Mazmur 5:11

5:11 But may all who take shelter ¹  in you be happy! ² 

May they continually ³  shout for joy! ⁴ 

Shelter them ⁵  so that those who are loyal to you ⁶  may rejoice! ⁷ 

Mazmur 8:2

8:2 From the mouths of children and nursing babies

you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, ⁸ 

so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy. ⁹ 

Mazmur 28:1

Psalm 28 ¹⁰ 

By David.

28:1 To you, O Lord, I cry out!

My protector, ¹¹  do not ignore me! ¹² 

If you do not respond to me, ¹³ 

I will join ¹⁴  those who are descending into the grave. ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 31:2

31:2 Listen to me! ¹⁶ 

Quickly deliver me!

Be my protector and refuge, ¹⁷ 

a stronghold where I can be safe! ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 37:34

37:34 Rely ¹⁹  on the Lord! Obey his commands! ²⁰ 

Then he will permit you ²¹  to possess the land;

you will see the demise of evil men. ²² 

Mazmur 40:14

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

be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ²³ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ²⁴ 

Mazmur 43:4

43:4 Then I will go ²⁵  to the altar of God,

to the God who gives me ecstatic joy, ²⁶ 

so that I express my thanks to you, ²⁷  O God, my God, with a harp.

Mazmur 44:2

44:2 You, by your power, ²⁸  defeated nations and settled our fathers on their land; ²⁹ 

you crushed ³⁰  the people living there ³¹  and enabled our ancestors to occupy it. ³² 

Mazmur 59:5

59:5 You, O Lord God, the invincible warrior, ³³  the God of Israel,

rouse yourself and punish ³⁴  all the nations!

Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers! (Selah)

Mazmur 62:3

62:3 How long will you threaten ³⁵  a man?

All of you are murderers, ³⁶ 

as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 77:1

Psalm 77 ³⁸ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of Asaph.

77:1 I will cry out to God ³⁹  and call for help!

I will cry out to God and he will pay attention ⁴⁰  to me.

Mazmur 78:4

78:4 we will not hide from their ⁴¹  descendants.

We will tell the next generation

about the Lord’s praiseworthy acts, ⁴² 

about his strength and the amazing things he has done.

Mazmur 109:16

109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; ⁴³ 

he harassed the oppressed and needy,

and killed the disheartened. ⁴⁴ 

Mazmur 111:9

111:9 He delivered his people; ⁴⁵ 

he ordained that his covenant be observed forever. ⁴⁶ 

His name is holy and awesome.

Mazmur 119:75

119:75 I know, Lord, that your regulations ⁴⁷  are just.

You disciplined me because of your faithful devotion to me. ⁴⁸ 

Mazmur 135:7

135:7 He causes the clouds to arise from the end of the earth,

makes lightning bolts accompany the rain,

and brings the wind out of his storehouses.

Mazmur 140:10

140:10 May he rain down ⁴⁹  fiery coals upon them!

May he throw them into the fire!

From bottomless pits they will not escape. ⁵⁰ 

[5:11]  ¹ sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[5:11]  ² tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer. The psalmist calls on God to reward his faithful followers.

[5:11]  ³ tn Or perhaps more hyperbolically, “forever.”

[5:11]  ⁴ tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer.

[5:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “put a cover over them.” The verb form is a Hiphil imperfect from סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “cover, shut off”). The imperfect expresses the psalmist’s wish or request.

[5:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “the lovers of your name.” The phrase refers to those who are loyal to the Lord. See Pss 69:36; 119:132; Isa 56:6.

[5:11]  ⁷ tn The vav (ו) with prefixed verbal form following the volitional “shelter them” indicates purpose or result (“so that those…may rejoice).

[8:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “you establish strength because of your foes.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation follows the reading of the LXX which has “praise” (αἶνος, ainos) in place of “strength” (עֹז, ’oz); cf. NIV, NCV, NLT.

[8:2]  ⁹ tn Heb “to cause to cease an enemy and an avenger.” The singular forms are collective. The Hitpael participle of נָקַם (naqam) also occurs in Ps 44:16.

[28:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 28. The author looks to the Lord for vindication, asks that the wicked be repaid in full for their evil deeds, and affirms his confidence that the Lord will protect his own.

[28:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my rocky summit.” The Lord is compared to a rocky summit where one can find protection from enemies. See Ps 18:2.

[28:1]  ¹² tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”

[28:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”

[28:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[28:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[31:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[31:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “become for me a rocky summit of refuge.”

