Mazmur 119:81

כ (Kaf)

119:81 I desperately long for ¹  your deliverance.

I find hope in your word.

Mazmur 143:5

143:5 I recall the old days; ² 

I meditate on all you have done;

I reflect on your accomplishments. ³ 

Mazmur 144:6

144:6 Hurl lightning bolts and scatter them!

Shoot your arrows and rout them! ⁴ 

Mazmur 145:4

145:4 One generation will praise your deeds to another,

and tell about your mighty acts! ⁵ 

Mazmur 35:2

35:2 Grab your small shield and large shield, ⁶ 

and rise up to help me!

Mazmur 119:151

119:151 You are near, O Lord,

and all your commands are reliable. ⁷ 

Mazmur 38:2

38:2 For your arrows pierce ⁸  me,

and your hand presses me down. ⁹ 

Mazmur 44:17

44:17 All this has happened to us, even though we have not rejected you ¹⁰ 

or violated your covenant with us. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 51:4

51:4 Against you – you above all ¹²  – I have sinned;

I have done what is evil in your sight.

So ¹³  you are just when you confront me; ¹⁴ 

you are right when you condemn me. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 106:5

106:5 so I may see the prosperity ¹⁶  of your chosen ones,

rejoice along with your nation, ¹⁷ 

and boast along with the people who belong to you. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 25:20

25:20 Protect me ¹⁹  and deliver me!

Please do not let me be humiliated,

for I have taken shelter in you!

Mazmur 94:19

94:19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me, ²⁰ 

your soothing touch makes me happy. ²¹ 

Mazmur 119:82

119:82 My eyes grow tired as I wait for your promise to be fulfilled. ²² 

I say, ²³  “When will you comfort me?”

Mazmur 119:172

119:172 May my tongue sing about your instructions, ²⁴ 

for all your commands are just.

Mazmur 17:13

17:13 Rise up, Lord!

Confront him! ²⁵  Knock him down! ²⁶ 

Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man! ²⁷ 

Mazmur 92:4

92:4 For you, O Lord, have made me happy by your work.

I will sing for joy because of what you have done. ²⁸ 

Mazmur 139:17

139:17 How difficult it is for me to fathom your thoughts about me, O God! ²⁹ 

How vast is their sum total! ³⁰ 

Mazmur 145:13

145:13 Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, ³¹ 

and your dominion endures through all generations.

[119:81]  ¹ tn Heb “my soul pines for.” See Ps 84:2.

[143:5]  ² tn Or “ancient times”; Heb “days from before.”

[143:5]  ³ tn Heb “the work of your hands.”

[144:6]  ⁴ sn Arrows and lightning bolts are associated in other texts (see Pss 18:14; 77:17-18; Zech 9:14), as well as in ancient Near Eastern art (see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” [Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983], 187).

[145:4]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 4 are understood as imperfects, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as jussives, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may one generation praise…and tell about.”

[35:2]  ⁶ tn Two different types of shields are mentioned here. See also Ezek 38:4. Many modern translations render the first term (translated here “small shield”) as “buckler” (cf. NASB “buckler and shield”; the order is often reversed in the translation, apparently for stylistic reasons: cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV “shield and buckler”). The English term “buckler,” referring to a small round shield held on the arm to protect the upper body, is unfamiliar to many modern readers, so the term “small shield” was used in the present translation for clarity.

[119:151]  ⁷ tn Or “truth.”

[38:2]  ⁸ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[44:17]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “we have not forgotten you.” To “forget” God refers here to worshiping false gods and thereby refusing to recognize his sovereignty (see v. 20, as well as Deut 8:19; Judg 3:7; 1 Sam 12:9; Isa 17:10; Jer 3:21; Ps 9:17).Thus the translation “we have not rejected you” has been used.

[44:17]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and we did not deal falsely with your covenant.”

[51:4]  ¹² tn Heb “only you,” as if the psalmist had sinned exclusively against God and no other. Since the Hebrew verb חָטָא (hata’, “to sin”) is used elsewhere of sinful acts against people (see BDB 306 s.v. 2.a) and David (the presumed author) certainly sinned when he murdered Uriah (2 Sam 12:9), it is likely that the psalmist is overstating the case to suggest that the attack on Uriah was ultimately an attack on God himself. To clarify the point of the hyperbole, the translation uses “especially,” rather than the potentially confusing “only.”

[51:4]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term לְמַעַן (lÿma’an) normally indicates purpose (“in order that”), but here it introduces a logical consequence of the preceding statement. (Taking the clause as indicating purpose here would yield a theologically preposterous idea – the psalmist purposely sinned so that God’s justice might be vindicated!) For other examples of לְמַעַן indicating result, see 2 Kgs 22:17; Jer 27:15; Amos 2:7, as well as IBHS 638-40 §38.3.

[51:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “when you speak.” In this context the psalmist refers to God’s word of condemnation against his sin delivered through Nathan (cf. 2 Sam 12:7-12).

[51:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “when you judge.”

[106:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “good.”

[106:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in order that [I may] rejoice with the rejoicing of your nation.”

[106:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “with your inheritance.”

[25:20]  ¹⁹ tn Or “my life.”

[94:19]  ²⁰ tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”

[94:19]  ²¹ tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”

[119:82]  ²² tn Heb “my eyes fail for your word.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See Ps 69:3.

[119:82]  ²³ tn Heb “saying.”

[119:172]  ²⁴ tn Heb “your word.”

[17:13]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Be in front of his face.”

[17:13]  ²⁶ tn Or “bring him to his knees.”

[17:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “rescue my life from the wicked [one] [by] your sword.”

[92:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “the works of your hands.”

[139:17]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and to me how precious are your thoughts, O God.” The Hebrew verb יָקַר (yaqar) probably has the sense of “difficult [to comprehend]” here (see HALOT 432 s.v. יקר qal.1 and note the use of Aramaic יַקִּר in Dan 2:11). Elsewhere in the immediate context the psalmist expresses his amazement at the extent of God’s knowledge about him (see vv. 1-6, 17b-18).

[139:17]  ³⁰ tn Heb “how vast are their heads.” Here the Hebrew word “head” is used of the “sum total” of God’s knowledge of the psalmist.

[145:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “a kingdom of all ages.”