Mazmur 22:29

22:29 All of the thriving people ¹  of the earth will join the celebration and worship; ² 

all those who are descending into the grave ³  will bow before him,

including those who cannot preserve their lives. ⁴ 

Mazmur 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ⁵ 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Mazmur 40:14

40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life

be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ⁶ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ⁷ 

Mazmur 41:2

41:2 May the Lord protect him and save his life! ⁸ 

May he be blessed ⁹  in the land!

Do not turn him over ¹⁰  to his enemies! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ¹² 

powerful men stalk ¹³  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 70:2

70:2 May those who are trying to take my life

be embarrassed and ashamed! ¹⁵ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 78:50

78:50 He sent his anger in full force; ¹⁷ 

he did not spare them from death;

he handed their lives over to destruction. ¹⁸ 

[22:29]  ¹ tn Heb “fat [ones].” This apparently refers to those who are healthy and robust, i.e., thriving. In light of the parallelism, some prefer to emend the form to יְשֵׁנֵי (yÿsheney, “those who sleep [in the earth]”; cf. NAB, NRSV), but דִּשְׁנֵי (dishney, “fat [ones]”) seems to form a merism with “all who descend into the grave” in the following line. The psalmist envisions all people, whether healthy or dying, joining in worship of the Lord.

[22:29]  ² tn Heb “eat and worship.” The verb forms (a perfect followed by a prefixed form with vav [ו] consecutive) are normally used in narrative to relate completed actions. Here the psalmist uses the forms rhetorically as he envisions a time when the Lord will receive universal worship. The mood is one of wishful thinking and anticipation; this is not prophecy in the strict sense.

[22:29]  ³ tn Heb “all of the ones going down [into] the dust.” This group stands in contrast to those mentioned in the previous line. Together the two form a merism encompassing all human beings – the healthy, the dying, and everyone in between.

[22:29]  ⁴ tn Heb “and his life he does not revive.”

[38:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[40:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ⁷ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse (“may those…be…embarrassed and ashamed…may those…be turned back and ashamed”) are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[40:14]  sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.

[41:2]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal forms are taken as jussives in the translation because the jussive is clearly used in the final line of the verse, suggesting that this is a prayer. The psalmist stops to pronounce a prayer of blessing on the godly individual envisioned in v. 1. Of course, he actually has himself primarily in view. He mixes confidence (vv. 1, 3) with petition (v. 2) because he stands in the interval between the word of assurance and the actual intervention by God.

[41:2]  ⁹ tc The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib), which has a Pual (passive) prefixed form, regarded here as a jussive. The Pual of the verb אָשַׁר (’ashar) also appears in Prov 3:18. The marginal reading (Qere) assumes a vav (ו) consecutive and Pual perfect. Some, with the support of the LXX, change the verb to a Piel (active) form with an objective pronominal suffix, “and may he bless him,” or “and he will bless him” (cf. NIV).

[41:2]  ¹⁰ tn The negative particle אַל (’al) before the prefixed verbal form indicates the verb is a jussive and the statement a prayer. Those who want to take v. 2 as a statement of confidence suggest emending the negative particle to לֹא (lo’), which is used with the imperfect. See the earlier note on the verbal forms in line one of this verse. According to GKC 322 §109.e, this is a case where the jussive is used rhetorically to “express that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one might translate, “you will not turn him over to his enemies,” and take the preceding verbal forms as indicative in mood.

[41:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “do not give him over to the desire of his enemies” (see Ps 27:12).

[59:3]  ¹² tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ¹⁴ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.

[70:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed, the ones seeking my life.” Ps 40:14 has “together” after “ashamed,” and “to snatch it away” after “my life.”

[70:2]  ¹⁶ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[70:2]  sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.

[78:50]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he leveled a path for his anger.” There were no obstacles to impede its progress; it moved swiftly and destructively.

[78:50]  ¹⁸ tn Or perhaps “[the] plague.”