Mazmur 40:14-16

40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life

be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ¹ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ² 

40:15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”

be humiliated ³  and disgraced! ⁴ 

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

May those who love to experience ⁵  your deliverance say continually, ⁶ 

“May the Lord be praised!” ⁷ 

[40:14]  ¹ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ² tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse (“may those…be…embarrassed and ashamed…may those…be turned back and ashamed”) are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[40:14]  sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.

[40:15]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive in this imprecation.

[40:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “May they be humiliated according to their shame, those who say to me, ‘Aha! Aha!’”

[40:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who love,” which stands metonymically for its cause, the experience of being delivered by the Lord.

[40:16]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.