²  (Selah)

Mazmur 68:31

68:31 They come with red cloth ²³  from Egypt,

Ethiopia ²⁴  voluntarily offers tribute ²⁵  to God.

Mazmur 69:35

69:35 For God will deliver Zion

and rebuild the cities of Judah,

and his people ²⁶  will again live in them and possess Zion. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 78:15

78:15 He broke open rocks in the wilderness,

and gave them enough water to fill the depths of the sea. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 78:52

78:52 Yet he brought out his people like sheep;

he led them through the wilderness like a flock.

Mazmur 79:8

79:8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ²⁹ 

Quickly send your compassion our way, ³⁰ 

for we are in serious trouble! ³¹ 

Mazmur 80:6

80:6 You have made our neighbors dislike us, ³² 

and our enemies insult us.

Mazmur 80:8

80:8 You uprooted a vine ³³  from Egypt;

you drove out nations and transplanted it.

Mazmur 85:9

85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; ³⁴ 

then his splendor will again appear in our land. ³⁵ 

Mazmur 88:12

88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced ³⁶  in the dark region, ³⁷ 

or your deliverance in the land of oblivion? ³⁸ 

Mazmur 101:8

101:8 Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land,

and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Mazmur 102:6

102:6 I am like an owl ³⁹  in the wilderness;

I am like a screech owl ⁴⁰  among the ruins. ⁴¹ 

Mazmur 102:28

102:28 The children of your servants will settle down here,

and their descendants ⁴²  will live securely in your presence.” ⁴³ 

Mazmur 104:14

104:14 He provides grass ⁴⁴  for the cattle,

and crops for people to cultivate, ⁴⁵ 

so they can produce food from the ground, ⁴⁶ 

Mazmur 105:10

105:10 He gave it to Jacob as a decree,

to Israel as a lasting promise, ⁴⁷ 

Mazmur 105:33

105:33 He destroyed their vines and fig trees,

and broke the trees throughout their territory.

Mazmur 105:37

105:37 He brought his people ⁴⁸  out enriched ⁴⁹  with silver and gold;

none of his tribes stumbled.

Mazmur 110:6

110:6 He executes judgment ⁵⁰  against ⁵¹  the nations;

he fills the valleys with corpses; ⁵² 

he shatters their heads over the vast battlefield. ⁵³ 

Mazmur 129:6

129:6 May they be like the grass on the rooftops

which withers before one can even pull it up, ⁵⁴ 

Mazmur 136:16

136:16 to the one who led his people through the wilderness,

for his loyal love endures,

Mazmur 141:6

141:6 They will be thrown down the side of a cliff by their judges. ⁵⁵ 

They ⁵⁶  will listen to my words, for they are pleasant.

Mazmur 142:5

142:5 I cry out to you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my shelter,

my security ⁵⁷  in the land of the living.”

[18:38]  ¹ tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”

[18:38]  ² tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”

[18:38]  ³ sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.

[22:15]  ⁴ tc Heb “my strength” (כֹּחִי, kokhiy), but many prefer to emend the text to חִכִּי (khikiy, “my palate”; cf. NEB, NRSV “my mouth”) assuming that an error of transposition has occurred in the traditional Hebrew text.

[22:15]  ⁵ tn Cf. NEB “my jaw”; NASB, NRSV “my jaws”; NIV “the roof of my mouth.”

[22:15]  ⁶ sn Here the psalmist addresses God and suggests that God is ultimately responsible for what is happening because of his failure to intervene (see vv. 1-2, 11).

[22:15]  ⁷ sn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the progressive nature of the action. The psalmist is in the process of dying.

[36:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “there the workers of wickedness have fallen.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here for dramatic effect, as the psalmist envisions the evildoers lying fallen at a spot that is vivid in his imagination (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[36:12]  ⁹ tn The psalmist uses perfect verbal forms in v. 12 to describe the demise of the wicked as if it has already taken place.

[37:35]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

[37:35]  ¹¹ 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.

[45:10]  ¹² tn Heb “daughter.” The Hebrew noun בת (“daughter”) can sometimes refer to a young woman in a general sense (see H. Haag, TDOT 2:334).

