Mazmur 1:5

1:5 For this reason ¹  the wicked cannot withstand ²  judgment, ³ 

nor can sinners join the assembly of the godly. ⁴ 

Mazmur 7:6

7:6 Stand up angrily, ⁵  Lord!

Rise up with raging fury against my enemies! ⁶ 

Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! ⁷ 

Mazmur 9:4

9:4 For you defended my just cause; ⁸ 

from your throne you pronounced a just decision. ⁹ 

Mazmur 9:16

9:16 The Lord revealed himself;

he accomplished justice;

the wicked were ensnared by their own actions. ¹⁰  (Higgaion. ¹¹  Selah)

Mazmur 10:5

10:5 He is secure at all times. ¹² 

He has no regard for your commands; ¹³ 

he disdains all his enemies. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 18:22

18:22 For I am aware of all his regulations, ¹⁵ 

and I do not reject his rules. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 19:9

19:9 The commands to fear the Lord are right ¹⁷ 

and endure forever. ¹⁸ 

The judgments given by the Lord are trustworthy

and absolutely just. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 36:6

36:6 Your justice is like the highest mountains, ²⁰ 

your fairness like the deepest sea;

you preserve ²¹  mankind and the animal kingdom. ²² 

Mazmur 48:11

48:11 Mount Zion rejoices;

the towns ²³  of Judah are happy, ²⁴ 

because of your acts of judgment. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 76:9

76:9 when God arose to execute judgment,

and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)

Mazmur 89:14

89:14 Equity and justice are the foundation of your throne. ²⁶ 

Loyal love and faithfulness characterize your rule. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 94:15

94:15 For justice will prevail, ²⁸ 

and all the morally upright ²⁹  will be vindicated. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 97:8

97:8 Zion hears and rejoices,

the towns ³¹  of Judah are happy,

because of your judgments, O Lord.

Mazmur 119:43

119:43 Do not completely deprive me of a truthful testimony, ³² 

for I await your justice.

Mazmur 140:12

140:12 I know ³³  that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed

and vindicates the poor. ³⁴ 

Mazmur 143:2

143:2 Do not sit in judgment on ³⁵  your servant,

for no one alive is innocent before you. ³⁶ 

Mazmur 146:7

146:7 vindicates the oppressed, ³⁷ 

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord releases the imprisoned.

Mazmur 147:20

147:20 He has not done so with any other nation;

they are not aware of his regulations.

Praise the Lord!

Mazmur 149:9

149:9 and execute the judgment to which their enemies ³⁸  have been sentenced. ³⁹ 

All his loyal followers will be vindicated. ⁴⁰ 

Praise the Lord!

[1:5]  ¹ tn Or “Therefore.”

[1:5]  ² tn Heb “arise in,” but the verb is used metonymically here in the sense of “stand”; “endure,” as in 1 Sam 13:14 and Job 8:15. The negated Hebrew imperfect verbal form is here taken as indicating incapability or lack of potential, though one could understand the verb form as indicating what is typical (“do not withstand”) or what will happen (“will not withstand”).

[1:5]  ³ tn Heb “the judgment.” The article indicates a judgment that is definite in the mind of the speaker. In the immediate context this probably does not refer to the “final judgment” described in later biblical revelation, but to a temporal/historical judgment which the author anticipates. Periodically during the OT period, God would come in judgment, removing the wicked from the scene, while preserving a godly remnant (see Gen 6-9; Ps 37; Hab 3).

[1:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “and sinners in the assembly (or “circle”) of [the] godly.” The negative particle and verb from the preceding line are assumed by ellipsis here (“will not arise/stand”).

[1:5]  sn The assembly of the godly is insulated from divine judgment (Ps 37:12-17, 28-29).

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “in your anger.”

[7:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “Lift yourself up in the angry outbursts of my enemies.” Many understand the preposition prefixed to עַבְרוֹת (’avrot, “angry outbursts”) as adversative, “against,” and the following genitive “enemies” as subjective. In this case one could translate, “rise up against my furious enemies” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The present translation, however, takes the preposition as indicating manner (cf. “in your anger” in the previous line) and understands the plural form of the noun as indicating an abstract quality (“fury”) or excessive degree (“raging fury”). Cf. Job 21:30.

[7:6]  ⁷ tc Heb “Wake up to me [with the] judgment [which] you have commanded.” The LXX understands אֵלִי (’eliy, “my God”) instead of אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”; the LXX reading is followed by NEB, NIV, NRSV.) If the reading of the MT is retained, the preposition probably has the sense of “on account of, for the sake of.” The noun מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “judgment”) is probably an adverbial accusative, modifying the initial imperative, “wake up.” In this case צִוִּיתָ (tsivvita, “[which] you have commanded”) is an asyndetic relative clause. Some take the perfect as precative. In this case one could translate the final line, “Wake up for my sake! Decree judgment!” (cf. NIV). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[9:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “for you accomplished my justice and my legal claim.”

[9:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “you sat on a throne [as] one who judges [with] righteousness.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 4 probably allude to a recent victory (see vv. 5-7). Another option is to understand the verbs as describing what is typical (“you defend…you sit on a throne”).

