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 26:1

Psalm 26 ⁵ 

By David.

26:1 Vindicate me, O Lord,

for I have integrity, ⁶ 

and I trust in the Lord without wavering.

Mazmur 27:9

27:9 Do not reject me! ⁷ 

Do not push your servant away in anger!

You are my deliverer! ⁸ 

Do not forsake or abandon me,

O God who vindicates me!

Mazmur 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ⁹  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ¹⁰  (Selah)

Mazmur 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ¹¹ 

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! ¹² 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ¹³ 

Mazmur 54:3

54:3 For foreigners ¹⁴  attack me; ¹⁵ 

ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. ¹⁶  (Selah)

Mazmur 73:28

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ¹⁷ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ¹⁸  I declare all the things you have done.

Mazmur 101:2

101:2 I will walk in ¹⁹  the way of integrity.

When will you come to me?

I will conduct my business with integrity in the midst of my palace. ²⁰ 

[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.”

[26:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 26. The author invites the Lord to test his integrity, asserts his innocence and declares his loyalty to God.

[26:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “for I in my integrity walk.”

[27:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[27:9]  ⁸ tn Or “[source of] help.”

[32:5]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ¹⁰ 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.

[38:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[40:14]  ¹² tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ¹³ 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.

[54:3]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “rise against me.”

[54:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”

[73:28]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ¹⁸ tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).

[101:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “take notice of.”

[101:2]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I will walk about in the integrity of my heart in the midst of my house.”