Mazmur 7:2

7:2 Otherwise they will rip ¹  me ²  to shreds like a lion;

they will tear me to bits and no one will be able to rescue me. ³ 

Mazmur 19:14

19:14 May my words and my thoughts

be acceptable in your sight, ⁴ 

O Lord, my sheltering rock ⁵  and my redeemer. ⁶ 

Mazmur 27:12

27:12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, ⁷ 

for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. ⁸ 

Mazmur 31:16

31:16 Smile ⁹  on your servant!

Deliver me because of your faithfulness!

Mazmur 35:25

35:25 Do not let them say to themselves, ¹⁰  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ¹¹ 

Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

Mazmur 38:16

38:16 I have prayed for deliverance, because otherwise they will gloat over me; ¹² 

when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me. ¹³ 

Mazmur 40:11

40:11 O Lord, you do not withhold ¹⁴  your compassion from me.

May your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me! ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 57:5

57:5 Rise up ¹⁶  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 59:10

59:10 The God who loves me will help me; ¹⁸ 

God will enable me to triumph over ¹⁹  my enemies. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 69:15

69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me!

Don’t let the deep swallow me up!

Don’t let the pit ²¹  devour me! ²² 

Mazmur 69:32

69:32 The oppressed look on – let them rejoice!

You who seek God, ²³  may you be encouraged! ²⁴ 

Mazmur 72:19

72:19 His glorious name deserves praise ²⁵  forevermore!

May his majestic splendor ²⁶  fill the whole earth!

We agree! We agree! ²⁷ 

Mazmur 90:17

90:17 May our sovereign God extend his favor to us! ²⁸ 

Make our endeavors successful!

Yes, make them successful! ²⁹ 

Mazmur 97:7

97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,

those who boast about worthless idols.

All the gods bow down before him. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 101:5

101:5 I will destroy anyone who slanders his neighbor in secret.

I will not tolerate anyone who has a cocky demeanor and an arrogant attitude. ³¹ 

Mazmur 107:8

107:8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people! ³² 

Mazmur 107:15

107:15 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people! ³³ 

Mazmur 107:21

107:21 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people! ³⁴ 

Mazmur 107:31

107:31 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his loyal love,

and for the amazing things he has done for people! ³⁵ 

Mazmur 108:5

108:5 Rise up ³⁶  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ³⁷ 

Mazmur 109:12

109:12 May no one show him kindness! ³⁸ 

May no one have compassion ³⁹  on his fatherless children!

Mazmur 109:18

109:18 He made cursing a way of life, ⁴⁰ 

so curses poured into his stomach like water

and seeped into his bones like oil. ⁴¹ 

Mazmur 119:116

119:116 Sustain me as you promised, ⁴²  so that I will live. ⁴³ 

Do not disappoint me! ⁴⁴ 

Mazmur 125:5

125:5 As for those who are bent on traveling a sinful path, ⁴⁵ 

may the Lord remove them, ⁴⁶  along with those who behave wickedly! ⁴⁷ 

May Israel experience peace! ⁴⁸ 

Mazmur 140:6

140:6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”

O Lord, pay attention to my plea for mercy!

Mazmur 141:8

141:8 Surely I am looking to you, ⁴⁹  O sovereign Lord.

In you I take shelter.

Do not expose me to danger! ⁵⁰ 

Mazmur 149:4

149:4 For the Lord takes delight in his people;

he exalts the oppressed by delivering them. ⁵¹ 

[7:2]  ¹ tn The verb is singular in the Hebrew text, even though “all who chase me” in v. 1 refers to a whole group of enemies. The singular is also used in vv. 4-5, but the psalmist returns to the plural in v. 6. The singular is probably collective, emphasizing the united front that the psalmist’s enemies present. This same alternation between a collective singular and a plural referring to enemies appears in Pss 9:3, 6; 13:4; 31:4, 8; 41:6, 10-11; 42:9-10; 55:3; 64:1-2; 74:3-4; 89:22-23; 106:10-11; 143:3, 6, 9.

[7:2]  ² tn Heb “my life.” The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.

[7:2]  ³ tn Heb “tearing and there is no one rescuing.” The verbal form translated “tearing” is a singular active participle.

[19:14]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn Heb “my rocky cliff,” which is a metaphor for protection; thus the translation “sheltering rock.”

[19:14]  ⁶ 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.