[9:16]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by the work of his hands [the] wicked [one] was ensnared. The singular form רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is collective or representative here (see vv. 15, 17). The form נוֹקֵשׁ (noqesh) appears to be an otherwise unattested Qal form (active participle) from נָקַשׁ (naqash), but the form should be emended to נוֹקַשׁ (noqash), a Niphal perfect from יָקַשׁ (yaqash).

[9:16]  ¹¹ tn This is probably a technical musical term.

[10:5]  ¹² tn Heb “they are firm, his ways, at every time.” The verb חַיִל (khayil, “be firm, be strong”) occurs only here and in Job 20:21, where it has the sense “endure.”

[10:5]  ¹³ tc Heb “[on a] height, your judgments from before him.” If the MT is retained, then the idea may be that God’s “judgments” are high above (i.e., not recognized) by the wicked man. However, the syntax is awkward. The translation assumes an emendation of מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) to סָרוּ (saru, “[your judgments] are turned aside”), the final mem (ם) being dittographic (note the initial mem on the immediately following word [מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, mishÿfatekha, “your judgments”). “Judgments” probably refers here to God’s laws or commands, rather than his judicial decisions or acts of judgment.

[10:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “all his enemies, he snorts against them.” This may picture the wicked man defiantly challenging his enemies because he is confident of success. Another option is to take יָפִיחַ (yafiakh) from the root יָפַח (yafakh, “to testify”) and translate “he testifies against all his enemies,” implying that he gets the upper hand over them in legal battles. The noun יָפֵחַ (yafeakh, “witness”) is attested in biblical Hebrew (see Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3). The verb, however, is not clearly attested.

[18:22]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for all his regulations [are] before me.” The Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim, “regulations”) refers to God’s covenantal requirements, especially those which the king is responsible to follow (cf. Deut 17:18-20). See also Pss 19:9 (cf. vv. 7-8); 89:30; 147:20 (cf. v. 19), as well as the numerous uses of the term in Ps 119.

[18:22]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and his rules I do not turn aside from me.” 2 Sam 22:23 reads, “and his rules, I do not turn aside from it.” The prefixed verbal form is probably an imperfect; the psalmist here generalizes about his loyalty to God’s commands. The Lord’s “rules” are the stipulations of the covenant which the king was responsible to obey (see Ps 89:31; cf. v. 30 and Deut 17:18-20).

[19:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the fear of the Lord is clean.” The phrase “fear of the Lord” probably refers here to the law, which teaches one how to demonstrate proper reverence for the Lord. See Ps 111:10 for another possible use of the phrase in this sense.

[19:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[it] stands permanently.”

[19:9]  ¹⁹ sn Trustworthy and absolutely just. The Lord’s commands accurately reflect God’s moral will for his people and are an expression of his just character.

[36:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “mountains of God.” The divine name אֵל (’el, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

[36:6]  ²¹ tn Or “deliver.”

[36:6]  ²² sn God’s justice/fairness is firm and reliable like the highest mountains and as abundant as the water in the deepest sea. The psalmist uses a legal metaphor to describe God’s preservation of his creation. Like a just judge who vindicates the innocent, God protects his creation from destructive forces.

[48:11]  ²³ tn Heb “daughters.” The reference is to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 97:8 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).

[48:11]  ²⁴ tn The prefixed verbal forms are understood as generalizing imperfects. (For other examples of an imperfect followed by causal לְמַעַן [lÿma’an], see Ps 23:3; Isa 49:7; 55:5.) Another option is to interpret the forms as jussives, “Let Mount Zion rejoice! Let the towns of Judah be happy!” (cf. NASB, NRSV; note the imperatives in vv. 12-13.)

[48:11]  ²⁵ sn These acts of judgment are described in vv. 4-7.

[89:14]  ²⁶ sn The Lord’s throne symbolizes his kingship.

[89:14]  ²⁷ tn Heb “are in front of your face.” The idiom can mean “confront” (Ps 17:13) or “meet, enter the presence of” (Ps 95:2).

[94:15]  ²⁸ tn Heb “for judgment will return to justice.”

[94:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “all the pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 97:11).

[94:15]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and after it [are] the pure of heart.”

[97:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “daughters.” The term “daughters” refers to the cities of Judah surrounding Zion (see Ps 48:11 and H. Haag, TDOT 2:336).

[119:43]  ³² tn Heb “do not snatch from my mouth a word of truth to excess.” The psalmist wants to be able to give a reliable testimony about the Lord’s loyal love (vv. 41-42), but if God does not intervene, the psalmist will be deprived of doing so, for the evidence of such love (i.e., deliverance) will be lacking.

[140:12]  ³³ tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading a first person verb form here. The Kethib reads the second person.

[140:12]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and the just cause of the poor.”

[143:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

[143:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”

[146:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “executes justice for the oppressed.”

[149:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “they”; the referent (the enemies of the people of God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[149:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “to do against them judgment [that] is written.”

[149:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “it is honor for all his godly ones.” The judgment of the oppressive kings will bring vindication and honor to God’s people (see vv. 4-5).