Mazmur 9:15

9:15 The nations fell ¹  into the pit they had made;

their feet were caught in the net they had hidden. ² 

Mazmur 35:7-8

35:7 I did not harm them, but they hid a net to catch me

and dug a pit to trap me. ³ 

35:8 Let destruction take them by surprise! ⁴ 

Let the net they hid catch them!

Let them fall into destruction! ⁵ 

Mazmur 57:6

57:6 They have prepared a net to trap me; ⁶ 

I am discouraged. ⁷ 

They have dug a pit for me. ⁸ 

They will fall ⁹  into it! (Selah)

[9:15]  ¹ tn Heb “sank down.”

[9:15]  ² sn The hostility of the nations against God’s people is their downfall, for it prompts God to intervene and destroy them. See also Ps 7:15-16.

[35:7]  ³ tc Heb “for without cause they hid for me a pit of their net, without cause they dug for my life.” It appears that the words “pit” and “net” have been transposed. “Net” goes with the verb “hid” in the first line (see v. 8, as well as Pss 9:15; 31:4), while “pit” goes with the verb “dug” in the second line (see Ps 7:15).

[35:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “let destruction [which] he does not know come to him.” The singular is used of the enemy in v. 8, probably in a representative or collective sense. The psalmist has more than one enemy, as vv. 1-7 make clear.

[35:8]  ⁵ tn The psalmist’s prayer for his enemies’ demise continues. See vv. 4-6.

[57:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “for my feet.”

[57:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “my life bends low.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[57:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “before me.”

[57:6]  ⁹ tn The perfect form is used rhetorically here to express the psalmist’s certitude. The demise of the enemies is so certain that he can speak of it as already accomplished.