Mazmur 18:49

18:49 So I will give you thanks before the nations, ¹  O Lord!

I will sing praises to you! ² 

Mazmur 19:14

19:14 May my words and my thoughts

be acceptable in your sight, ³ 

O Lord, my sheltering rock ⁴  and my redeemer. ⁵ 

Mazmur 21:8

21:8 You ⁶  prevail over ⁷  all your enemies;

your power is too great for those who hate you. ⁸ 

Mazmur 21:13

21:13 Rise up, O Lord, in strength! ⁹ 

We will sing and praise ¹⁰  your power!

Mazmur 22:5

22:5 To you they cried out, and they were saved;

in you they trusted and they were not disappointed. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 22:21

22:21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lion, ¹² 

and from the horns of the wild oxen! ¹³ 

You have answered me! ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 23:6

23:6 Surely your goodness and faithfulness ¹⁵  will pursue ¹⁶  me all my days, ¹⁷ 

and I will live in ¹⁸  the Lord’s house ¹⁹  for the rest of my life. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 28:3

28:3 Do not drag me away with evil men,

with those who behave wickedly, ²¹ 

who talk so friendly to their neighbors, ²² 

while they plan to harm them! ²³ 

Mazmur 31:16

31:16 Smile ²⁴  on your servant!

Deliver me because of your faithfulness!

Mazmur 36:9

36:9 For you are the one who gives

and sustains life. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 44:17-18

44:17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you ²⁶ 

or violated your covenant with us. ²⁷ 

44:18 We have not been unfaithful, ²⁸ 

nor have we disobeyed your commands. ²⁹ 

Mazmur 45:8

45:8 All your garments are perfumed with ³⁰  myrrh, aloes, and cassia.

From the luxurious palaces ³¹  comes the music of stringed instruments that makes you happy. ³² 

Mazmur 49:18

49:18 He pronounces this blessing on himself while he is alive:

“May men praise you, for you have done well!”

Mazmur 51:17

51:17 The sacrifices God desires are a humble spirit ³³  –

O God, a humble and repentant heart ³⁴  you will not reject. ³⁵ 

Mazmur 55:22

55:22 Throw your burden ³⁶  upon the Lord,

and he will sustain you. ³⁷ 

He will never allow the godly to be upended. ³⁸ 

Mazmur 62:5

62:5 Patiently wait for God alone, my soul! ³⁹ 

For he is the one who gives me confidence. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 69:17

69:17 Do not ignore ⁴¹  your servant,

for I am in trouble! Answer me right away! ⁴² 

Mazmur 69:26

69:26 For they harass ⁴³  the one whom you discipline; ⁴⁴ 

they spread the news about the suffering of those whom you punish. ⁴⁵ 

Mazmur 74:19

74:19 Do not hand the life of your dove ⁴⁶  over to a wild animal!

Do not continue to disregard ⁴⁷  the lives of your oppressed people!

Mazmur 74:23

74:23 Do not disregard ⁴⁸  what your enemies say, ⁴⁹ 

or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you. ⁵⁰ 

Mazmur 76:9

76:9 when God arose to execute judgment,

and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)

Mazmur 77:19

77:19 You walked through the sea; ⁵¹ 

you passed through the surging waters, ⁵² 

but left no footprints. ⁵³ 

Mazmur 79:8

79:8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ⁵⁴ 

Quickly send your compassion our way, ⁵⁵ 

for we are in serious trouble! ⁵⁶ 

Mazmur 80:2

80:2 In the sight of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh reveal ⁵⁷  your power!

Come and deliver us! ⁵⁸ 

Mazmur 80:15

80:15 the root ⁵⁹  your right hand planted,

the shoot you made to grow! ⁶⁰ 

Mazmur 80:18

80:18 Then we will not turn away from you.

Revive us and we will pray to you! ⁶¹ 

Mazmur 81:16

81:16 “I would feed Israel the best wheat, ⁶² 

and would satisfy your appetite ⁶³  with honey from the rocky cliffs.” ⁶⁴ 

Mazmur 83:9

83:9 Do to them as you did to Midian ⁶⁵  –

as you did to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River! ⁶⁶ 

Mazmur 85:4

85:4 Restore us, O God our deliverer!

Do not be displeased with us! ⁶⁷ 

Mazmur 86:2

86:2 Protect me, ⁶⁸  for I am loyal!

O my God, deliver your servant, who trusts in you!

Mazmur 86:12

86:12 O Lord, my God, I will give you thanks with my whole heart!

