Mazmur 12:4

12:4 They say, ¹  “We speak persuasively; ² 

we know how to flatter and boast. ³ 

Who is our master?” ⁴ 

Mazmur 21:13

21:13 Rise up, O Lord, in strength! ⁵ 

We will sing and praise ⁶  your power!

Mazmur 28:4

28:4 Pay them back for their evil deeds!

Pay them back for what they do!

Punish them! ⁷ 

Mazmur 38:19-20

38:19 But those who are my enemies for no reason are numerous; ⁸ 

those who hate me without cause outnumber me. ⁹ 

38:20 They repay me evil for the good I have done;

though I have tried to do good to them, they hurl accusations at me. ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 45:14

45:14 In embroidered robes she is escorted to the king.

Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her,

are led before you. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 51:7

51:7 Sprinkle me ¹²  with water ¹³  and I will be pure; ¹⁴ 

wash me ¹⁵  and I will be whiter than snow. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 60:12

60:12 By God’s power we will conquer; ¹⁷ 

he will trample down ¹⁸  our enemies.

Mazmur 65:10

65:10 You saturate ¹⁹  its furrows,

and soak ²⁰  its plowed ground. ²¹ 

With rain showers you soften its soil, ²² 

and make its crops grow. ²³ 

Mazmur 72:19

72:19 His glorious name deserves praise ²⁴  forevermore!

May his majestic splendor ²⁵  fill the whole earth!

We agree! We agree! ²⁶ 

Mazmur 84:6

84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, ²⁷ 

he provides a spring for them. ²⁸ 

The rain ²⁹  even covers it with pools of water. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 104:13

104:13 He waters the mountains from the upper rooms of his palace; ³¹ 

the earth is full of the fruit you cause to grow. ³² 

Mazmur 108:13

108:13 By God’s power we will conquer; ³³ 

he will trample down ³⁴  our enemies.

Mazmur 144:9

144:9 O God, I will sing a new song to you!

Accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, I will sing praises to you,

Mazmur 147:8

147:8 He covers ³⁵  the sky with clouds,

provides the earth with rain,

and causes grass to grow on the hillsides. ³⁶ 

[12:4]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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.

[21:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “in your strength,” but English idiom does not require the pronoun.

[21:13]  sn The psalm concludes with a petition to the Lord, asking him to continue to intervene in strength for the king and nation.

[21:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “sing praise.”

[28:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “Give to them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds. According to the work of their hands give to them. Return their due to them.” The highly repetitive style reflects the psalmist’s agitated emotional state and draws attention to his yearning for justice.

[38:19]  ⁸ tn Heb “and my enemies, life, are many.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “life”) fits very awkwardly here. The translation assumes an emendation to חִנָּם (khinam, “without reason”; note the parallelism with שֶׁקֶר [sheqer, “falsely”] and see Pss 35:19; 69:4; Lam 3:52). The verb עָצַם (’atsam) can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority (note the parallel verb רָבַב, ravav, “be many”).

[38:19]  ⁹ tn Heb “are many.”

[38:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the ones who repay evil instead of good accuse me, instead of my pursuing good.”

[45:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “virgins after her, her companions, are led to you.” Some emend לָךְ (lakh, “to you”) to לָהּ (lah, “to her,” i.e., the princess), because the princess is now being spoken of in the third person (vv. 13-14a), rather than being addressed directly (as in vv. 10-12). However, the ambiguous suffixed form לָךְ need not be taken as second feminine singular. The suffix can be understood as a pausal second masculine singular form, addressed to the king. The translation assumes this to be the case; note that the king is addressed once more in vv. 16-17, where the second person pronouns are masculine.

[51:7]  ¹² tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “cleanse me with hyssop.” “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water (or blood) in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18. The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.

[51:7]  ¹⁴ tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.

[51:7]  ¹⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ¹⁶ sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).

[60:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “in God we will accomplish strength.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 108:13; 118:15-16).

[60:12]  ¹⁸ sn Trample down. On this expression see Ps 44:5.

[65:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “saturating” [the form is an infinitive absolute].

[65:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “flatten, cause to sink.”

[65:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “trenches,” or “furrows.”

[65:10]  ²² tn Heb “soften it,” that is, the earth.

[65:10]  ²³ tn Heb “its vegetation you bless.” Divine “blessing” often involves endowing an object with special power or capacity.

[72:19]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[be] blessed.”

[72:19]  ²⁵ tn Or “glory.”

[72:19]  ²⁶ tn Heb “surely and surely” (אָמֵן וְאָמֵן [’amen vÿ’amen], i.e., “Amen and amen”). This is probably a congregational response of agreement to the immediately preceding statement about the propriety of praising God.

[84:6]  ²⁷ tn The translation assumes that the Hebrew phrase עֵמֶק הַבָּכָא (’emeq habbakha’) is the name of an otherwise unknown arid valley through which pilgrims to Jerusalem passed. The term בָּכָא (bakha’) may be the name of a particular type of plant or shrub that grew in this valley. O. Borowski (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 130) suggests it is the black mulberry. Some take the phrase as purely metaphorical and relate בָּכָא to the root בָּכָה (bakhah, “to weep”). In this case one might translate, “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.”

[84:6]  ²⁸ tc The MT reads “a spring they make it,” but this makes little sense. Many medieval Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, understand God to be the subject and the valley to be the object, “he [God] makes it [the valley] [into] a spring.”

[84:6]  ²⁹ tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).

[84:6]  ³⁰ tc The MT reads בְּרָכוֹת (bÿrakhot, “blessings”) but the preceding reference to a “spring” favors an emendation to בְּרֵכוֹת (bÿrekhot, “pools”).

[84:6]  sn Pools of water. Because water is so necessary for life, it makes an apt symbol for divine favor and blessing. As the pilgrims traveled to Jerusalem, God provided for their physical needs and gave them a token of his favor and of the blessings awaiting them at the temple.

[104:13]  ³¹ tn Heb “from his upper rooms.”

[104:13]  ³² tn Heb “from the fruit of your works the earth is full.” The translation assumes that “fruit” is literal here. If “fruit” is understood more abstractly as “product; result,” then one could translate, “the earth flourishes as a result of your deeds” (cf. NIV, NRSV, REB).

[108:13]  ³³ tn Heb “in God we will accomplish strength.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 60:12; 118:16-16).

[108:13]  ³⁴ sn On the expression trample down our enemies see Ps 44:5.

[147:8]  ³⁵ tn Heb “the one who covers.”

[147:8]  ³⁶ tn Heb “hills.”