Mazmur 9:3

9:3 When my enemies turn back,

they trip and are defeated ¹  before you.

Mazmur 68:13

68:13 When ²  you lie down among the sheepfolds, ³ 

the wings of the dove are covered with silver

and with glittering gold. ⁴ 

Mazmur 31:15

31:15 You determine my destiny! ⁵ 

Rescue me from the power of my enemies and those who chase me.

Mazmur 68:10

68:10 for you live among them. ⁶ 

You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.

Mazmur 77:6

77:6 I said, “During the night I will remember the song I once sang;

I will think very carefully.”

I tried to make sense of what was happening. ⁷ 

Mazmur 12:4

12:4 They say, ⁸  “We speak persuasively; ⁹ 

we know how to flatter and boast. ¹⁰ 

Who is our master?” ¹¹ 

Mazmur 20:1

Psalm 20 ¹² 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

20:1 May the Lord answer ¹³  you ¹⁴  when you are in trouble; ¹⁵ 

may the God of Jacob ¹⁶  make you secure!

Mazmur 41:1

Psalm 41 ¹⁷ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

41:1 How blessed ¹⁸  is the one who treats the poor properly! ¹⁹ 

When trouble comes, ²⁰  the Lord delivers him. ²¹ 

[9:3]  ¹ tn Or “perish”; or “die.” The imperfect verbal forms in this line either emphasize what typically happens or describe vividly the aftermath of a recent battle in which the Lord defeated the psalmist’s enemies.

[68:13]  ² tn Or “if.”

[68:13]  ³ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word translated “sheepfolds” is uncertain. There may be an echo of Judg 5:16 here.

[68:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “and her pinions with the yellow of gold.”

[68:13]  sn The point of the imagery of v. 13 is not certain, though the reference to silver and gold appears to be positive. Both would be part of the loot carried away from battle (see v. 12b).

[31:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “in your hand [are] my times.”

[68:10]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear; it appears to read, “your animals, they live in it,” but this makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some suggest that חָיָּה (khayah) is a rare homonym here, meaning “community” (BDB 312 s.v.) or “dwelling place” (HALOT 310 s.v. III *הַיָּה). In this case one may take “your community/dwelling place” as appositional to the third feminine singular pronominal suffix at the end of v. 9, the antecedent of which is “your inheritance.” The phrase יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ (yashvu-vah, “they live in it”) may then be understood as an asyndetic relative clause modifying “your community/dwelling place.” A literal translation of vv. 9b-10a would be, “when it [your inheritance] is tired, you sustain it, your community/dwelling place in [which] they live.”

[77:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will remember my song in the night, with my heart I will reflect. And my spirit searched.” As in v. 4, the words of v. 6a are understood as what the psalmist said earlier. Consequently the words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification (see v. 10). The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive at the beginning of the final line is taken as sequential to the perfect “I thought” in v. 6.

[12:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “which say.” The plural verb after the relative pronoun indicates a plural antecedent for the pronoun, probably “lips” in v. 3.

[12:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “to our tongue we make strong.” The Hiphil of גָבַר (gavar) occurs only here and in Dan 9:27, where it refers to making strong, or confirming, a covenant. Here in Ps 12 the evildoers “make their tongue strong” in the sense that they use their tongue to produce flattering and arrogant words to accomplish their purposes. The preposition -לְ (l) prefixed to “our tongue” may be dittographic.

[12:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “our lips [are] with us.” This odd expression probably means, “our lips are in our power,” in the sense that they say what they want, whether it be flattery or boasting. For other cases where אֵת (’et, “with”) has the sense “in the power of,” see Ps 38:10 and other texts listed by BDB 86 s.v. 3.a.

[12:4]  ¹¹ sn The rhetorical question expresses the arrogant attitude of these people. As far as they are concerned, they are answerable to no one for how they speak.

[20:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 20. The people pray for the king’s success in battle. When the king declares his assurance that the Lord will answer the people’s prayer, they affirm their confidence in God’s enablement.

[20:1]  ¹³ tn The prefixed verbal forms here and in vv. 1b-5 are interpreted as jussives of prayer (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). Another option is to understand them as imperfects, “the Lord will answer,” etc. In this case the people declare their confidence that the Lord will intervene on behalf of the king and extend to him his favor.

[20:1]  ¹⁴ sn May the Lord answer you. The people address the king as they pray to the Lord.

[20:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “in a day of trouble.”

[20:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “the name of the God of Jacob.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his very person and to the divine characteristics suggested by his name, in this case “God of Jacob,” which highlights his relationship to Israel.

[41:1]  ¹⁷ sn Psalm 41. The psalmist is confident (vv. 11-12) that the Lord has heard his request to be healed (vv. 4-10), and he anticipates the joy he will experience when the Lord intervenes (vv. 1-3). One must assume that the psalmist is responding to a divine oracle of assurance (see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 319-20). The final verse is a fitting conclusion to this psalm, but it is also serves as a fitting conclusion to the first “book” (or major editorial division) of the Psalter. Similar statements appear at or near the end of each of the second, third, and fourth “books” of the Psalter (see Pss 72:19, 89:52, and 106:48 respectively).

[41:1]  ¹⁸ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15).

[41:1]  ¹⁹ sn One who treats the poor properly. The psalmist is characterizing himself as such an individual and supplying a reason why God has responded favorably to his prayer. The Lord’s attitude toward the merciful mirrors their treatment of the poor.

[41:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “in the day of trouble” (see Ps 27:5).

[41:1]  ²¹ tn That is, the one who has been kind to the poor. The prefixed verbal form could be taken as jussive of prayer (“may the Lord deliver,” see v. 2), but the preceding parallel line is a declaration of fact, not a prayer per se. The imperfect can be taken here as future (“will deliver,” cf. NEB, NASB) or as generalizing (“delivers,” cf. NIV, NRSV). The parallel line, which has a generalizing tone, favors the latter. At the same time, though the psalmist uses a generalizing style here, he clearly has himself primarily in view.