Mazmur 31:10

31:10 For my life nears its end in pain;

my years draw to a close as I groan. ¹ 

My strength fails me because of ²  my sin,

and my bones become brittle. ³ 

Mazmur 39:6

39:6 Surely people go through life as mere ghosts. ⁴ 

Surely they accumulate worthless wealth

without knowing who will eventually haul it away.” ⁵ 

Mazmur 56:4

56:4 In God – I boast in his promise ⁶  –

in God I trust, I am not afraid.

What can mere men ⁷  do to me? ⁸ 

Mazmur 60:7

60:7 Gilead belongs to me,

as does Manasseh! ⁹ 

Ephraim is my helmet, ¹⁰ 

Judah my royal scepter. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 62:4

62:4 They ¹²  spend all their time planning how to bring him ¹³  down. ¹⁴ 

They love to use deceit; ¹⁵ 

they pronounce blessings with their mouths,

but inwardly they utter curses. ¹⁶  (Selah)

[31:10]  ¹ tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”

[31:10]  ² tn Heb “stumbles in.”

[31:10]  ³ tn Heb “grow weak.”

[39:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “surely, as an image man walks about.” The preposition prefixed to “image” indicates identity here.

[39:6]  sn People go through life (Heb “man walks about”). “Walking” is here used as a metaphor for living. The point is that human beings are here today, gone tomorrow. They have no lasting substance and are comparable to mere images or ghosts.

[39:6]  ⁵ tc Heb “Surely [in] vain they strive, he accumulates and does not know who gathers them.” The MT as it stands is syntactically awkward. The verb forms switch from singular (“walks about”) to plural (“they strive”) and then back to singular (“accumulates and does not know”), even though the subject (generic “man”) remains the same. Furthermore there is no object for the verb “accumulates” and no plural antecedent for the plural pronoun (“them”) attached to “gathers.” These problems can be removed if one emends the text from הֶבֶל יֶהֱמָיוּן (hevel yehemaun, “[in] vain they strive”) to הֶבְלֵי הָמוֹן (hevley hamon, “vain things of wealth”). This assumes a misdivision in the MT and a virtual dittography of vav (ו) between the mem and nun of המון. The present translation follows this emendation.

[56:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “in God I boast, his word.” The syntax in the Hebrew text is difficult. (1) The line could be translated, “in God I boast, [in] his word.” Such a translation assumes that the prepositional phrase “in God” goes with the following verb “I boast” (see Ps 44:8) and that “his word” is appositional to “in God” and more specifically identifies the basis for the psalmist’s confidence. God’s “word” is here understood as an assuring promise of protection. Another option (2) is to translate, “in God I will boast [with] a word.” In this case, the “word” is a song of praise. (In this view the pronominal suffix “his” must be omitted as in v. 10.) The present translation reflects yet another option (3): In this case “I praise his word” is a parenthetical statement, with “his word” being the object of the verb. The sentence begun with the prepositional phrase “in God” is then completed in the next line, with the prepositional phrase being repeated after the parenthesis.

[56:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “flesh,” which refers by metonymy to human beings (see v. 11, where “man” is used in this same question), envisioned here as mortal and powerless before God.

[56:4]  ⁸ tn The rhetorical question assumes the answer, “Nothing!” The imperfect is used in a modal sense here, indicating capability or potential.

[60:7]  ⁹ sn Gilead was located east of the Jordan. Half of the tribe of Manasseh lived east of the Jordan in the region of Bashan.

[60:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the protection of my head.”

[60:7]  sn Ephraim, named after one of Joseph’s sons, was one of two major tribes located west of the Jordan. By comparing Ephraim to a helmet, the Lord suggests that the Ephraimites played a primary role in the defense of his land.

[60:7]  ¹¹ sn Judah, like Ephraim, was the other major tribe west of the Jordan. The Davidic king, symbolized here by the royal scepter, came from this tribe.

[62:4]  ¹² tn That is, the psalmist’s enemies addressed in the previous verse.

[62:4]  ¹³ tn That is, the generic “man” referred to in the previous verse.

[62:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “only from his lofty place [or perhaps, “dignity”] they plan to drive [him] away.”

[62:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they delight [in] a lie.”

[62:4]  ¹⁶ sn The enemies use deceit to bring down their victim. They make him think they are his friends by pronouncing blessings upon him, but inwardly they desire his demise.