Mazmur 31:20

31:20 You hide them with you, where they are safe from the attacks ¹  of men; ² 

you conceal them in a shelter, where they are safe from slanderous attacks. ³ 

Mazmur 36:6

36:6 Your justice is like the highest mountains, ⁴ 

your fairness like the deepest sea;

you preserve ⁵  mankind and the animal kingdom. ⁶ 

Mazmur 39:5

39:5 Look, you make my days short-lived, ⁷ 

and my life span is nothing from your perspective. ⁸ 

Surely all people, even those who seem secure, are nothing but vapor. ⁹ 

Mazmur 79:10

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 84:10

84:10 Certainly ¹¹  spending just one day in your temple courts is better

than spending a thousand elsewhere. ¹² 

I would rather stand at the entrance ¹³  to the temple of my God

than live ¹⁴  in the tents of the wicked.

Mazmur 119:75

119:75 I know, Lord, that your regulations ¹⁵  are just.

You disciplined me because of your faithful devotion to me. ¹⁶ 

[31:20]  ¹ tn The noun רֹכֶס (rokhes) occurs only here. Its meaning is debated; some suggest “snare,” while others propose “slander” or “conspiracy.”

[31:20]  ² tn Heb “you hide them in the hiding place of your face from the attacks of man.” The imperfect verbal forms in this verse draw attention to God’s typical treatment of the faithful.

[31:20]  ³ tn Heb “you conceal them in a shelter from the strife of tongues.”

[36:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “mountains of God.” The divine name אֵל (’el, “God”) is here used in an idiomatic manner to indicate the superlative.

[36:6]  ⁵ tn Or “deliver.”

[36:6]  ⁶ sn God’s justice/fairness is firm and reliable like the highest mountains and as abundant as the water in the deepest sea. The psalmist uses a legal metaphor to describe God’s preservation of his creation. Like a just judge who vindicates the innocent, God protects his creation from destructive forces.

[39:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “Look, handbreadths you make my days.” The “handbreadth” (equivalent to the width of four fingers) was one of the smallest measures used by ancient Israelites. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 309.

[39:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “is like nothing before you.”

[39:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “surely, all vapor [is] all mankind, standing firm.” Another option is to translate, “Surely, all mankind, though seemingly secure, is nothing but a vapor.”

[79:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[84:10]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[84:10]  ¹² tn Heb “better is a day in your courts than a thousand [spent elsewhere].”

[84:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “I choose being at the entrance of the house of my God over living in the tents of the wicked.” The verb סָפַף (safaf) appears only here in the OT; it is derived from the noun סַף (saf, “threshold”). Traditionally some have interpreted this as a reference to being a doorkeeper at the temple, though some understand it to mean “lie as a beggar at the entrance to the temple” (see HALOT 765 s.v. ספף).

[84:10]  ¹⁴ tn The verb דּוּר (dur, “to live”) occurs only here in the OT.

[119:75]  ¹⁵ tn In this context (note the second line) the Hebrew term מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim), which so often refers to the regulations of God’s law elsewhere in this psalm, may refer instead to his decisions or disciplinary judgment.

[119:75]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and [in] faithfulness you afflicted me.”