Mazmur 4:2

4:2 You men, ¹  how long will you try to turn my honor into shame? ² 

How long ³  will you love what is worthless ⁴ 

and search for what is deceptive? ⁵  (Selah)

Mazmur 13:1

Psalm 13 ⁶ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? ⁷ 

How long will you pay no attention to me? ⁸ 

Mazmur 40:16

40:16 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!

May those who love to experience ⁹  your deliverance say continually, ¹⁰ 

“May the Lord be praised!” ¹¹ 

Mazmur 52:5

52:5 Yet ¹²  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ¹³ 

He will scoop you up ¹⁴  and remove you from your home; ¹⁵ 

he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

Mazmur 52:8

52:8 But I ¹⁶  am like a flourishing ¹⁷  olive tree in the house of God;

I continually ¹⁸  trust in God’s loyal love.

Mazmur 60:6

60:6 God has spoken in his sanctuary: ¹⁹ 

“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem;

the Valley of Succoth I will measure off. ²⁰ 

Mazmur 68:16

68:16 Why do you look with envy, ²¹  O mountains ²²  with many peaks,

at the mountain where God has decided to live? ²³ 

Indeed ²⁴  the Lord will live there ²⁵  permanently!

Mazmur 69:14

69:14 Rescue me from the mud! Don’t let me sink!

Deliver me ²⁶  from those who hate me,

from the deep water!

Mazmur 70:2

70:2 May those who are trying to take my life

be embarrassed and ashamed! ²⁷ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ²⁸ 

Mazmur 70:4

70:4 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!

May those who love to experience ²⁹  your deliverance say continually, ³⁰ 

“May God ³¹  be praised!” ³² 

Mazmur 72:17

72:17 May his fame endure! ³³ 

May his dynasty last as long as the sun remains in the sky! ³⁴ 

May they use his name when they formulate their blessings! ³⁵ 

May all nations consider him to be favored by God! ³⁶ 

Mazmur 74:9

74:9 We do not see any signs of God’s presence; ³⁷ 

there are no longer any prophets ³⁸ 

and we have no one to tell us how long this will last. ³⁹ 

Mazmur 106:9

106:9 He shouted at ⁴⁰  the Red Sea and it dried up;

he led them through the deep water as if it were a desert.

Mazmur 126:2

126:2 At that time we laughed loudly

and shouted for joy. ⁴¹ 

At that time the nations said, ⁴² 

“The Lord has accomplished great things for these people.”

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “sons of man.”

[4:2]  ² tn Heb “how long my honor to shame?”

[4:2]  ³ tn The interrogative construction עַד־מֶה (’ad-meh, “how long?”), is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “emptiness.”

[4:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “a lie.” Some see the metonymic language of v. 2b (“emptiness, lie”) as referring to idols or false gods. However, there is no solid immediate contextual evidence for such an interpretation. It is more likely that the psalmist addresses those who threaten him (see v. 1) and refers in a general way to their sinful lifestyle. (See R. Mosis, TDOT 7:121.) The two terms allude to the fact that sinful behavior is ultimately fruitless and self-destructive.

[13:1]  ⁶ sn Psalm 13. The psalmist, who is close to death, desperately pleads for God’s deliverance and affirms his trust in God’s faithfulness.

[13:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”

[13:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”

[40:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “those who love,” which stands metonymically for its cause, the experience of being delivered by the Lord.

[40:16]  ¹⁰ tn The three prefixed verbal forms prior to the quotation are understood as jussives. The psalmist balances out his imprecation against his enemies with a prayer of blessing upon the godly.

[40:16]  ¹¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great” (cf. NRSV). See Ps 35:27.

[52:5]  ¹² tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.

[52:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ¹⁴ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[52:8]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.

[52:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”

[52:8]  ¹⁸ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”

[60:6]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in his holy place.”

[60:6]  ²⁰ sn Shechem stands for the territory west of the Jordan, the Valley of Succoth for the region east of the Jordan.

[68:16]  ²¹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew verb רָצַד (ratsad), translated here “look with envy,” is uncertain; it occurs only here in the OT. See BDB 952-53. A cognate verb occurs in later Aramaic with the meaning “to lie in wait; to watch” (Jastrow 1492 s.v. רְצַד).

[68:16]  ²² tn Perhaps the apparent plural form should be read as a singular with enclitic mem (ם; later misinterpreted as a plural ending). The preceding verse has the singular form.

[68:16]  ²³ tn Heb “[at] the mountain God desires for his dwelling place.” The reference is to Mount Zion/Jerusalem.

[68:16]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew particle אַף (’af) has an emphasizing function here.

[68:16]  ²⁵ tn The word “there” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[69:14]  ²⁶ tn Heb “let me be delivered.”

[70:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed, the ones seeking my life.” Ps 40:14 has “together” after “ashamed,” and “to snatch it away” after “my life.”

[70:2]  ²⁸ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[70:2]  sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.