I will honor your name continually! ⁶⁹ 

Mazmur 88:7

88:7 Your anger bears down on me,

and you overwhelm me with all your waves. (Selah)

Mazmur 89:6

89:6 For who in the skies can compare to the Lord?

Who is like the Lord among the heavenly beings, ⁷⁰ 

Mazmur 90:17

90:17 May our sovereign God extend his favor to us! ⁷¹ 

Make our endeavors successful!

Yes, make them successful! ⁷² 

Mazmur 91:2

91:2 I say this about the Lord, my shelter and my stronghold,

my God in whom I trust –

Mazmur 97:8

97:8 Zion hears and rejoices,

the towns ⁷³  of Judah are happy,

because of your judgments, O Lord.

Mazmur 104:14

104:14 He provides grass ⁷⁴  for the cattle,

and crops for people to cultivate, ⁷⁵ 

so they can produce food from the ground, ⁷⁶ 

Mazmur 106:4

106:4 Remember me, O Lord, when you show favor to your people!

Pay attention to me, when you deliver,

Mazmur 108:1

Psalm 108 ⁷⁷ 

A song, a psalm of David.

108:1 I am determined, ⁷⁸  O God!

I will sing and praise you with my whole heart. ⁷⁹ 

Mazmur 109:21

109:21 O sovereign Lord,

intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation! ⁸⁰ 

Because your loyal love is good, deliver me!

Mazmur 115:1

Psalm 115 ⁸¹ 

115:1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us!

But to your name bring honor, ⁸² 

for the sake of your loyal love and faithfulness. ⁸³ 

Mazmur 119:40

119:40 Look, I long for your precepts.

Revive me with your deliverance! ⁸⁴ 

Mazmur 119:49

ז (Zayin)

119:49 Remember your word to your servant,

for you have given me hope.

Mazmur 119:73

י (Yod)

119:73 Your hands made me and formed me. ⁸⁵ 

Give me understanding so that I might learn ⁸⁶  your commands.

Mazmur 119:119

119:119 You remove all the wicked of the earth like slag. ⁸⁷ 

Therefore I love your rules. ⁸⁸ 

Mazmur 139:17

139:17 How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! ⁸⁹ 

How vast is their sum total! ⁹⁰ 

Mazmur 141:8

141:8 Surely I am looking to you, ⁹¹  O sovereign Lord.

In you I take shelter.

Do not expose me to danger! ⁹² 

[18:49]  ¹ sn I will give you thanks before the nations. This probably alludes to the fact that the psalmist will praise the Lord in the presence of the defeated nations when they, as his subjects, bring their tribute payments. Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness. See J. H. Eaton, Kingship and the Psalms (SBT), 182-85.

[18:49]  ² tn Heb “to your name.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case “Lord,” the primary name of Israel’s covenant God which suggests his active presence with his people (see Exod 3:12-15).

[19:14]  ³ tn Heb “may the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart be acceptable before you.” The prefixed verbal form at the beginning of the verse is understood as a jussive of prayer. Another option is to translate the form as an imperfect continuing the thought of v. 14b: “[Then] the words of my mouth and the thought of my heart will be acceptable before you.”

[19:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

[19:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the one who redeems me.” The metaphor casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis.

[21:8]  ⁶ tn The king is now addressed. One could argue that the Lord is still being addressed, but v. 9 militates against this proposal, for there the Lord is mentioned in the third person and appears to be distinct from the addressee (unless, of course, one takes “Lord” in v. 9 as vocative; see the note on “them” in v. 9b). Verse 7 begins this transition to a new addressee by referring to both the king and the Lord in the third person (in vv. 1-6 the Lord is addressed and only the king referred to in the third person).

[21:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8-12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.

[21:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”

[21:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “in your strength,” but English idiom does not require the pronoun.

[21:13]  sn The psalm concludes with a petition to the Lord, asking him to continue to intervene in strength for the king and nation.

[21:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “sing praise.”

[22:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “were not ashamed.”

[22:21]  ¹² sn The psalmist again compares his enemies to vicious dogs and ferocious lions (see vv. 13, 16).

[22:21]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term רֵמִים (remim) appears to be an alternate spelling of רְאֵמִים (rÿ’emim, “wild oxen”; see BDB 910 s.v. רְאֵם).

