Mazmur 16:10

16:10 You will not abandon me ¹  to Sheol; ² 

you will not allow your faithful follower ³  to see ⁴  the Pit. ⁵ 

Mazmur 17:6

17:6 I call to you for you will answer me, O God.

Listen to me! ⁶ 

Hear what I say! ⁷ 

Mazmur 71:24

71:24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,

for those who want to harm me ⁸  will be embarrassed and ashamed. ⁹ 

Mazmur 79:8

79:8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ¹⁰ 

Quickly send your compassion our way, ¹¹ 

for we are in serious trouble! ¹² 

Mazmur 99:9

99:9 Praise ¹³  the Lord our God!

Worship on his holy hill,

for the Lord our God is holy!

Mazmur 143:12

143:12 As a demonstration of your loyal love, ¹⁴  destroy my enemies!

Annihilate ¹⁵  all who threaten my life, ¹⁶ 

for I am your servant.

[16:10]  ¹ tn Or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[16:10]  ² sn In ancient Israelite cosmology Sheol is the realm of the dead, viewed as being under the earth’s surface. See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 165-76.

[16:10]  ³ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד [khasid], traditionally rendered “holy one”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10). The psalmist here refers to himself, as the parallel line (“You will not abandon me to Sheol”) indicates.

[16:10]  ⁴ tn That is, “experience.” The psalmist is confident that the Lord will protect him in his present crisis (see v. 1) and prevent him from dying.

[16:10]  sn According to Peter, the words of Ps 16:8-11 are applicable to Jesus (Acts 2:25-29). Peter goes on to argue that David, being a prophet, foresaw future events and spoke of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:30-33). Paul seems to concur with Peter in this understanding (see Acts 13:35-37). For a discussion of the NT application of these verses to Jesus’ resurrection, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “A Theology of the Psalms,” A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, 292-95.

[16:10]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew word שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 30:9; 49:9; 55:24; 103:4). Note the parallelism with the previous line.

[17:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “Turn your ear toward me.”

[17:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “my word.”

[71:24]  ⁸ tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”

[71:24]  ⁹ tn Heb “will have become embarrassed and ashamed.” The perfect verbal forms function here as future perfects, indicating future actions which will precede chronologically the action expressed by the main verb in the preceding line.

[79:8]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “do not remember against us sins, former.” Some understand “former” as an attributive adjective modifying sins, “former [i.e., chronologically prior] sins” (see BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן). The present translation assumes that ראשׁנים (“former”) here refers to those who lived formerly, that is, the people’s ancestors (see Lam 5:7). The word is used in this way in Lev 26:45; Deut 19:14 and Eccl 1:11.

[79:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.

[79:8]  ¹² tn Heb “for we are very low.”

[99:9]  ¹³ tn Or “exalt.”

[143:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[143:12]  ¹⁵ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the mood of the preceding imperfect.

[143:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all the enemies of my life.”