[70:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “those who love,” which stands metonymically for its cause, the experience of being delivered by God.

[70:4]  ³⁰ tn The three prefixed verbal forms prior to the quotation are understood as jussives. The psalmist balances out his imprecation against his enemies with a prayer of blessing on the godly.

[70:4]  ³¹ tn Ps 40:16 uses the divine name “Lord” here instead of “God.”

[70:4]  ³² tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great.” See Ps 35:27.

[72:17]  ³³ tn Heb “may his name [be] permanent.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect.

[72:17]  ³⁴ tn Heb “before the sun may his name increase.” The Kethib (consonantal text) assumes יָנִין (yanin; a Hiphil of the verbal root נִין, nin) or יְנַיֵן (yÿnayen; a Piel form), while the Qere (marginal reading) assumes יִנּוֹן (yinnon; a Niphal form). The verb נִין occurs only here, though a derived noun, meaning “offspring,” appears elsewhere (see Isa 14:22). The verb appears to mean “propagate, increase” (BDB 630 s.v. נוּן, נִין) or “produce shoots, get descendants” (HALOT 696 s.v. נין). In this context this appears to be a prayer for a lasting dynasty that will keep the king’s name and memory alive.

[72:17]  ³⁵ tn Heb “may they bless one another by him,” that is, use the king’s name in their blessing formulae because he is a prime example of one blessed by God (for examples of such blessing formulae, see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11). There is some debate on whether the Hitpael form of בָּרַךְ (barakh, “bless”) is reflexive-reciprocal (as assumed in the present translation) or passive. The Hitpael of בָּרַךְ occurs in five other passages, including the hotly debated Gen 22:18 and 26:4. In these two texts one could understand the verb form as passive and translate, “all the nations of the earth will be blessed through your offspring,” or one could take the Hitpael as reflexive or reciprocal and translate, “all the nations of the earth will pronounce blessings [i.e., on themselves or one another] by your offspring.” In the first instance Abraham’s (or Isaac’s) offspring are viewed as a channel of divine blessing. In the second instance they are viewed as a prime example of blessing that will appear as part of the nations’ blessing formulae, but not necessarily as a channel of blessing to the nations. In Deut 29:18 one reads: “When one hears the words of this covenant [or “oath”] and invokes a blessing on himself (Hitpael of בָּרַךְ) in his heart, saying: ‘I will have peace, even though I walk with a rebellious heart.’” In this case the Hitpael is clearly reflexive, as the phrases “in his heart” and “I will have peace” indicate. The Hitpael of בָּרַךְ appears twice in Isaiah 65:16: “The one who invokes a blessing on himself (see Deut 9:18) in the land will invoke that blessing by the God of truth; and the one who makes an oath in the land will make that oath by the God of truth.” A passive nuance does not fit here. The parallel line, which mentions making an oath, suggests that the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ refers here to invoking a blessing. Both pronouncements of blessing and oaths will appeal to God as the one who rewards and judges, respectively. Jer 4:2 states: “If you swear, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ with truth, integrity, and honesty, then the nations will pronounce blessings by him and boast in him.” A passive nuance might work (“the nations will be blessed”), but the context refers to verbal pronouncements (swearing an oath, boasting), suggesting that the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ refers here to invoking a blessing. The logic of the verse seems to be as follows: If Israel conducts its affairs with integrity, the nation will be favored by the Lord, which will in turn attract the surrounding nations to Israel’s God. To summarize, while the evidence might leave the door open for a passive interpretation, there is no clear cut passive use. Usage favors a reflexive or reciprocal understanding of the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ. In Ps 72:17 the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ is followed by the prepositional phrase בוֹ (vo, “by him”). The verb could theoretically be taken as passive, “may all the nations be blessed through him” (cf. NIV, NRSV), because the preceding context describes the positive effects of this king’s rule on the inhabitants of the earth. But the parallel line, which employs the Piel of אָשַׁר (’ashar) in a factitive/declarative sense, “regard as happy, fortunate,” suggests a reflexive or reciprocal nuance for the Hitpael of בָּרַךְ here. If the nations regard the ideal king as a prime example of one who is fortunate or blessed, it is understandable that they would use his name in their pronouncements of blessing.

[72:17]  ³⁶ tn Heb “all the nations, may they regard him as happy.” The Piel is used here in a delocutive sense (“regard as”).

[74:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “our signs we do not see.” Because of the reference to a prophet in the next line, it is likely that the “signs” in view here include the evidence of God’s presence as typically revealed through the prophets. These could include miraculous acts performed by the prophets (see, for example, Isa 38:7-8) or object lessons which they acted out (see, for example, Isa 20:3).

[74:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “there is not still a prophet.”

[74:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “and [there is] not with us one who knows how long.”

[106:9]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “rebuked.”

[126:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with a shout.”

[126:2]  ⁴² tn Heb “they said among the nations.”