[22:21]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and from the horns of the wild oxen you answer me.” Most take the final verb with the preceding prepositional phrase. Some understand the verb form as a relatively rare precative perfect, expressing a wish or request (see IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew. (See the discussion at Ps 3:7.) Others prefer to take the perfect in its usual indicative sense. The psalmist, perhaps in response to an oracle of salvation, affirms confidently that God has answered him, assuring him that deliverance is on the way. The present translation takes the prepositional phrase as parallel to the preceding “from the mouth of the lion” and as collocated with the verb “rescue” at the beginning of the verse. “You have answered me” is understood as a triumphant shout which marks a sudden shift in tone and introduces the next major section of the psalm. By isolating the statement syntactically, the psalmist highlights the declaration.

[23:6]  ¹⁵ tn The noun חֶסֶד (khesed; v. 6) has been the subject of several monographs. G. R. Clark concludes that חֶסֶד “is not merely an attitude or an emotion; it is an emotion that leads to an activity beneficial to the recipient.” He explains that an act of חֶסֶד is “a beneficent action performed, in the context of a deep and enduring commitment between two persons or parties, by one who is able to render assistance to the needy party who in the circumstances is unable to help him- or herself.” (See G. R. Clark, The Word Hesed in the Hebrew Bible [JSOTSup], 267.) HALOT 336-37 s.v. defines the word as “loyalty,” or “faithfulness.” Other appropriate meanings might be “commitment” and “devotion.”

[23:6]  ¹⁶ tn The use of רָדַף (radaf, “pursue, chase”) with טוֹב וָחֶסֶד (tov vakhesed, “goodness and faithfulness”) as subject is ironic. This is the only place in the entire OT where either of these nouns appears as the subject of this verb רָדַף (radaf, “pursue”). This verb is often used to describe the hostile actions of enemies. One might expect the psalmist’s enemies (see v. 5) to chase him, but ironically God’s “goodness and faithfulness” (which are personified and stand by metonymy for God himself) pursue him instead. The word “pursue” is used outside of its normal context in an ironic manner and creates a unique, but pleasant word picture of God’s favor (or a kind God) “chasing down” the one whom he loves.

[23:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “all the days of my life.”

[23:6]  ¹⁸ tn The verb form וְשַׁבְתִּי (vÿshavtiy) is a Qal perfect (with vav [ו] consecutive), first common singular, from שׁוּב (shuv, “return”) and should be translated, “and I will return.” But this makes no sense when construed with the following phrase, “in the house of the Lord.” The term שׁוּב (shuv) appears only here with the following phrase בְּבֵית (bÿvet). The form should be emended to וְשִׁבְתִּי (vÿshivtiy; an infinitive construct from יָשַׁב, yashav, “live”) with pronominal suffix) or to וְיָשַׁבְתִּי (vÿyashavtiy; a Qal perfect with vav [ו] consecutive, first common singular, from ישׁב [see BHS, note c]). In either case one could then translate, “and I will live [in the house of the Lord].” The phrase “in the house” frequently follows the verb יָשַׁב in the OT.

[23:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the house of the Lord.” The phrase may be purely metaphorical here, referring to the royal palace where the royal host of v. 5 holds his banquet and lives. If one takes the phrase more literally, it would refer to the earthly tabernacle (if one accepts Davidic authorship) or the later temple (see Judg 19:18; 1 Sam 1:7, 24; 2 Sam 12:20; 1 Kgs 7:12, 40, 45, 51).

[23:6]  ²⁰ tn The phrase אֹרֶךְ יָמִים (’orekh yamim, “length of days”) is traditionally translated “forever.” However, this phrase, when used elsewhere of people, usually refers to a lengthy period of time, such as one’s lifetime, and does not mean “forever” in the sense of eternity. (Cf. Deut 30:20; Job 12:12; Ps 91:16; Prov 3:2, 16; Lam 5:20.) Furthermore, the parallel phrase “all the days of my life” suggests this more limited meaning. Psalm 21:4, where the phrase is followed by “forever and ever,” may be an exception, though the juxtaposition of the phrases may be an example of intensification, where the second phrase goes beyond the limits of the first, rather than synonymity. Even if one takes both expressions as referring to eternal life, the language is part of the king’s hyperbolic description of the Lord’s blessings and should not be taken literally.

[28:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[28:3]  ²² tn Heb “speakers of peace with their neighbors.”

[28:3]  ²³ tn Heb “and evil [is] in their heart[s].”

[31:16]  ²⁴ tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”

[36:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.” Water (note “fountain”) and light are here metaphors for life.

