Mazmur 18:49

18:49 So I will give you thanks before the nations, ¹  O Lord!

I will sing praises to you! ² 

Mazmur 36:4

36:4 He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed;

he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; ³ 

he does not reject what is evil. ⁴ 

Mazmur 42:10

42:10 My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone, ⁵ 

as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ⁶ 

Mazmur 58:11

58:11 Then ⁷  observers ⁸  will say,

“Yes indeed, the godly are rewarded! ⁹ 

Yes indeed, there is a God who judges ¹⁰  in the earth!”

Mazmur 36:1

Psalm 36 ¹¹ 

For the music director; written by the Lord’s servant, David; an oracle. ¹² 

36:1 An evil man is rebellious to the core. ¹³ 

He does not fear God, ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 140:13

140:13 Certainly the godly will give thanks to your name;

the morally upright will live in your presence.

Mazmur 69:15

69:15 Don’t let the current overpower me!

Don’t let the deep swallow me up!

Don’t let the pit ¹⁵  devour me! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 76:5

76:5 The bravehearted ¹⁷  were plundered; ¹⁸ 

they “fell asleep.” ¹⁹ 

All the warriors were helpless. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 85:9

85:9 Certainly his loyal followers will soon experience his deliverance; ²¹ 

then his splendor will again appear in our land. ²² 

Mazmur 88:1

Psalm 88 ²³ 

A song, a psalm written by the Korahites; for the music director; according to the machalath-leannoth style; ²⁴  a well-written song ²⁵  by Heman the Ezrachite.

88:1 O Lord God who delivers me! ²⁶ 

By day I cry out

and at night I pray before you. ²⁷ 

[18:49]  ¹ sn I will give you thanks before the nations. This probably alludes to the fact that the psalmist will praise the Lord in the presence of the defeated nations when they, as his subjects, bring their tribute payments. Ideally the Davidic king was to testify to the nations of God’s greatness. See J. H. Eaton, Kingship and the Psalms (SBT), 182-85.

[18:49]  ² tn Heb “to your name.” God’s “name” refers metonymically to his divine characteristics as suggested by his name, in this case “Lord,” the primary name of Israel’s covenant God which suggests his active presence with his people (see Exod 3:12-15).

[36:4]  ³ tn Heb “he takes a stand in a way [that is] not good.” The word “way” here refers metaphorically to behavior or life style.

[36:4]  ⁴ tn The three imperfect verbal forms in v. 4 highlight the characteristic behavior of the typical evildoer.

[42:10]  ⁵ tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”

[42:10]  ⁶ sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.

[58:11]  ⁷ tn Following the imperfects of v. 10, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates a result or consequence of what precedes.

[58:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “man.” The singular is representative here.

[58:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “surely [there] is fruit for the godly.”

[58:11]  ¹⁰ tn The plural participle is unusual here if the preceding אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) is here a plural of majesty, referring to the one true God. Occasionally the plural of majesty does take a plural attributive (see GKC 428-29 §132.h). It is possible that the final mem (ם) on the participle is enclitic, and that it was later misunderstood as a plural ending. Another option is to translate, “Yes indeed, there are gods who judge in the earth.” In this case, the statement reflects the polytheistic mindset of pagan observers who, despite their theological ignorance, nevertheless recognize divine retribution when they see it.

[36:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 36. Though evil men plan to harm others, the psalmist is confident that the Lord is the just ruler of the earth who gives and sustains all life. He prays for divine blessing and protection and anticipates God’s judgment of the wicked.

[36:1]  ¹² tn In the Hebrew text the word נאם (“oracle”) appears at the beginning of the next verse (v. 2 in the Hebrew text because the superscription is considered v. 1). The resulting reading, “an oracle of rebellion for the wicked [is] in the midst of my heart” (cf. NIV) apparently means that the psalm, which foresees the downfall of the wicked, is a prophetic oracle about the rebellion of the wicked which emerges from the soul of the psalmist. One could translate, “Here is a poem written as I reflected on the rebellious character of evil men.” Another option, followed in the translation above, is to attach נאם (nÿ’um, “oracle”) with the superscription. For another example of a Davidic poem being labeled an “oracle,” see 2 Sam 23:1.

[36:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “[the] rebellion of an evil man [is] in the midst of my heart.” The translation assumes a reading “in the midst of his heart” (i.e., “to the core”) instead of “in the midst of my heart,” a change which finds support in a a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Hebrew text of Origen’s Hexapla, and the Syriac.

[36:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “there is no dread of God before his eyes.” The phrase “dread of God” refers here to a healthy respect for God which recognizes that he will punish evil behavior.

[69:15]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).

[69:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”

[76:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “strong of heart.” In Isa 46:12, the only other text where this phrase appears, it refers to those who are stubborn, but here it seems to describe brave warriors (see the next line).

[76:5]  ¹⁸ tn The verb is a rare Aramaized form of the Hitpolel (see GKC 149 §54.a, n. 2); the root is שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder”).

[76:5]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they slept [in] their sleep.” “Sleep” here refers to the “sleep” of death. A number of modern translations take the phrase to refer to something less than death, however: NASB “cast into a deep sleep”; NEB “fall senseless”; NIV “lie still”; NRSV “lay stunned.”

[76:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “and all the men of strength did not find their hands.”

[85:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “certainly his deliverance [is] near to those who fear him.”

[85:9]  ²² tn Heb “to dwell, glory, in our land.” “Glory” is the subject of the infinitive. The infinitive with -לְ (lÿ), “to dwell,” probably indicates result here (“then”). When God delivers his people and renews his relationship with them, he will once more reveal his royal splendor in the land.

[88:1]  ²³ sn Psalm 88. The psalmist cries out in pain to the Lord, begging him for relief from his intense and constant suffering. The psalmist regards God as the ultimate cause of his distress, but nevertheless clings to God in hope.

[88:1]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew phrase מָחֲלַת לְעַנּוֹת (makhalat lÿ’annot) may mean “illness to afflict.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. The term מָחֲלַת also appears in the superscription of Ps 53.

[88:1]  ²⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[88:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “O Lord God of my deliverance.” In light of the content of the psalm, this reference to God as the one who delivers seems overly positive. For this reason some emend the text to אַלֹהַי שִׁוַּעְתִּי (’alohay shivva’tiy, “[O Lord] my God, I cry out”). See v. 13.

[88:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “[by] day I cry out, in the night before you.”