[45:10]  sn Listen, O princess. The poet now addresses the bride.

[45:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “see and turn your ear.” The verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “see”) is used here of mental observation.

[45:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “your people.” This reference to the “people” of the princess suggests she was a foreigner. Perhaps the marriage was arranged as part of a political alliance between Israel (or Judah) and a neighboring state. The translation “your homeland” reflects such a situation.

[45:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and the house of your father.”

[58:7]  ¹⁶ tn Following the imperatival forms in v. 6, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive expressing the psalmist’s wish. Another option is to take the form as an imperfect (indicative) and translate, “they will scatter” (see v. 9). The verb מָאַס (ma’as; which is a homonym of the more common מָאַס, “to refuse, reject”) appears only here and in Job 7:5, where it is used of a festering wound from which fluid runs or flows.

[58:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “like water, they go about for themselves.” The translation assumes that the phrase “they go about for themselves” is an implied relative clause modifying “water.” Another option is to take the clause as independent and parallel to what precedes. In this case the enemies would be the subject and the verb could be taken as jussive, “let them wander about.”

[58:7]  ¹⁸ tc The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult and the meaning uncertain. The text reads literally, “he treads his arrows (following the Qere; Kethib has “his arrow”), like they are cut off/dry up.” It is not clear if the verbal root is מָלַל (malal, “circumcise”; BDB 576 s.v. IV מָלַל) or the homonymic מָלַל (“wither”; HALOT 593-94 s.v. I מלל). Since the verb מָלַל (“to wither”) is used of vegetation, it is possible that the noun חָצִיר (khatsir, “grass,” which is visually similar to חִצָּיו, khitsayv, “his arrows”) originally appeared in the text. The translation above assumes that the text originally was כְּמוֹ חָצִיר יִתְמֹלָלוּ(kÿmo khatsir yitmolalu, “like grass let them wither”). If original, it could have been accidentally corrupted to חִצָּיר כְּמוֹ יִתְמֹלָלוּ (“his arrow(s) like they dry up”) with דָּרַךְ (darakh, “to tread”) being added later in an effort to make sense of “his arrow(s).”

[60:2]  ¹⁹ tn The verb פָּצַם (patsam, “split open”) occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “crack,” and an Aramaic cognate is used in Tg. Jer 22:14 with the meaning “break open, frame.” See BDB 822 s.v. and Jastrow 1205 s.v. פְּצַם.

[60:2]  sn You made the earth quake; you split it open. The psalmist uses the imagery of an earthquake to describe the nation’s defeat.

[60:2]  ²⁰ sn It is ready to fall. The earth is compared to a wall that has been broken by the force of the earthquake (note the preceding line) and is ready to collapse.

[68:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “when you go out before your people.” The Hebrew idiom “go out before” is used here in a militaristic sense of leading troops into battle (see Judg 4:14; 9:39; 2 Sam 5:24).

[68:7]  ²² sn When you march through the desert. Some interpreters think that v. 7 alludes to Israel’s exodus from Egypt and its subsequent travels in the desert. Another option is that v. 7, like v. 8, echoes Judg 5:4, which describes how the God of Sinai marched across the desert regions to do battle with Sisera and his Canaanite army.

[68:31]  ²³ tn This noun, which occurs only here in the OT, apparently means “red cloth” or “bronze articles” (see HALOT 362 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NEB “tribute”). Traditionally the word has been taken to refer to “nobles” (see BDB 365 s.v. חַשְׁמַן; cf. NIV “envoys”). Another option would be to emend the text to הַשְׁמַנִּים (hashmannim, “the robust ones,” i.e., leaders).

[68:31]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Cush.”

[68:31]  ²⁵ tn Heb “causes its hands to run,” which must mean “quickly stretches out its hands” (to present tribute).

[69:35]  ²⁶ tn Heb “they”; the referent (God’s people) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[69:35]  ²⁷ tn Heb “it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix probably refers to “Zion” (see Pss 48:12; 102:14); thus the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[78:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and caused them to drink, like the depths, abundantly.”

