Mazmur 30:3

30:3 O Lord, you pulled me ¹  up from Sheol;

you rescued me from among those descending into the grave. ² 

Mazmur 39:10

39:10 Please stop wounding me! ³ 

You have almost beaten me to death! ⁴ 

Mazmur 39:13

39:13 Turn your angry gaze away from me, so I can be happy

before I pass away. ⁵ 

Mazmur 41:10

41:10 As for you, O Lord, have mercy on me and raise me up,

so I can pay them back!” ⁶ 

Mazmur 45:10

45:10 Listen, O princess! ⁷ 

Observe and pay attention! ⁸ 

Forget your homeland ⁹  and your family! ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 50:16

50:16 God says this to the evildoer: ¹¹ 

“How can you declare my commands,

and talk about my covenant? ¹² 

Mazmur 56:7

56:7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape! ¹³ 

In your anger ¹⁴  bring down the nations, ¹⁵  O God!

Mazmur 85:4

85:4 Restore us, O God our deliverer!

Do not be displeased with us! ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 109:17

109:17 He loved to curse ¹⁷  others, so those curses have come upon him. ¹⁸ 

He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 119:49

ז (Zayin)

119:49 Remember your word to your servant,

for you have given me hope.

Mazmur 129:8

129:8 Those who pass by will not say, ²⁰ 

“May you experience the Lord’s blessing!

We pronounce a blessing on you in the name of the Lord.”

Mazmur 132:2

132:2 and how he made a vow to the Lord,

and swore an oath to the powerful ruler of Jacob. ²¹ 

Mazmur 137:5

137:5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

may my right hand be crippled! ²² 

Mazmur 137:7

137:7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did

on the day Jerusalem fell. ²³ 

They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, ²⁴ 

right to its very foundation!”

[30:3]  ¹ tn Or “my life.”

[30:3]  ² tn Heb “you kept me alive from those descending into the pit.” The Hebrew noun בוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead. The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib); the marginal reading (Qere) has, “you kept me alive so that I did not go down into the pit.”

[39:10]  ³ tn Heb “remove from upon me your wound.”

[39:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the hostility of your hand I have come to an end.”

[39:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “Gaze away from me and I will smile before I go and am not.” The precise identification of the initial verb form (הָשַׁע, hasha’) is uncertain. It could be from the root שָׁעָע (sha’a’, “smear”), but “your eyes” would be the expected object in this case (see Isa 6:10). The verb may be an otherwise unattested Hiphil form of שָׁעָה (sha’ah, “to gaze”) meaning “cause your gaze to be.” Some prefer to emend the form to the Qal שְׁעֵה (shÿ’eh, “gaze”; see Job 14:6). If one does read a form of the verb “to gaze,” the angry divine “gaze” of discipline would seem to be in view (see vv. 10-11). For a similar expression of this sentiment see Job 10:20-21.

[41:10]  ⁶ tn The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) here indicates purpose or result (“Then I will repay them”) after the preceding imperatives.

[45:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “daughter.” The Hebrew noun בת (“daughter”) can sometimes refer to a young woman in a general sense (see H. Haag, TDOT 2:334).

[45:10]  sn Listen, O princess. The poet now addresses the bride.

[45:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “see and turn your ear.” The verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “see”) is used here of mental observation.

[45:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “your people.” This reference to the “people” of the princess suggests she was a foreigner. Perhaps the marriage was arranged as part of a political alliance between Israel (or Judah) and a neighboring state. The translation “your homeland” reflects such a situation.

[45:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and the house of your father.”

[50:16]  ¹¹ tn Heb “evil [one].” The singular adjective is used here in a representative sense; it refers to those within the larger covenant community who have blatantly violated the Lord’s commandments. In the psalms the “wicked” (רְשָׁעִים, rÿsha’im) are typically proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander, and cheat others (Ps 37:21).

[50:16]  ¹² tn Heb “What to you to declare my commands and lift up my covenant upon your mouth?” The rhetorical question expresses sarcastic amazement. The Lord is shocked that such evildoers would give lip-service to his covenantal demands, for their lifestyle is completely opposed to his standards (see vv. 18-20).

[56:7]  ¹³ tc Heb “because of wickedness, deliverance to them.” As it stands, the MT makes no sense. The negative particle אַיִן (’ayin, “there is not,” which is due to dittography of the immediately preceding אָוֶן, ’aven, “wickedness”), should probably be added before “deliverance” (see BHS, note a). The presence of an imperative in the next line (note “bring down”) suggests that this line should be translated as a prayer as well, “may there not be deliverance to them.”

[56:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “in anger.” The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[56:7]  ¹⁵ tn Or perhaps “people” in a general sense.

[85:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “break your displeasure with us.” Some prefer to emend הָפֵר (hafer, “break”) to הָסֵר (haser, “turn aside”).

[109:17]  ¹⁷ sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.

[109:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.

[109:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”

[129:8]  ²⁰ tn The perfect verbal form is used for rhetorical effect; it describes an anticipated development as if it were already reality.

[132:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “the powerful [one] of Jacob.”

[137:5]  ²² tn Heb “may my right hand forget.” In this case one must supply an object, such as “how to move.” The elliptical nature of the text has prompted emendations (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 236). The translation assumes an emendation to תִּכְשַׁח (tikhshakh), from an otherwise unattested root כשׁח, meaning “to be crippled; to be lame.” See HALOT 502 s.v. כשׁח, which cites Arabic cognate evidence in support of the proposal. The corruption of the MT can be explained as an error of transposition facilitated by the use of שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”) just before this.

[137:7]  ²³ tn Heb “remember, O Lord, against the sons of Edom, the day of Jerusalem.”

[137:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “lay [it] bare, lay [it] bare.”