Mazmur 3:1

Psalm 3 ¹ 

A psalm of David, written when he fled from his son Absalom. ² 

3:1 Lord, how ³  numerous are my enemies!

Many attack me. ⁴ 

Mazmur 13:2

13:2 How long must I worry, ⁵ 

and suffer in broad daylight? ⁶ 

How long will my enemy gloat over me? ⁷ 

Mazmur 31:13

31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, ⁸ 

the terrifying news that comes from every direction. ⁹ 

When they plot together against me,

they figure out how they can take my life.

Mazmur 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ¹⁰  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ¹¹  (Selah)

Mazmur 40:12

40:12 For innumerable dangers ¹²  surround me.

My sins overtake me

so I am unable to see;

they outnumber the hairs of my head

so my strength fails me. ¹³ 

Mazmur 42:4-6

42:4 I will remember and weep! ¹⁴ 

For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God,

shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. ¹⁵ 

42:5 Why are you depressed, ¹⁶  O my soul? ¹⁷ 

Why are you upset? ¹⁸ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ¹⁹ 

42:6 I am depressed, ²⁰ 

so I will pray to you while I am trapped here in the region of the upper Jordan, ²¹ 

from Hermon, ²²  from Mount Mizar. ²³ 

Mazmur 42:11

42:11 Why are you depressed, ²⁴  O my soul? ²⁵ 

Why are you upset? ²⁶ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 43:5

43:5 Why are you depressed, ²⁸  O my soul? ²⁹ 

Why are you upset? ³⁰ 

Wait for God!

For I will again give thanks

to my God for his saving intervention. ³¹ 

Mazmur 54:3

54:3 For foreigners ³²  attack me; ³³ 

ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. ³⁴  (Selah)

Mazmur 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ³⁵ 

powerful men stalk ³⁶  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ³⁷ 

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 ³⁸  devour me! ³⁹ 

Mazmur 142:3

142:3 Even when my strength leaves me, ⁴⁰ 

you watch my footsteps. ⁴¹ 

In the path where I walk

they have hidden a trap for me.

Mazmur 142:7

142:7 Free me ⁴²  from prison,

that I may give thanks to your name.

Because of me the godly will assemble, ⁴³ 

for you will vindicate me. ⁴⁴ 

[3:1]  ¹ sn Psalm 3. The psalmist acknowledges that he is confronted by many enemies (vv. 1-2). But, alluding to a divine oracle he has received (vv. 4-5), he affirms his confidence in God’s ability to protect him (vv. 3, 6) and requests that God make his promise a reality (vv. 7-8).

[3:1]  ² sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).

[3:1]  ³ tn The Hebrew term מָה (mah, “how”) is used here as an adverbial exclamation (see BDB 553 s.v.).

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “many rise up against me.”

[13:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “How long will I put counsel in my being?”

[13:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “[with] grief in my heart by day.”

[13:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “be exalted over me.” Perhaps one could translate, “How long will my enemy defeat me?”

[31:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “the report of many.”

[31:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “the terror from all around.”

[32:5]  ¹⁰ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.

[40:12]  ¹² tn Or “sinful deeds.” The Hebrew term used here can have a nonmoral nuance (“dangers”) or a moral one (“sinful deeds”) depending on the context. The next line (see “my sins”) seems to favor the moral sense, but the psalmist also speaks of enemies shortly after this (v. 14).

[40:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “and my heart abandons me.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of emotional strength and courage. For a similar idea see Ps 38:10.

[42:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “These things I will remember and I will pour out upon myself my soul.” “These things” are identified in the second half of the verse as those times when the psalmist worshiped in the Lord’s temple. The two cohortative forms indicate the psalmist’s resolve to remember and weep. The expression “pour out upon myself my soul” refers to mourning (see Job 30:16).

