Mazmur 41:2

41:2 May the Lord protect him and save his life! ¹ 

May he be blessed ²  in the land!

Do not turn him over ³  to his enemies! ⁴ 

Mazmur 52:5

52:5 Yet ⁵  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ⁶ 

He will scoop you up ⁷  and remove you from your home; ⁸ 

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

Mazmur 91:4

91:4 He will shelter you ⁹  with his wings; ¹⁰ 

you will find safety under his wings.

His faithfulness is like a shield or a protective wall. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 96:10

96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

The world is established, it cannot be moved.

He judges the nations fairly.”

Mazmur 106:23

106:23 He threatened ¹²  to destroy them,

but ¹³  Moses, his chosen one, interceded with him ¹⁴ 

and turned back his destructive anger. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 109:16

109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; ¹⁶ 

he harassed the oppressed and needy,

and killed the disheartened. ¹⁷ 

[41:2]  ¹ tn The prefixed verbal forms are taken as jussives in the translation because the jussive is clearly used in the final line of the verse, suggesting that this is a prayer. The psalmist stops to pronounce a prayer of blessing on the godly individual envisioned in v. 1. Of course, he actually has himself primarily in view. He mixes confidence (vv. 1, 3) with petition (v. 2) because he stands in the interval between the word of assurance and the actual intervention by God.

[41:2]  ² tc The translation follows the consonantal Hebrew text (Kethib), which has a Pual (passive) prefixed form, regarded here as a jussive. The Pual of the verb אָשַׁר (’ashar) also appears in Prov 3:18. The marginal reading (Qere) assumes a vav (ו) consecutive and Pual perfect. Some, with the support of the LXX, change the verb to a Piel (active) form with an objective pronominal suffix, “and may he bless him,” or “and he will bless him” (cf. NIV).

[41:2]  ³ tn The negative particle אַל (’al) before the prefixed verbal form indicates the verb is a jussive and the statement a prayer. Those who want to take v. 2 as a statement of confidence suggest emending the negative particle to לֹא (lo’), which is used with the imperfect. See the earlier note on the verbal forms in line one of this verse. According to GKC 322 §109.e, this is a case where the jussive is used rhetorically to “express that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one might translate, “you will not turn him over to his enemies,” and take the preceding verbal forms as indicative in mood.

[41:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “do not give him over to the desire of his enemies” (see Ps 27:12).

[52:5]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ⁷ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[91:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “put a cover over you” (see Ps 5:11).

[91:4]  ¹⁰ tc The Hebrew text has the singular, but the plural should be read. The final yod (י) of the suffix, which indicates the plural, has dropped off by haplography (note the yod [י] at the beginning of the next word).

[91:4]  ¹¹ tn Traditionally the Hebrew term סֹחֵרָה (sokherah), which occurs only here in the OT, has been understood to refer to a buckler or small shield (see BDB 695 s.v.). But HALOT 750 s.v., on the basis of evidence from the cognate languages, proposes the meaning “wall.”

[106:23]  ¹² tn Heb “and he said.”

[106:23]  ¹³ tn Heb “if not,” that is, “[and would have] if [Moses] had not.”

[106:23]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “stood in the gap before him.”

[106:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “to turn back his anger from destroying.”

[106:23]  sn Verses 19-23 describe the events of Exod 32:1-35.

[109:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”

[109:16]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”