Mazmur 2:7

2:7 The king says, ¹  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ² 

‘You are my son! ³  This very day I have become your father!

Mazmur 8:2

8:2 From the mouths of children and nursing babies

you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, ⁴ 

so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy. ⁵ 

Mazmur 17:14-15

17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, ⁶ 

from the murderers of this world! ⁷ 

They enjoy prosperity; ⁸ 

you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. ⁹ 

They have many children,

and leave their wealth to their offspring. ¹⁰ 

17:15 As for me, because I am innocent I will see your face; ¹¹ 

when I awake you will reveal yourself to me. ¹² 

Mazmur 18:15

18:15 The depths ¹³  of the sea ¹⁴  were exposed;

the inner regions ¹⁵  of the world were uncovered

by ¹⁶  your battle cry, ¹⁷  Lord,

by the powerful breath from your nose. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 18:35

18:35 You give me your protective shield; ¹⁹ 

your right hand supports me; ²⁰ 

your willingness to help ²¹  enables me to prevail. ²² 

Mazmur 21:1

Psalm 21 ²³ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

21:1 O Lord, the king rejoices in the strength you give; ²⁴ 

he takes great delight in the deliverance you provide. ²⁵ 

Mazmur 22:9

22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out ²⁶  from the womb

and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.

Mazmur 31:20

31:20 You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks ²⁷  of men; ²⁸ 

you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks. ²⁹ 

Mazmur 36:8

36:8 They are filled with food from your house,

and you allow them to drink from the river of your delicacies.

Mazmur 40:10

40:10 I have not failed to tell about your justice; ³⁰ 

I spoke about your reliability and deliverance;

I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness. ³¹ 

Mazmur 40:16

40:16 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!

May those who love to experience ³²  your deliverance say continually, ³³ 

“May the Lord be praised!” ³⁴ 

Mazmur 51:14

51:14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder, ³⁵  O God, the God who delivers me!

Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your deliverance. ³⁶ 

Mazmur 52:9

52:9 I will continually ³⁷  thank you when ³⁸  you execute judgment; ³⁹ 

I will rely ⁴⁰  on you, ⁴¹  for your loyal followers know you are good. ⁴² 

Mazmur 79:10

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ⁴³ 

Mazmur 79:13

79:13 Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture,

will continually thank you. ⁴⁴ 

We will tell coming generations of your praiseworthy acts. ⁴⁵ 

Mazmur 84:10

84:10 Certainly ⁴⁶  spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere. ⁴⁷ 

I would rather stand at the entrance ⁴⁸  to the temple of my God

than live ⁴⁹  in the tents of the wicked.

Mazmur 88:9

88:9 My eyes grow weak because of oppression.

I call out to you, O Lord, all day long;

I spread out my hands in prayer to you. ⁵⁰ 

Mazmur 101:2

101:2 I will walk in ⁵¹  the way of integrity.

When will you come to me?

I will conduct my business with integrity in the midst of my palace. ⁵² 

Mazmur 119:75

119:75 I know, Lord, that your regulations ⁵³  are just.

You disciplined me because of your faithful devotion to me. ⁵⁴ 

Mazmur 132:12

132:12 If your sons keep my covenant

and the rules I teach them,

their sons will also sit on your throne forever.”

Mazmur 142:7

142:7 Free me ⁵⁵  from prison,

that I may give thanks to your name.

Because of me the godly will assemble, ⁵⁶ 

for you will vindicate me. ⁵⁷ 

Mazmur 143:8

143:8 May I hear about your loyal love in the morning, ⁵⁸ 

for I trust in you.

Show me the way I should go, ⁵⁹ 

because I long for you. ⁶⁰ 

[2:7]  ¹ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ² tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ³ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[8:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “you establish strength because of your foes.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation follows the reading of the LXX which has “praise” (αἶνος, ainos) in place of “strength” (עֹז, ’oz); cf. NIV, NCV, NLT.

[8:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “to cause to cease an enemy and an avenger.” The singular forms are collective. The Hitpael participle of נָקַם (naqam) also occurs in Ps 44:16.