[44:17]  ²⁶ tn Heb “we have not forgotten you.” To “forget” God refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see v. 20, as well as Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 9:17).Thus the translation “we have not rejected you” has been used.

[44:17]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and we did not deal falsely with your covenant.”

[44:18]  ²⁸ tn Heb “our heart did not turn backward.” Cf. Ps 78:57.

[44:18]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and our steps did [not] turn aside from your path.” The negative particle is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line). God’s “path” refers to his commands, i.e., the moral pathway he has prescribed for the psalmist. See Pss 17:5; 25:4.

[45:8]  ³⁰ tn The words “perfumed with” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[45:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “the palaces of ivory.” The phrase “palaces of ivory” refers to palaces that had ivory panels and furniture decorated with ivory inlays. Such decoration with ivory was characteristic of a high level of luxury. See 1 Kgs 22:39 and Amos 3:15.

[45:8]  ³² tn Heb “from the palaces of ivory stringed instrument[s] make you happy.”

[51:17]  ³³ tn Heb “a broken spirit.”

[51:17]  ³⁴ tn Heb “a broken and crushed heart.”

[51:17]  ³⁵ tn Or “despise.”

[55:22]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[55:22]  ³⁷ tn The pronoun is singular; the psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually.

[55:22]  ³⁸ tn Heb “he will never allow swaying for the righteous.”

[62:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “only for God be silent, my soul.” The wording is similar to that of v. 1a. Here an imperatival form, דּוֹמִּי (dommiy, “be silent”), appears instead of the noun דּוּמִיָּה (dumiyyah, “silence”). The psalmist is encouraging himself to maintain his trust in God.

[62:5]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “for from him [is] my hope.”

[69:17]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “do not hide your face from.” The Hebrew idiom “hide the face” can (1) mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[69:17]  ⁴² tn Or “quickly.”

[69:26]  ⁴³ tn Or “persecute”; Heb “chase.”

[69:26]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “for you, the one whom you strike, they chase.”

[69:26]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “they announce the pain of your wounded ones” (i.e., “the ones whom you wounded,” as the parallel line makes clear).

[69:26]  sn The psalmist is innocent of the false charges made by his enemies (v. 4), but he is also aware of his sinfulness (v. 5) and admits that he experiences divine discipline (v. 26) despite his devotion to God (v. 9). Here he laments that his enemies take advantage of such divine discipline by harassing and slandering him. They “kick him while he’s down,” as the expression goes.

[74:19]  ⁴⁶ sn Your dove. The psalmist compares weak and vulnerable Israel to a helpless dove.

[74:19]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “do not forget forever.”

[74:23]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “forget.”

[74:23]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the voice of your enemies.”

[74:23]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “the roar of those who rise up against you, which ascends continually.”

[77:19]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “in the sea [was] your way.”

[77:19]  ⁵² tn Heb “and your paths [were] in the mighty waters.”

[77:19]  ⁵³ tn Heb “and your footprints were not known.”

[79:8]  ⁵⁴ 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]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.

[79:8]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “for we are very low.”

[80:2]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “stir up”; “arouse.”

[80:2]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “come for our deliverance.”

[80:15]  ⁵⁹ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).

[80:15]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.

[80:18]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “and in your name we will call.”

[81:16]  ⁶² tn Heb “and he fed him from the best of the wheat.” The Hebrew text has a third person form of the preterite with a vav (ו) consecutive attached. However, it is preferable, in light of the use of the first person in v. 14 and in the next line, to emend the verb to a first person form and understand the vav as conjunctive, continuing the apodosis of the conditional sentence of vv. 13-14. The third masculine singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in v. 6.

[81:16]  sn I would feed. After the parenthetical “curse” in v. 15, the Lord’s speech continues here.

[81:16]  ⁶³ tn Heb “you.” The second person singular pronominal suffix refers to Israel, as in vv. 7-10.

[81:16]  ⁶⁴ sn The language in this verse, particularly the references to wheat and honey, is reminiscent of Deut 32:13-14.

[83:9]  ⁶⁵ tn Heb “do to them like Midian.”

[83:9]  ⁶⁶ sn The psalmist alludes here to Gideon’s victory over the Midianites (see Judg 7-8) and to Barak’s victory over Jabin’s army, which was led by his general Sisera (Judg 4-5).

[85:4]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “break your displeasure with us.” Some prefer to emend הָפֵר (hafer, “break”) to הָסֵר (haser, “turn aside”).

