Mazmur 31:7

31:7 I will be happy and rejoice in your faithfulness,

because you notice my pain

and you are aware of how distressed I am. ¹ 

Mazmur 35:15

35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together;

they gathered together to ambush me. ² 

They tore at me without stopping to rest. ³ 

Mazmur 53:6

53:6 I wish the deliverance ⁴  of Israel would come from Zion!

When God restores the well-being of his people, ⁵ 

may Jacob rejoice, ⁶ 

may Israel be happy! ⁷ 

Mazmur 63:11

63:11 But the king ⁸  will rejoice in God;

everyone who takes oaths in his name ⁹  will boast,

for the mouths of those who speak lies will be shut up. ¹⁰ 

[31:7]  ¹ tn Heb “you know the distresses of my life.”

[35:15]  ² tn Heb “they gathered together against me, stricken [ones], and I did not know.” The Hebrew form נֵכִים (nekhim, “stricken ones” ?) is problematic. Some suggest an emendation to נָכְרִים[כְ] (kÿnokhÿrim, “foreigners”) or “like foreigners,” which would fit with what follows, “[like] foreigners that I do not recognize.” Perhaps the form should be read as a Qal active participle, נֹכִים (nokhim, “ones who strike”) from the verbal root נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike”). The Qal of this verb is unattested in biblical Hebrew, but the peal (basic) stem appears in Old Aramaic (J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire [BibOr], 114; DNWSI 1:730.) In this case one might translate, “attackers gathered together against me though I was not aware of it” (cf. NASB “smiters”; NEB, NRSV “ruffians”; NIV “attackers”).

[35:15]  ³ tn Heb “they tore and did not keep quiet.” By using the verb “tear,” the psalmist likens his enemies to a wild animal (see Hos 13:8). In v. 17 he compares them to hungry young lions.

[53:6]  ⁴ tn This refers metonymically to God, the one who lives in Zion and provides deliverance for Israel.

[53:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “turns with a turning [toward] his people.” The Hebrew term שְׁבוּת (shÿvut) is apparently a cognate accusative of שׁוּב (shuv).

[53:6]  ⁶ tn The verb form is jussive.

[53:6]  ⁷ tn Because the parallel verb is jussive, this verb, which is ambiguous in form, should be taken as a jussive as well.

[63:11]  ⁸ sn The psalmist probably refers to himself in the third person here.

[63:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “who swears [an oath] by him.”

[63:11]  ¹⁰ tn The Niphal of this verb occurs only here and in Gen 8:2, where it is used of God “stopping” or “damming up” the great deep as he brought the flood to an end.