[17:14]  ⁶ tc Heb “from men [by] your hand, Lord.” The translation assumes an emendation (both here and in the following line) of מִמְתִים (mimtim, “from men”) to מִמְמִתִים (mimmitim, “from those who kill”). For other uses of the plural form of the Hiphil participle of מוּת (mut, “die”), see 2 Kgs 17:26 (used with lions as subject), Job 33:22 (apparently referring to the agents of death), and Jer 26:15 (used of those seeking Jeremiah’s life).

[17:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”

[17:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “their portion, in life.”

[17:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”

[17:14]  sn You overwhelm them with the riches they desire. The psalmist is not accusing God of being unjust; he is simply observing that the wicked often prosper and that God is the ultimate source of all blessings that human beings enjoy (see Matt 5:45). When the wicked are ungrateful for God’s blessings, they become even more culpable and deserving of judgment. So this description of the wicked actually supports the psalmist’s appeal for deliverance. God should rescue him because he is innocent (see vv. 3-5) and because the wicked, though blessed abundantly by God, still have the audacity to attack God’s people.

[17:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”

[17:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I, in innocence, I will see your face.” To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 11:7; see also Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזַה (khazah), is used]). Here, however, the psalmist may be anticipating a mystical experience. See the following note on the word “me.”

[17:15]  ¹² tn Heb “I will be satisfied, when I awake, [with] your form.” The noun תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) normally carries the nuance “likeness” or “form.” In Job 4:16 it refers to a ghostlike spiritual entity (see v. 15) that revealed itself to Eliphaz during the night. The psalmist may anticipate a mystical encounter with God in which he expects to see a manifestation of God’s presence (i.e., a theophany), perhaps in conjunction with an oracle of deliverance. During the quiet darkness of the night, God examines the psalmist’s inner motives and finds them to be pure (see v. 3). The psalmist is confident that when he awakens, perhaps sometime during the night or in the morning, he will be visited by God and assured of vindication.

[17:15]  sn When I awake you will reveal yourself to me. Some see in this verse an allusion to resurrection. According to this view, when the psalmist awakens from the sleep of death, he will see God. It is unlikely that the psalmist had such a highly developed personal eschatology. As noted above, it is more likely that he is anticipating a divine visitation and mystical encounter as a prelude to his deliverance from his enemies.

[18:15]  ¹³ tn Or “channels.”

[18:15]  ¹⁴ tc Ps 18:15 reads “water” (cf. Ps 42:1); “sea” is the reading of 2 Sam 22:16.

[18:15]  ¹⁵ tn Or “foundations.”

[18:15]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from.” The preposition has a causal sense here.

[18:15]  ¹⁷ tn The noun is derived from the verb גָּעַר (ga’ar), which is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Pss 68:30; 106:9; and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 9:5; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[18:15]  ¹⁸ tn 2 Sam 22:16 reads “by the battle cry of the Lord, by the blast of the breath of his nose.” The phrase “blast of the breath” (Heb “breath of breath”) employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[18:35]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and you give to me the shield of your deliverance.”

[18:35]  sn You give me your protective shield. Ancient Near Eastern literature often refers to a god giving a king special weapons. See R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 260-61.

[18:35]  ²⁰ tc 2 Sam 22:36 omits this line, perhaps due to homoioarcton. A scribe’s eye may have jumped from the vav (ו) prefixed to “your right hand” to the vav prefixed to the following “and your answer,” causing the copyist to omit by accident the intervening words (“your right hand supports me and”).

[18:35]  ²¹ tn The MT of Ps 18:35 appears to read, “your condescension,” apparently referring to God’s willingness to intervene (cf. NIV “you stoop down”). However, the noun עֲנָוָה (’anavah) elsewhere means “humility” and is used only here of God. The form עַנְוַתְךָ (’anvatÿkha) may be a fully written form of the suffixed infinitive construct of עָנָה (’anah, “to answer”; a defectively written form of the infinitive appears in 2 Sam 22:36). In this case the psalmist refers to God’s willingness to answer his prayer; one might translate, “your favorable response.”

[18:35]  ²² tn Heb “makes me great.”

[21:1]  ²³ sn Psalm 21. The psalmist praises the Lord for the way he protects and blesses the Davidic king.

[21:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in your strength.” The translation interprets the pronominal suffix as subjective, rather than merely descriptive (or attributive).

