Mazmur 5:8

5:8 Lord, lead me in your righteousness ¹ 

because of those who wait to ambush me, ² 

remove the obstacles in the way in which you are guiding me! ³ 

Mazmur 27:11

27:11 Teach me how you want me to live; ⁴ 

lead me along a level path ⁵  because of those who wait to ambush me! ⁶ 

Mazmur 37:20

37:20 But ⁷  evil men will die;

the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated ⁸  –

they will go up in smoke. ⁹ 

Mazmur 38:19

38:19 But those who are my enemies for no reason are numerous; ¹⁰ 

those who hate me without cause outnumber me. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 41:11

41:11 By this ¹²  I know that you are pleased with me,

for my enemy does ¹³  not triumph ¹⁴  over me.

Mazmur 56:9

56:9 My enemies will turn back when I cry out to you for help; ¹⁵ 

I know that God is on my side. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 127:5

127:5 How blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!

They will not be put to shame ¹⁷  when they confront ¹⁸  enemies at the city gate.

Mazmur 143:3

143:3 Certainly ¹⁹  my enemies ²⁰  chase me.

They smash me into the ground. ²¹ 

They force me to live ²²  in dark regions, ²³ 

like those who have been dead for ages.

[5:8]  ¹ tn God’s providential leading is in view. His צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) includes here the deliverance that originates in his righteousness; he protects and vindicates the one whose cause is just. For other examples of this use of the word, see BDB 842 s.v.

[5:8]  ² tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 27:11; 56:2.

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “make level before me your way.” The imperative “make level” is Hiphil in the Kethib (consonantal text); Piel in the Qere (marginal reading). God’s “way” is here the way in which he leads the psalmist providentially (see the preceding line, where the psalmist asks the Lord to lead him).

[27:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “teach me your way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the moral principles which he expects the psalmist to follow. See Ps 25:4.

[27:11]  ⁵ sn The level path refers to God’s moral principles (see the parallel line), which, if followed, will keep the psalmist blameless before his accusers (see v. 12).

[27:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 54:5; 56:2.

[37:20]  ⁷ tn Or “for,” but Hebrew כי in this case would have to extend all the way back to v. 17a. Another option is to understand the particle as asseverative, “surely” (see v. 22).

[37:20]  ⁸ tc The meaning of the MT (כִּיקַר כָּרִים [kiqar karim], “like what is precious among the pastures/rams”) is uncertain. One possibility is to take the noun כָּרִים as “pastures” and interpret “what is precious” as referring to flowers that blossom but then quickly disappear (see v. 2 and BDB 430 s.v. יָקָר 3). If כָּרִים is taken as “rams,” then “what is precious” might refer to the choicest portions of rams. The present translation follows a reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpPs37), כיקוד כורם (“like the burning of an oven”). The next line, which pictures the Lord’s enemies being consumed in smoke, supports this reading, which assumes confusion of the Hebrew letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) at the end of the first word in the sequence.

[37:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “they perish in smoke, they perish.” In addition to repeating the verb for emphasis, the psalmist uses the perfect form of the verb to picture the enemies’ demise as if it had already taken place. In this way he draws attention to the certitude of their judgment.

[38:19]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and my enemies, life, are many.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “life”) fits very awkwardly here. The translation assumes an emendation to חִנָּם (khinam, “without reason”; note the parallelism with שֶׁקֶר [sheqer, “falsely”] and see Pss 35:19; 69:4; Lam 3:52). The verb עָצַם (’atsam) can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority (note the parallel verb רָבַב, ravav, “be many”).

[38:19]  ¹¹ tn Heb “are many.”

[41:11]  ¹² sn By this. Having recalled his former lament and petition, the psalmist returns to the confident mood of vv. 1-3. The basis for his confidence may be a divine oracle of deliverance, assuring him that God would intervene and vindicate him. The demonstrative pronoun “this” may refer to such an oracle, which is assumed here, though its contents are not included. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 319, 321.

[41:11]  ¹³ tn Or “will.” One may translate the imperfect verbal form as descriptive (present, cf. NIV) or as anticipatory (future, cf. NEB).

[41:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “shout.”

[56:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “then my enemies will turn back in the day I cry out.” The Hebrew particle אָז (’az, “then”) is probably used here to draw attention to the following statement.

[56:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “this I know, that God is for me.”

[127:5]  ¹⁷ tn Being “put to shame” is here metonymic for being defeated, probably in a legal context, as the reference to the city gate suggests. One could be humiliated (Ps 69:12) or deprived of justice (Amos 5:12) at the gate, but with strong sons to defend the family interests this was less likely to happen.

[127:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “speak with.”

[143:3]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for.”

[143:3]  ²⁰ 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]  ²¹ tn Heb “he crushes on the ground my life.”

[143:3]  ²² tn Or “sit.”

[143:3]  ²³ sn Dark regions refers to Sheol, which the psalmist views as a dark place located deep in the ground (see Ps 88:6).