Mazmur 31:16-18

31:16 Smile ¹  on your servant!

Deliver me because of your faithfulness!

31:17 O Lord, do not let me be humiliated,

for I call out to you!

May evil men be humiliated!

May they go wailing to the grave! ² 

31:18 May lying lips be silenced –

lips ³  that speak defiantly against the innocent ⁴ 

with arrogance and contempt!

[31:16]  ¹ tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”

[31:17]  ² tn The verb יִדְּמוּ (yiddÿmu) is understood as a form of דָּמַם (damam, “wail, lament”). Another option is to take the verb from דָּמַם (“be quiet”; see BDB 198-99 s.v. I דָּמַם), in which case one might translate, “May they lie silent in the grave.”

[31:18]  ³ tn Heb “the [ones which].”

[31:18]  ⁴ tn Or “godly.”