Mazmur 10:14

10:14 You have taken notice, ¹ 

for ²  you always see ³  one who inflicts pain and suffering. ⁴ 

The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; ⁵ 

you deliver ⁶  the fatherless. ⁷ 

Mazmur 11:3

11:3 When the foundations ⁸  are destroyed,

what can the godly ⁹  accomplish?” ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 14:6

14:6 You want to humiliate the oppressed, ¹¹ 

even though ¹²  the Lord is their ¹³  shelter.

Mazmur 26:10

26:10 who are always ready to do wrong ¹⁴ 

or offer a bribe. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 33:10

33:10 The Lord frustrates ¹⁶  the decisions of the nations;

he nullifies the plans ¹⁷  of the peoples.

Mazmur 37:38

37:38 Sinful rebels are totally destroyed; ¹⁸ 

evil men have no future. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 50:19

50:19 You do damage with words, ²⁰ 

and use your tongue to deceive. ²¹ 

Mazmur 104:8

104:8 as the mountains rose up,

and the valleys went down –

to the place you appointed for them. ²² 

Mazmur 104:12

104:12 The birds of the sky live beside them;

they chirp among the bushes. ²³ 

Mazmur 104:21

104:21 The lions roar for prey,

seeking their food from God. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 105:18

105:18 The shackles hurt his feet; ²⁵ 

his neck was placed in an iron collar, ²⁶ 

Mazmur 116:10

116:10 I had faith when I said,

“I am severely oppressed.”

Mazmur 116:15

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 124:4

124:4 The water would have overpowered us;

the current ²⁸  would have overwhelmed ²⁹  us. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 128:2

128:2 You ³¹  will eat what you worked so hard to grow. ³² 

You will be blessed and secure. ³³ 

Mazmur 135:1

Psalm 135 ³⁴ 

135:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the name of the Lord!

Offer praise, you servants of the Lord,

Mazmur 135:15-16

135:15 The nations’ idols are made of silver and gold,

they are man-made. ³⁵ 

135:16 They have mouths, but cannot speak,

eyes, but cannot see,

Mazmur 137:9

137:9 How blessed will be the one who grabs your babies

and smashes them on a rock! ³⁶ 

Mazmur 146:3

146:3 Do not trust in princes,

or in human beings, who cannot deliver! ³⁷ 

[10:14]  ¹ tn Heb “you see.” One could translate the perfect as generalizing, “you do take notice.”

[10:14]  ² tn If the preceding perfect is taken as generalizing, then one might understand כִּי (ki) as asseverative: “indeed, certainly.”

[10:14]  ³ tn Here the imperfect emphasizes God’s typical behavior.

[10:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.

[10:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “to give into your hand, upon you, he abandons, [the] unfortunate [one].” The syntax is awkward and the meaning unclear. It is uncertain who or what is being given into God’s hand. Elsewhere the idiom “give into the hand” means to deliver into one’s possession. If “to give” goes with what precedes (as the accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests), then this may refer to the wicked man being delivered over to God for judgment. The present translation assumes that “to give” goes with what follows (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The verb יַעֲזֹב (ya’azov) here has the nuance “entrust” (see Gen 39:6; Job 39:11); the direct object (“[his] cause”) is implied.

[10:14]  ⁶ tn Or “help.”

[10:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “[for] one who is fatherless, you are a deliverer.” The noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9).

[10:14]  sn The fatherless. Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 68:5; 82:3; 94:6; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).

[11:3]  ⁸ tn The precise meaning of this rare word is uncertain. An Ugaritic cognate is used of the “bottom” or “base” of a cliff or mountain (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47, 159). The noun appears in postbiblical Hebrew with the meaning “foundation” (see Jastrow 1636 s.v. שָׁת).

[11:3]  ⁹ tn The singular form is used here in a collective or representative sense. Note the plural form “pure [of heart]” in the previous verse.

[11:3]  ¹⁰ sn The quotation of the advisers’ words (which begins in 11:1c) ends at this point. They advise the psalmist to flee because the enemy is poised to launch a deadly attack. In such a lawless and chaotic situation godly people like the psalmist can accomplish nothing, so they might as well retreat to a safe place.

[14:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the counsel of the oppressed you put to shame.” Using a second person plural verb form, the psalmist addresses the wicked. Since the context indicates their attempt to harm the godly will be thwarted, the imperfect should be taken in a subjunctive (cf. NASB, NRSV) rather than an indicative manner (cf. NIV). Here it probably expresses their desire or intent (“want to humiliate”).

[14:6]  ¹² tn It is unlikely that כִּי (ki) has a causal force here. The translation assumes a concessive force; another option is to understand an asseverative use (“certainly, indeed”).

[14:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “his.” The antecedent of the singular pronoun is the singular form עָנִי (’ani, “oppressed”) in the preceding line. The singular is collective or representative here (and thus translated as plural, “they”).

[26:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “who [have] in their hands evil.”

[26:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and their right hand is full of a bribe.”

[33:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “breaks” or “destroys.” The Hebrew perfect verbal forms here and in the next line generalize about the Lord’s activity.

[33:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “thoughts.”

[37:38]  ¹⁸ tn Or “destroyed together.” In this case the psalmist pictures judgment sweeping them away as a group.

[37:38]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the end of evil men is cut off.” As in v. 37, some interpret אַחֲרִית (’akharit, “end”) as referring to offspring (see Ps 109:13). The perfect verbal forms in v. 38 probably express general truths. Another option is that they are used emphatically to state with certitude that the demise of the wicked is as good as done.

[50:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “your mouth you send with evil.”

[50:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “and your tongue binds together [i.e., “frames”] deceit.”

[104:8]  ²² tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”

[104:8]  sn Verses 7-8 poetically depict Gen 1:9-10.

[104:12]  ²³ tn Heb “among the thick foliage they give a sound.”

[104:21]  ²⁴ sn The lions’ roaring is viewed as a request for food from God.

[105:18]  ²⁵ tn Heb “they afflicted his feet with shackles.”

[105:18]  ²⁶ tn Heb “his neck came [into] iron.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with the suffix could mean simply “he” or “his life.” But the nuance “neck” makes good sense here (note the reference to his “feet” in the preceding line). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 38.

[116:15]  ²⁷ tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.

[124:4]  ²⁸ tn Or “stream.”

[124:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “would have passed over.”

[124:4]  ³⁰ tn Heb “our being.” 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).

[128:2]  ³¹ tn The psalmist addresses the representative God-fearing man, as indicated by the references to “your wife” (v. 3) and “the man” (v. 4), as well as the second masculine singular pronominal and verbal forms in vv. 2-6.

[128:2]  ³² tn Heb “the work of your hands, indeed you will eat.”

[128:2]  ³³ tn Heb “how blessed you [will be] and it will be good for you.”

[135:1]  ³⁴ sn Psalm 135. The psalmist urges God’s people to praise him because he is the incomparable God and ruler of the world who has accomplished great things for Israel.

[135:15]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the work of the hands of man.”

[137:9]  ³⁶ sn For other references to the wholesale slaughter of babies in the context of ancient Near Eastern warfare, see 2 Kgs 8:12; Isa 13:16; Hos 13:16; Nah 3:10.

[146:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “in a son of man, to whom there is no deliverance.”