[31:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “a house of strongholds to deliver me.”

[37:34]  ¹⁹ tn Or “wait.”

[37:34]  ²⁰ tn Heb “keep his way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord. In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.

[37:34]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he will lift you up.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) is best taken here as a result clause following the imperatives in the preceding lines.

[37:34]  ²² tn Heb “when evil men are cut off you will see.”

[40:14]  ²³ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ²⁴ 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.

[43:4]  ²⁵ tn The cohortative expresses the psalmist’s resolve. Prefixed with the vav (ו) conjunctive it also expresses the result or outcome of the preceding verbs “lead” and “escort.”

[43:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “to God, the joy of my happiness.” The phrase “joy of my happiness” employs an appositional genitive. Synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the degree of the psalmist’s joy. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[43:4]  ²⁷ tn The cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive probably indicates purpose (“so that”) or intention.

[44:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “you, your hand.”

[44:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “dispossessed nations and planted them.” The third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1). See Ps 80:8, 15.

[44:2]  ³⁰ tn The verb form in the Hebrew text is a Hiphil preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive) from רָעַע (ra’a’, “be evil; be bad”). If retained it apparently means, “you injured; harmed.” Some prefer to derive the verb from רָעַע (“break”; cf. NEB “breaking up the peoples”), in which case the form must be revocalized as Qal (since this verb is unattested in the Hiphil).

[44:2]  ³¹ tn Or “peoples.”

[44:2]  ³² tn Heb “and you sent them out.” The translation assumes that the third masculine plural pronoun “them” refers to the fathers (v. 1), as in the preceding parallel line. See Ps 80:11, where Israel, likened to a vine, “spreads out” its tendrils to the west and east. Another option is to take the “peoples” as the referent of the pronoun and translate, “and you sent them away,” though this does not provide as tight a parallel with the corresponding line.

[59:5]  ³³ tn Heb “Lord, God, Hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’elohey) before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”). See Ps 89:9, but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yÿhvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 80:4, 19; 84:8 as well.

[59:5]  ³⁴ tn Heb “wake up to punish” (see Pss 35:23; 44:23).

[62:3]  ³⁵ tn The verb form is plural; the psalmist addresses his enemies. The verb הוּת occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “shout at.”

[62:3]  ³⁶ tn The Hebrew text has a Pual (passive) form, but the verb form should be vocalized as a Piel (active) form. See BDB 953-54 s.v. רָצַח.

[62:3]  ³⁷ tn Heb “like a bent wall and a broken fence.” The point of the comparison is not entirely clear. Perhaps the enemies are depicted as dangerous, like a leaning wall or broken fence that is in danger of falling on someone (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:69).

[77:1]  ³⁸ sn Psalm 77. The psalmist recalls how he suffered through a time of doubt, but tells how he found encouragement and hope as he recalled the way in which God delivered Israel at the Red Sea.

[77:1]  ³⁹ tn Heb “my voice to God.” The Hebrew verb קָרָא (qara’, “to call out; to cry out”) should probably be understood by ellipsis (see Ps 3:4) both here and in the following (parallel) line.

[77:1]  ⁴⁰ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive is best taken as future here (although some translations render this as a past tense; cf. NEB, NIV). The psalmist expresses his confidence that God will respond to his prayer. This mood of confidence seems premature (see vv. 3-4), but v. 1 probably reflects the psalmist’s attitude at the end of the prayer (see vv. 13-20). Having opened with an affirmation of confidence, he then retraces how he gained confidence during his trial (see vv. 2-12).

[78:4]  ⁴¹ tn The pronominal suffix refers back to the “fathers” (“our ancestors,” v. 3).

[78:4]  ⁴² tn Heb “to a following generation telling the praises of the Lord.” “Praises” stand by metonymy for the mighty acts that prompt worship. Cf. Ps 9:14.

[109:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”

[109:16]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”

[111:9]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “redemption he sent for his people.”

[111:9]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “he commanded forever his covenant.”

[119:75]  ⁴⁷ 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]  ⁴⁸ tn Heb “and [in] faithfulness you afflicted me.”

[140:10]  ⁴⁹ tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.

[140:10]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “into bottomless pits, they will not arise.” The translation assumes that the preposition -בְּ (bet) has the nuance “from” here. Another option is to connect the line with what precedes, take the final clause as an asyndetic relative clause, and translate, “into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot arise.” The Hebrew noun מַהֲמֹרָה (mahamorah, “bottomless pit”) occurs only here in the OT.