[27:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”

[27:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.

[31:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”

[35:25]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in their heart[s].”

[35:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Aha! Our desire!” The “desire” of the psalmist’s enemies is to triumph over him.

[38:16]  ¹² tn Heb “For I said, ‘Lest they rejoice over me.’” The psalmist recalls the motivating argument of his petition. He probably prefaced this statement with a prayer for deliverance (see Pss 7:1-2; 13:3-4; 28:1).

[38:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “they will magnify against me.” See Pss 35:26; 55:13.

[40:11]  ¹⁴ tn Some (cf. NIV, NRSV) translate the verb as a request (“do not withhold”), but elsewhere in the psalms the second masculine singular prefixed form, when addressed to God and preceded by לֹא (lo’), is always indicative in mood and never has the force of a prayer (see Pss 16:10; 22:2; 44:9 51:16-17; 60:10; 108:11; cf. NEB, NASB).

[40:11]  ¹⁵ tn In this line the psalmist makes the transition from confidence to petition (see v. 13). Since the prefixed verbal form in the preceding line is imperfect/indicative, one could take the verb in this line as imperfect as well and translate, “your loyal love and faithfulness continually protect me” (cf. NEB). However, the כִּי (ki) at the beginning of the next verse, if causal (“because”), is best understood as introducing a motivating argument in support of a petition. For this reason v. 11b is best taken as a prayer with the prefixed form being understood as jussive (cf. NIV, NRSV). For parallels to the proposed construction (jussive followed by כִּי + perfect introducing motivating argument), see Ps 25:21, as well as Pss 10:2-3; 22:8.

[57:5]  ¹⁶ tn Or “be exalted.”

[57:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)

[59:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the God of my [Qere (marginal reading); the Kethib (consonantal text) has “his”] loyal love will meet me.”

[59:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “will cause me to look upon.”

[59:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 56:2.

[69:15]  ²¹ tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).

[69:15]  ²² tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”

[69:32]  ²³ sn You who seek God refers to those who seek to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him (see Ps 53:2).

[69:32]  ²⁴ tn Heb “may your heart[s] live.” See Ps 22:26.

[72:19]  ²⁵ tn Heb “[be] blessed.”

[72:19]  ²⁶ tn Or “glory.”

[72:19]  ²⁷ tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “Amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response of agreement to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God.

[90:17]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and the work of our hands establish over us, and the work of our hands, establish it.”

[97:7]  ³⁰ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the Lord’s mighty theophany on those who witness it (see vv. 5, 8). Another option is to take the prefixed form in the first line as a jussive (“let all who worship idols be ashamed”) and the ambiguous form in the third line as an imperative (“All you gods, bow down before him!”; cf. NIV).

[101:5]  ³¹ tn Heb “[one who has] pride of eyes and wideness [i.e., arrogance] of heart, him I will not endure.”

[107:8]  ³² tn Heb “and [for] his amazing deeds for the sons of man.”

[107:15]  ³³ tn Heb “and [for] his amazing deeds for the sons of man.” See v. 8.

[107:21]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and [for] his amazing deeds for the sons of man.” See v. 8.

[107:31]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and [for] his amazing deeds for the sons of man.” See v. 8.

[108:5]  ³⁶ tn Or “be exalted.”

[108:5]  ³⁷ tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)

[109:12]  ³⁸ tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”

[109:12]  ³⁹ tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).

[109:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”

[109:18]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”

[119:116]  ⁴² tn Heb “according to your word.”

[119:116]  ⁴³ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the preceding imperative.

[119:116]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “do not make me ashamed of my hope.” After the Hebrew verb בּוֹשׁ (bosh, “to be ashamed”) the preposition מִן (min, “from”) often introduces the reason for shame.

[125:5]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “and the ones making their paths twisted.” A sinful lifestyle is compared to a twisting, winding road.

[125:5]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “lead them away.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer here (note the prayers directly before and after this). Another option is to translate, “the Lord will remove them” (cf. NIV, NRSV).

[125:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “the workers of wickedness.”

[125:5]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “peace [be] upon Israel.” The statement is understood as a prayer (see Ps 122:8 for a similar prayer for peace).

[141:8]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “my eyes [are] toward you.”

[141:8]  ⁵⁰ 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.”

[149:4]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “he honors the oppressed [with] deliverance.”