Mazmur 6:2

6:2 Have mercy on me, ¹  Lord, for I am frail!

Heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking! ² 

Mazmur 7:14

7:14 See the one who is pregnant with wickedness,

who conceives destructive plans,

and gives birth to harmful lies – ³ 

Mazmur 9:17

9:17 The wicked are turned back and sent to Sheol; ⁴ 

this is the destiny of ⁵  all the nations that ignore ⁶  God,

Mazmur 18:18

18:18 They confronted ⁷  me in my day of calamity,

but the Lord helped me. ⁸ 

Mazmur 30:8

30:8 To you, O Lord, I cried out;

I begged the Lord for mercy: ⁹ 

Mazmur 31:12

31:12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about; ¹⁰ 

I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 34:3

34:3 Magnify the Lord with me!

Let’s praise ¹²  his name together!

Mazmur 34:19

34:19 The godly ¹³  face many dangers, ¹⁴ 

but the Lord saves ¹⁵  them ¹⁶  from each one of them.

Mazmur 36:2

36:2 for he is too proud

to recognize and give up his sin. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 38:10

38:10 My heart beats quickly;

my strength leaves me;

I can hardly see. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 41:5

41:5 My enemies ask this cruel question about me, ¹⁹ 

‘When will he finally die and be forgotten?’ ²⁰ 

Mazmur 47:6

47:6 Sing to God! Sing!

Sing to our king! Sing!

Mazmur 48:13

48:13 Consider its defenses! ²¹ 

Walk through ²²  its fortresses,

so you can tell the next generation about it! ²³ 

Mazmur 54:7

54:7 Surely ²⁴  he rescues me from all trouble, ²⁵ 

and I triumph over my enemies. ²⁶ 

Mazmur 58:6

58:6 O God, break the teeth in their mouths!

Smash the jawbones of the lions, O Lord!

Mazmur 61:6

61:6 Give the king long life!

Make his lifetime span several generations! ²⁷ 

Mazmur 64:7

64:7 But God will shoot ²⁸  at them;

suddenly they will be ²⁹  wounded by an arrow. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 65:3

65:3 Our record of sins overwhelms me, ³¹ 

but you forgive ³²  our acts of rebellion.

Mazmur 65:6

65:6 You created the mountains by your power, ³³ 

and demonstrated your strength. ³⁴ 

Mazmur 68:23

68:23 so that your feet may stomp ³⁵  in their blood,

and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.” ³⁶ 

Mazmur 69:3

69:3 I am exhausted from shouting for help;

my throat is sore; ³⁷ 

my eyes grow tired of looking for my God. ³⁸ 

Mazmur 69:5

69:5 O God, you are aware of my foolish sins; ³⁹ 

my guilt is not hidden from you. ⁴⁰ 

Mazmur 69:8

69:8 My own brothers treat me like a stranger;

they act as if I were a foreigner. ⁴¹ 

Mazmur 75:3

75:3 When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear, ⁴² 

I make its pillars secure.” ⁴³  (Selah)

Mazmur 77:12

77:12 I will think about all you have done;

I will reflect upon your deeds!”

Mazmur 80:10

80:10 The mountains were covered by its shadow,

the highest cedars ⁴⁴  by its branches.

Mazmur 83:8

83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,

lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. ⁴⁵  (Selah)

Mazmur 102:8

102:8 All day long my enemies taunt me;

those who mock me use my name in their curses. ⁴⁶ 

Mazmur 102:25

102:25 In earlier times you established the earth;

the skies are your handiwork.

[6:2]  ¹ tn Or “show me favor.”

[6:2]  ² tn Normally the verb בָּהַל (bahal) refers to an emotional response and means “tremble with fear, be terrified” (see vv. 3, 10). Perhaps here the “bones” are viewed as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. However, the verb may describe one of the effects of his physical ailment, perhaps a fever. In Ezek 7:27 the verb describes how the hands of the people will shake with fear when they experience the horrors of divine judgment.

[7:14]  ³ tn Heb “and he conceives harm and gives birth to a lie.”

[7:14]  sn Pregnant with wickedness…gives birth to harmful lies. The psalmist metaphorically pictures the typical sinner as a pregnant woman, who is ready to give birth to wicked, destructive schemes and actions.

[9:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “the wicked turn back to Sheol.” The imperfect verbal form either emphasizes what typically happens or describes vividly the aftermath of the Lord’s victory over the psalmist’s enemies. See v. 3.

[9:17]  ⁵ tn The words “this is the destiny of” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The verb “are turned back” is understood by ellipsis (see the preceding line).