[79:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “do not remember against us sins, former.” Some understand “former” as an attributive adjective modifying sins, “former [i.e., chronologically prior] sins” (see BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן). The present translation assumes that ראשׁנים (“former”) here refers to those who lived formerly, that is, the people’s ancestors (see Lam 5:7). The word is used in this way in Lev 26:45; Deut 19:14 and Eccl 1:11.

[79:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.

[79:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “for we are very low.”

[80:6]  ³² tn Heb “you have made us an object of contention to our neighbors.”

[80:8]  ³³ sn The vine is here a metaphor for Israel (see Ezek 17:6-10; Hos 10:1).

[85:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”

[85:9]  ³⁵ tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.

[88:12]  ³⁶ tn Heb “known.”

[88:12]  ³⁷ tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.

[88:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”

[88:12]  sn The rhetorical questions in vv. 10-12 expect the answer, “Of course not!”

[102:6]  ³⁹ tn The Hebrew term קָאַת (qa’at) refers to some type of bird (see Lev 11:18; Deut 14:17) that was typically found near ruins (see Zeph 2:14). Modern translations have frequently rendered this as some type of owl (NIV, REB “desert owl”; NRSV “owl”).

[102:6]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew term כוֹס (khos) refers to a bird (see Lev 11:17; Deut 14:16), probably a type of owl (cf. NIV, REB “owl”; NRSV “little owl”).

[102:6]  ⁴¹ sn By comparing himself to a screech owl among the ruins, the psalmist may be highlighting his loneliness (see v. 7), though he may also be comparing his cries for help to the owl’s screech.

[102:28]  ⁴² tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[102:28]  ⁴³ tn Heb “before you will be established.”

[104:14]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”

[104:14]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).

[104:14]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”

[105:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Or “eternal covenant.”

[105:37]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Lord’s people) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[105:37]  ⁴⁹ tn The word “enriched” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[110:6]  ⁵⁰ tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 6-7 are understood here as descriptive-dramatic or as generalizing, though they could be taken as future.

[110:6]  ⁵¹ tn Or “among.”

[110:6]  ⁵² tn Heb “he fills [with] corpses,” but one expects a double accusative here. The translation assumes an emendation to גְוִיּוֹת גֵאָיוֹת(בִּ) מִלֵּא or מִלֵּא גֵאָיוֹת גְּוִיוֹת (for a similar construction see Ezek 32:5). In the former case גֵאָיוֹת(ge’ayot) has accidentally dropped from the text due to homoioteleuton; in the latter case it has dropped out due to homoioarcton.

[110:6]  ⁵³ tn Heb “he strikes [the verb is מָחַץ (makhats), translated “strikes down” in v. 5] head[s] over a great land.” The Hebrew term רַבָּה (rabbah, “great”) is here used of distance or spatial measurement (see 1 Sam 26:13).

[129:6]  ⁵⁴ tn The Hebrew verb שָׁלַף (shalaf) normally means “to draw [a sword]” or “to pull.” BDB 1025 s.v. suggests the meaning “to shoot up” here, but it is more likely that the verb here means “to pluck; to pull up,” a nuance attested for this word in later Hebrew and Aramaic (see Jastrow 1587 s.v. שָׁלַף).

[141:6]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “they are thrown down by the hands of a cliff, their judges.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult and the meaning uncertain. The perfect verbal form is understood as rhetorical; the psalmist describes the anticipated downfall of the wicked as if it had already occurred. “Their judges” could be taken as the subject of the verb, but this makes little, if any, sense. The translation assumes the judges are the agents and that the wicked, mentioned earlier in the psalm, are the subjects of the verb.

[141:6]  ⁵⁶ tn It is unclear how this statement relates to the preceding sentence. Perhaps the judges are the referent of the pronominal subject (“they”) of the verb “will listen,” and “my words” are the referent of the pronominal subject (“they”) of the phrase “are pleasant.” The psalmist may be affirming here his confidence that he will be vindicated when he presents his case before the judges, while the wicked will be punished.

[142:5]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.