[42:4]  ¹⁵ tc Heb “for I was passing by with the throng [?], I was walking with [?] them to the house of God; with a voice of a ringing shout and thanksgiving a multitude was observing a festival.” The Hebrew phrase בַּסָּךְ אֶדַּדֵּם (bassakh ’eddaddem, “with the throng [?] I was walking with [?]”) is particularly problematic. The noun סָךְ (sakh) occurs only here. If it corresponds to הָמוֹן (hamon, “multitude”) then one can propose a meaning “throng.” The present translation assumes this reading (cf. NIV, NRSV). The form אֶדַּדֵּם (“I will walk with [?]”) is also very problematic. The form can be taken as a Hitpael from דָּדָה (dadah; this verb possibly appears in Isa 38:15), but the pronominal suffix is problematic. For this reason many emend the form to ם[י]אַדִּרִ (’adirim, “nobles”) or ם-רִ[י]אַדִ (’adirim, “great,” with enclitic mem [ם]). The present translation understands the latter and takes the adjective “great” as modifying “throng.” If one emends סָךְ (sakh, “throng [?]”) to סֹךְ (sokh, “shelter”; see the Qere of Ps 27:5), then ר[י]אַדִּ (’addir) could be taken as a divine epithet, “[in the shelter of] the majestic one,” a reading which may find support in the LXX and Syriac Peshitta.

[42:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:5]  ¹⁷ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and [why] are you in turmoil upon me?” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the descriptive present nuance of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.

[42:5]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of his face.” The verse division in the Hebrew text is incorrect. אֱלֹהַי (’elohay, “my God”) at the beginning of v. 7 belongs with the end of v. 6 (see the corresponding refrains in 42:11 and 43:5, both of which end with “my God” after “saving acts of my face”). The Hebrew term פָּנָיו (panayv, “his face”) should be emended to פְּנֵי (pÿney, “face of”). The emended text reads, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention.

[42:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “my God, upon me my soul bows down.” As noted earlier, “my God” belongs with the end of v. 6.

[42:6]  ²¹ tn Heb “therefore I will remember you from the land of Jordan.” “Remember” is here used metonymically for prayer (see vv. 8-9). As the next line indicates, the region of the upper Jordan, where the river originates, is in view.

[42:6]  ²² tc Heb “Hermons.” The plural form of the name occurs only here in the OT. Some suggest the plural refers to multiple mountain peaks (cf. NASB) or simply retain the plural in the translation (cf. NEB), but the final mem (ם) is probably dittographic (note that the next form in the text begins with the letter mem) or enclitic. At a later time it was misinterpreted as a plural marker and vocalized accordingly.

[42:6]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term מִצְעָר (mits’ar) is probably a proper name (“Mizar”), designating a particular mountain in the Hermon region. The name appears only here in the OT.

[42:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[42:11]  ²⁵ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[42:11]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

[42:11]  ²⁷ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God”), that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is almost identical to the one in v. 5. See also Ps 43:5.

[43:5]  ²⁸ tn Heb “Why do you bow down?”

[43:5]  ²⁹ sn For poetic effect the psalmist addresses his soul, or inner self.

[43:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and why are you in turmoil upon me?”

[43:5]  ³¹ tc Heb “for again I will give him thanks, the saving acts of my face and my God.” The last line should be emended to read יְשׁוּעֹת פְנֵי אֱלֹהָי (yÿshu’ot fÿney ’elohay, “[for] the saving acts of the face of my God,” that is, the saving acts associated with God’s presence/intervention. This refrain is identical to the one in Ps 42:11. See also 42:5, which differs only slightly.

[54:3]  ³² tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read זֵדִים (zedim, “proud ones”) rather than זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”). (No matter which reading one chooses as original, dalet-resh confusion accounts for the existence of the variant.) The term זֵדִים (“proud ones”) occurs in parallelism with עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Ps 86:14 and Isa 13:11. However, זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) is parallel to עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Isa 25:5; 29:5; Ezek 28:7; 31:12.

[54:3]  ³³ tn Heb “rise against me.”

[54:3]  ³⁴ tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”

[59:3]  ³⁵ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ³⁶ 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]  ³⁷ 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.

[69:15]  ³⁸ tn Heb “well,” which here symbolizes the place of the dead (cf. Ps 55:23).

[69:15]  ³⁹ tn Heb “do not let the well close its mouth upon me.”

[142:3]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”

[142:3]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “you know my path.”

[142:7]  ⁴² tn Heb “bring out my life.”

[142:7]  ⁴³ tn Or “gather around.”

[142:7]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense.