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 9:12

9:12 For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; ¹⁰ 

he did not overlook ¹¹  their cry for help ¹² 

Mazmur 12:5

12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ¹³ 

because of the painful cries ¹⁴  of the needy,

I will spring into action,” ¹⁵  says the Lord.

“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 28:1

Psalm 28 ¹⁷ 

By David.

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

My protector, ¹⁸  do not ignore me! ¹⁹ 

If you do not respond to me, ²⁰ 

I will join ²¹  those who are descending into the grave. ²² 

Mazmur 28:7

28:7 The Lord strengthens and protects me; ²³ 

I trust in him with all my heart. ²⁴ 

I am rescued ²⁵  and my heart is full of joy; ²⁶ 

I will sing to him in gratitude. ²⁷ 

Mazmur 45:4

45:4 Appear in your majesty and be victorious! ²⁸ 

Ride forth for the sake of what is right, ²⁹ 

on behalf of justice! ³⁰ 

Then your right hand will accomplish mighty acts! ³¹ 

Mazmur 48:8

48:8 We heard about God’s mighty deeds, now we have seen them, ³² 

in the city of the Lord, the invincible Warrior, ³³ 

in the city of our God.

God makes it permanently secure. ³⁴  (Selah)

Mazmur 65:5

65:5 You answer our prayers by performing awesome acts of deliverance,

O God, our savior. ³⁵ 

All the ends of the earth trust in you, ³⁶ 

as well as those living across the wide seas. ³⁷ 

Mazmur 79:10

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ³⁸ 

Mazmur 144:2

144:2 who loves me ³⁹  and is my stronghold,

my refuge ⁴⁰  and my deliverer,

my shield and the one in whom I take shelter,

who makes nations submit to me. ⁴¹ 

[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.

[9:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for the one who seeks shed blood remembered them.” The idiomatic expression “to seek shed blood” seems to carry the idea “to seek payment/restitution for one’s shed blood.” The plural form דָּמִים (damim, “shed blood”) occurs only here as the object of דָּרַשׁ (darash); the singular form דָּם (dam, “blood”) appears with the verb in Gen 9:5; 42:22; Ezek 33:6. “Them,” the pronominal object of the verb “remembered,” refers to the oppressed, mentioned specifically in the next line, so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “did not forget.”

[9:12]  ¹² tn Heb “the cry for help of the oppressed.” In this context the “oppressed” are the psalmist and those he represents, whom the hostile nations have threatened.

[12:5]  ¹³ tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.

[12:5]  ¹⁴ tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).

[12:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “I will rise up.”

[12:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the Lord would be promising protection to those who have the courage to support the oppressed in the court of law. However, the first part of the verse focuses on the oppressed, not their advocates.

[28:1]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “do not be deaf from me.”

[28:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “lest [if] you are silent from me.”

[28:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will be equal with.”

[28:1]  ²² tn Heb “the pit.” The noun בּוֹר (bor, “pit, cistern”) is sometimes used of the grave and/or the realm of the dead.

[28:7]  ²³ tn Heb “The Lord [is] my strength and my shield.”

[28:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “in him my heart trusts.”

[28:7]  ²⁵ tn Or “I am helped.”

[28:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and my heart exults.”

[28:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and from my song I will thank him.” As pointed in the Hebrew text, מִשִּׁירִי (mishiri) appears to be “from my song,” but the preposition “from” never occurs elsewhere with the verb “to thank” (Hiphil of יָדָה, yadah). Perhaps משׁיר is a noun form meaning “song.” If so, it can be taken as an adverbial accusative, “and [with] my song I will thank him.” See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 236.

[45:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and your majesty, be successful.” The syntax is awkward. The phrase “and your majesty” at the beginning of the verse may be accidentally repeated (dittography); it appears at the end of v. 3.

[45:4]  ²⁹ tn Or “for the sake of truth.”

[45:4]  ³⁰ tc The precise meaning of the MT is uncertain. The form עַנְוָה (’anvah) occurs only here. One could emend the text to עֲנָוָה וְצֶדֶק (’anavah vÿtsedeq, “[for the sake of truth], humility, and justice”). In this case “humility” would perhaps allude to the king’s responsibility to “serve” his people by promoting justice (cf. NIV “in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness”). The present translation assumes an emendation to יַעַן (ya’an, “because; on account of”) which would form a suitable parallel to עַל־דְּבַר (’al-dÿvar, “because; for the sake of”) in the preceding line.

[45:4]  ³¹ tn Heb “and your right hand will teach you mighty acts”; or “and may your right hand teach you mighty acts.” After the imperatives in the first half of the verse, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive likely indicates purpose (“so that your right hand might teach you mighty acts”) or result (see the present translation). The “right hand” here symbolizes the king’s military strength. His right hand will “teach” him mighty acts by performing them and thereby causing him to experience their magnificence.

[48:8]  ³² tn Heb “As we have heard, so we have seen.” The community had heard about God’s mighty deeds in the nation’s history. Having personally witnessed his saving power with their own eyes, they could now affirm that the tradition was not exaggerated or inaccurate.

[48:8]  ³³ tn Heb “the Lord of hosts.” The title “Lord of hosts” here pictures the Lord as a mighty warrior-king who leads armies into battle (see Pss 24:10; 46:7, 11).

[48:8]  ³⁴ tn Or “God makes it secure forever.” The imperfect highlights the characteristic nature of the generalizing statement.

[65:5]  ³⁵ tn Heb “[with] awesome acts in deliverance you answer us, O God of our salvation.”

[65:5]  ³⁶ tn Heb “a source of confidence [for] all the ends of the earth.”

[65:5]  sn All the ends of the earth trust in you. This idealistic portrayal of universal worship is typical hymnic hyperbole, though it does anticipate eschatological reality.

[65:5]  ³⁷ tc Heb “and [the] distant sea.” The plural adjective is problematic after the singular form “sea.” One could emend יָם (yam, “sea”) to יָמִים (yamim, “seas”), or emend the plural form רְחֹקִים (rÿkhoqim, “far”) to the singular רָחֹק (rakhoq). In this case the final mem (ם) could be treated as dittographic; note the mem on the beginning of the first word in v. 6.

[79:10]  ³⁸ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[144:2]  ³⁹ tn Heb “my loyal love,” which is probably an abbreviated form of “the God of my loyal love” (see Ps 59:10, 17).

[144:2]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “my elevated place.”

[144:2]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “the one who subdues nations beneath me.”