Mazmur 18:39

18:39 You give me strength ¹  for battle;

you make my foes kneel before me. ² 

Mazmur 66:6

66:6 He turned the sea into dry land; ³ 

they passed through the river on foot. ⁴ 

Let us rejoice in him there! ⁵ 

Mazmur 71:6

71:6 I have leaned on you since birth; ⁶ 

you pulled me ⁷  from my mother’s womb.

I praise you continually. ⁸ 

Mazmur 71:17

71:17 O God, you have taught me since I was young,

and I am still declaring ⁹  your amazing deeds.

Mazmur 99:7

99:7 He spoke to them from a pillar of cloud; ¹⁰ 

they obeyed his regulations and the ordinance he gave them.

Mazmur 102:19

102:19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above; ¹¹ 

from heaven the Lord will look toward earth, ¹² 

Mazmur 116:8

116:8 Yes, ¹³  Lord, ¹⁴  you rescued my life from death,

and kept my feet from stumbling.

Mazmur 143:3

143:3 Certainly ¹⁵  my enemies ¹⁶  chase me.

They smash me into the ground. ¹⁷ 

They force me to live ¹⁸  in dark regions, ¹⁹ 

like those who have been dead for ages.

[18:39]  ¹ tn Heb “clothed me.” See v. 32.

[18:39]  ² tn Heb “you make those who rise against me kneel beneath me.”

[18:39]  sn My foes kneel before me. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 268.

[66:6]  ³ sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).

[66:6]  ⁴ tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. NEB).

[66:6]  ⁵ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[71:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[71:6]  ⁷ tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).

[71:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”

[71:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “and until now I am declaring.”

[99:7]  ¹⁰ sn A pillar of cloud. The psalmist refers to the reality described in Exod 33:9-10; Num 12:5; and Deut 31:15.

[102:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”

[102:19]  ¹² tn The perfect verbal forms in v. 19 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 18.

[116:8]  ¹³ tn Or “for.”

[116:8]  ¹⁴ tn “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.

[143:3]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

[143:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “an enemy.” The singular is used in a representative sense to describe a typical member of the larger group of enemies (note the plural “enemies” in vv. 9, 12).

[143:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he crushes on the ground my life.”

[143:3]  ¹⁸ tn Or “sit.”

[143:3]  ¹⁹ sn Dark regions refers to Sheol, which the psalmist views as a dark place located deep in the ground (see Ps 88:6).