[86:2]  ⁶⁸ tn Heb “my life.”

[86:12]  ⁶⁹ tn Or “forever.”

[89:6]  ⁷⁰ tn Heb “sons of gods”; or “sons of God.” Though אֵלִים (’elim) is vocalized as a plural form (“gods”) in the Hebrew text, it is likely that the final mem (ם) is actually enclitic rather than a plural marker. In this case one may read “God.” Some, following a Qumran text and the LXX, also propose the phrase occurred in the original text of Deut 32:8. The phrase בְנֵי אֵלִים (vÿney ’elim, “sons of gods” or “sons of God”) occurs only here and in Ps 29:1. Since the “sons of gods/God” are here associated with “the assembly of the holy ones” and “council of the holy ones,” the heavenly assembly (comprised of so-called “angels” and other supernatural beings) appears to be in view. See Job 5:1; 15:15 and Zech 14:5, where these supernatural beings are referred to as “holy ones.” In Canaanite mythological texts the divine council of the high god El is called “the sons of El.” The OT apparently uses the Canaanite phrase, applying it to the supernatural beings that surround the Lord’s heavenly throne.

[90:17]  ⁷¹ tn Heb “and may the delight of the Master, our God, be on us.” The Hebrew term נֹעַם (no’am, “delight”) is used in Ps 27:4 of the Lord’s “beauty,” but here it seems to refer to his favor (see BDB 653 s.v.) or kindness (HALOT 706 s.v.).

[90:17]  ⁷² tn Heb “and the work of our hands establish over us, and the work of our hands, establish it.”

[97:8]  ⁷³ tn Heb “daughters.” The term “daughters” refers to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 48:11 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).

[104:14]  ⁷⁴ tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”

[104:14]  ⁷⁵ tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).

[104:14]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”

[108:1]  ⁷⁷ sn Psalm 108. With some minor variations, this psalm is a composite of Ps 57:7-11 (see vv. 1-5) and Ps 60:5-12 (see vv. 6-13).

[108:1]  ⁷⁸ tn Or perhaps “confident”; Heb “my heart is steadfast.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and/or emotions.

[108:1]  ⁷⁹ tn Heb “also my glory,” but this makes little sense in the context. Some view the term כָּבוֹד (“glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvodiy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 30:12; 57:9; as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 3:93. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”

[109:21]  ⁸⁰ tn Heb “but you, Lord, Master, do with me for the sake of your name.” Here “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[115:1]  ⁸¹ sn Psalm 115. The psalmist affirms that Israel’s God is superior to pagan idols and urges Israel to place their confidence in him.

[115:1]  ⁸² tn Or “give glory.”

[115:1]  ⁸³ sn The psalmist asks the Lord to demonstrate his loyal love and faithfulness, not simply so Israel may benefit, but primarily so that the Lord will receive honor among the nations, who will recognize, contrary to their present view (see v. 2), that Israel’s God is committed to his people.

[119:40]  ⁸⁴ tn Or “righteousness.”

[119:73]  ⁸⁵ tn Heb “made me and established me.” The two verbs also appear together in Deut 32:6, where God, compared to a father, is said to have “made and established” Israel.

[119:73]  ⁸⁶ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:119]  ⁸⁷ sn Traditionally “dross” (so KJV, ASV, NIV). The metaphor comes from metallurgy; “slag” is the substance left over after the metallic ore has been refined.

[119:119]  ⁸⁸ sn As he explains in the next verse, the psalmist’s fear of judgment motivates him to obey God’s rules.

[139:17]  ⁸⁹ tn Heb “and to me how precious are your thoughts, O God.” The Hebrew verb יָקַר (yaqar) probably has the sense of “difficult [to comprehend]” here (see HALOT 432 s.v. יקר qal.1 and note the use of Aramaic יַקִּר in Dan 2:11). Elsewhere in the immediate context the psalmist expresses his amazement at the extent of God’s knowledge about him (see vv. 1-6, 17b-18).

[139:17]  ⁹⁰ tn Heb “how vast are their heads.” Here the Hebrew word “head” is used of the “sum total” of God’s knowledge of the psalmist.

[141:8]  ⁹¹ tn Heb “my eyes [are] toward you.”

[141:8]  ⁹² tn Heb “do not lay bare my life.” Only here is the Piel form of the verb collocated with the term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “life”). In Isa 53:12 the Lord’s servant “lays bare (the Hiphil form of the verb is used) his life to death.”