[21:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and in your deliverance, how greatly he rejoices.”

[22:9]  ²⁶ tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”

[31:20]  ²⁷ tn The noun רֹכֶס (rokhes) occurs only here. Its meaning is debated; some suggest “snare,” while others propose “slander” or “conspiracy.”

[31:20]  ²⁸ tn Heb “you hide them in the hiding place of your face from the attacks of man.” The imperfect verbal forms in this verse draw attention to God’s typical treatment of the faithful.

[31:20]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you conceal them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.”

[40:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “your justice I have not hidden in the midst of my heart.”

[40:10]  ³¹ tn Heb “I have not hidden your loyal love and reliability.”

[40:16]  ³² tn Heb “those who love,” which stands metonymically for its cause, the experience of being delivered by the Lord.

[40:16]  ³³ tn The three prefixed verbal forms prior to the quotation are understood as jussives. The psalmist balances out his imprecation against his enemies with a prayer of blessing upon the godly.

[40:16]  ³⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great” (cf. NRSV). See Ps 35:27.

[51:14]  ³⁵ tn Heb “from bloodshed.” “Bloodshed” here stands by metonymy for the guilt which it produces.

[51:14]  ³⁶ tn Heb “my tongue will shout for joy your deliverance.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may my tongue shout for joy.” However, the pattern in vv. 12-15 appears to be prayer/request (see vv. 12, 14a, 15a) followed by promise/vow (see vv. 13, 14b, 15b).

[52:9]  ³⁷ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[52:9]  ³⁸ tn Or “for.”

[52:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “you have acted.” The perfect verbal form (1) probably indicates a future perfect here. The psalmist promises to give thanks when the expected vindication has been accomplished. Other options include (2) a generalizing (“for you act”) or (3) rhetorical (“for you will act”) use.

[52:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “wait.”

[52:9]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “your name.” God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character.

[52:9]  ⁴² tn Heb “for it is good in front of your loyal followers.”

[79:10]  ⁴³ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[79:13]  ⁴⁴ tn Or (hyperbolically) “will thank you forever.”

[79:13]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “to a generation and a generation we will report your praise.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.

[84:10]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “for.”

[84:10]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “I choose being at the entrance of the house of my God over living in the tents of the wicked.” The verb סָפַף (safaf) appears only here in the OT; it is derived from the noun סַף (saf, “threshold”). Traditionally some have interpreted this as a reference to being a doorkeeper at the temple, though some understand it to mean “lie as a beggar at the entrance to the temple” (see HALOT 765 s.v. ספף).

[84:10]  ⁴⁹ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

[88:9]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “I spread out my hands to you.” Spreading out the hands toward God was a prayer gesture (see Exod 9:29, 33; 1 Kgs 8:22, 38; 2 Chr 6:12-13, 29; Ezra 9:15; Job 11:13; Isa 1:15). The words “in prayer” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this.

[101:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “take notice of.”

[101:2]  ⁵² tn Heb “I will walk about in the integrity of my heart in the midst of my house.”

[119:75]  ⁵³ tn In this context (note the second line) the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim), which so often refers to the regulations of God’s law elsewhere in this psalm, may refer instead to his decisions or disciplinary judgment.

[119:75]  ⁵⁴ tn Heb “and [in] faithfulness you afflicted me.”

[142:7]  ⁵⁵ tn Heb “bring out my life.”

[142:7]  ⁵⁶ tn Or “gather around.”

[142:7]  ⁵⁷ tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense.

[143:8]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “cause me to hear in the morning your loyal love.” Here “loyal love” probably stands metonymically for an oracle of assurance promising God’s intervention as an expression of his loyal love.

[143:8]  sn The morning is sometimes viewed as the time of divine intervention (see Pss 30:5; 59:16; 90:14).

[143:8]  ⁵⁹ sn The way probably refers here to God’s moral and ethical standards and requirements (see v. 10).

[143:8]  ⁶⁰ tn Heb “for to you I lift up my life.” The Hebrew expression נָאָשׂ נֶפֶשׁ (na’as nefesh, “to lift up [one’s] life”) means “to desire; to long for” (see Deut 24:15; Prov 19:18; Jer 22:27; 44:14; Hos 4:8, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 16).