[9:17]  ⁶ tn Heb “forget.” “Forgetting God” refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see also Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 44:20). The nations’ refusal to acknowledge God’s sovereignty accounts for their brazen attempt to attack and destroy his people.

[18:18]  ⁷ tn The same verb is translated “trapped” in v. 5. In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not imperfect.

[18:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “became my support.”

[30:8]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 8 are probably preterites; the psalmist recalls that he prayed in his time of crisis.

[31:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.

[31:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.

[34:3]  ¹² tn Or “exalt.”

[34:19]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular form; the representative or typical godly person is envisioned.

[34:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “trials.”

[34:19]  ¹⁵ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the godly.

[34:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “him,” agreeing with the singular form in the preceding line.

[36:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for it causes to be smooth to him in his eyes to find his sin to hate.” The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear. Perhaps the point is this: His rebellious attitude makes him reject any notion that God will hold him accountable. His attitude also prevents him from recognizing and repudiating his sinful ways.

[38:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and the light of my eyes, even they, there is not with me.” The “light of the eyes” may refer to physical energy (see 1 Sam 14:27, 29), life itself (Ps 13:3), or the ability to see (Prov 29:23).

[41:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “my enemies speak evil concerning me.”

[41:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and his name perish.”

[48:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “set your heart to its rampart.”

[48:13]  ²² tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word translated “walk through,” which occurs only here in the OT, is uncertain. Cf. NEB “pass…in review”; NIV “view.”

[48:13]  ²³ sn The city’s towers, defenses, and fortresses are outward reminders and tangible symbols of the divine protection the city enjoys.

[54:7]  ²⁴ tn Or “for,” indicating a more specific reason why he will praise the Lord’s name (cf. v. 6).

[54:7]  ²⁵ tn The perfects in v. 7 are probably rhetorical, indicating the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance and his own vindication as if they were occurring or had already occurred.

[54:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and on my enemies my eyes look.”

[61:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “days upon days of the king add, his years like generation and generation.”

[61:6]  sn It is not certain if the (royal) psalmist is referring to himself in the third person in this verse, or if an exile is praying on behalf of the king.

[64:7]  ²⁸ tn The prefixed verb with vav (ו) consecutive is normally used in narrative contexts to describe completed past actions. It is possible that the conclusion to the psalm (vv. 7-10) was added to the lament after God’s judgment of the wicked in response to the psalmist’s lament (vv. 1-6). The translation assumes that these verses are anticipatory and express the psalmist’s confidence that God would eventually judge the wicked. The psalmist uses a narrative style as a rhetorical device to emphasize his certitude. See GKC 329-30 §111.w.

[64:7]  ²⁹ tn The perfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s certitude about the coming demise of the wicked.

[64:7]  ³⁰ tn The translation follows the traditional accentuation of the MT. Another option is to translate, “But God will shoot them down with an arrow, suddenly they will be wounded” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[65:3]  ³¹ tn Heb “the records of sins are too strong for me.”

[65:3]  ³² tn Or “make atonement for.”

[65:6]  ³³ tn Heb “[the] one who establishes [the] mountains by his power.”

[65:6]  ³⁴ tn Heb “one [who] is girded with strength”; or “one [who] girds himself with strength.”

[68:23]  ³⁵ tc Some (e.g. NRSV) prefer to emend מָחַץ (makhats, “smash; stomp”; see v. 21) to רָחַץ (rakhats, “bathe”; see Ps 58:10).

[68:23]  ³⁶ tn Heb “[and] the tongue of your dogs from [the] enemies [may eat] its portion.”

[69:3]  ³⁷ tn Or perhaps “raw”; Heb “burned; enflamed.”

[69:3]  ³⁸ tn Heb “my eyes fail from waiting for my God.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision.

[69:5]  ³⁹ tn Heb “you know my foolishness.”

[69:5]  ⁴⁰ sn The psalmist is the first to admit that he is not perfect. But even so, he is innocent of the allegations which his enemies bring against him (v. 5b). God, who is aware of his foolish sins and guilt, can testify to the truth of his claim.

[69:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and I am estranged to my brothers, and a foreigner to the sons of my mother.”

[75:3]  ⁴² tn Heb “melt.”

[75:3]  ⁴³ tn The statement is understood in a generalizing sense; God typically prevents the world from being overrun by chaos. One could take this as referring to an anticipated event, “I will make its pillars secure.”

[80:10]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “cedars of God.” The divine name אֵל (’al, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

[83:8]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.

[83:8]  sn The descendants of Lot were the Moabites and Ammonites.

[102:8]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “by me they swear.” When the psalmist’s enemies call judgment down on others, they hold the psalmist up as a prime example of what they desire their enemies to become.