Mazmur 5:4-5

5:4 Certainly ¹  you are not a God who approves of evil; ² 

evil people ³  cannot dwell with you. ⁴ 

5:5 Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence; ⁵ 

you hate ⁶  all who behave wickedly. ⁷ 

Mazmur 7:7

7:7 The countries are assembled all around you; ⁸ 

take once more your rightful place over them! ⁹ 

Mazmur 10:4

10:4 The wicked man is so arrogant he always thinks,

“God won’t hold me accountable; he doesn’t care.” ¹⁰ 

Mazmur 14:3

14:3 Everyone rejects God; ¹¹ 

they are all morally corrupt. ¹² 

None of them does what is right, ¹³ 

not even one!

Mazmur 15:4

15:4 He despises a reprobate, ¹⁴ 

but honors the Lord’s loyal followers. ¹⁵ 

He makes firm commitments and does not renege on his promise. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 25:6

25:6 Remember ¹⁷  your compassionate and faithful deeds, O Lord,

for you have always acted in this manner. ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 28:3

28:3 Do not drag me away with evil men,

with those who behave wickedly, ¹⁹ 

who talk so friendly to their neighbors, ²⁰ 

while they plan to harm them! ²¹ 

Mazmur 34:18

34:18 The Lord is near the brokenhearted;

he delivers ²²  those who are discouraged. ²³ 

Mazmur 49:7

49:7 Certainly a man cannot rescue his brother; ²⁴ 

he cannot pay God an adequate ransom price ²⁵ 

Mazmur 53:3

53:3 Everyone rejects God; ²⁶ 

they are all morally corrupt. ²⁷ 

None of them does what is right, ²⁸ 

not even one!

Mazmur 58:3

58:3 The wicked turn aside from birth; ²⁹ 

liars go astray as soon as they are born. ³⁰ 

Mazmur 99:8

99:8 O Lord our God, you answered them.

They found you to be a forgiving God,

but also one who punished their sinful deeds. ³¹ 

[5:4]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[5:4]  ² tn Heb “not a God [who] delights [in] wickedness [are] you.”

[5:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has simply the singular form רע, which may be taken as an abstract noun “evil” (the reference to “wickedness” in the preceding line favors this; cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) or as a substantival adjective “evil one” (the references to evil people in the next two verses favor this; cf. NIV “with you the wicked cannot dwell”).

[5:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “cannot dwell as a resident alien [with] you.” The negated imperfect verbal form here indicates incapability or lack of permission. These people are morally incapable of dwelling in God’s presence and are not permitted to do so.

[5:4]  sn Only the godly are allowed to dwell with the Lord. Evil people are excluded. See Ps 15.

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “before your eyes.”

[5:5]  ⁶ sn You hate. The Lord “hates” the wicked in the sense that he despises their wicked character and deeds and actively opposes and judges them for their wickedness. See Ps 11:5.

[5:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.”

[7:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “and the assembly of the peoples surrounds you.” Some understand the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may the assembly of the peoples surround you.”

[7:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “over it (the feminine suffix refers back to the feminine noun “assembly” in the preceding line) on high return.” Some emend שׁוּבָה (shuvah, “return”) to שֵׁבָה (shevah, “sit [in judgment]”) because they find the implication of “return” problematic. But the psalmist does not mean to imply that God has abandoned his royal throne and needs to regain it. Rather he simply urges God, as sovereign king of the world, to once more occupy his royal seat of judgment and execute judgment, as the OT pictures God doing periodically.

[10:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “the wicked [one], according to the height of his nose, he does not seek, there is no God, all his thoughts.” The phrase “height of his nose” probably refers to an arrogant or snooty attitude; it likely pictures one with his nose turned upward toward the sky in pride. One could take the “wicked” as the subject of the negated verb “seek,” in which case the point is that the wicked do not “seek” God. The translation assumes that this statement, along with “there is no God,” is what the wicked man thinks to himself. In this case God is the subject of the verb “seek,” and the point is that God will not hold the wicked man accountable for his actions. Verse 13 strongly favors this interpretation. The statement “there is no God” is not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that he is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see v. 11).

[14:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “everyone turns aside.”

[14:3]  ¹² tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[14:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[15:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “despised in his eyes [is] a rejected [one].” The Hebrew term נִמְאָס (nim’as, “rejected [one]”) apparently refers here to one who has been rejected by God because of his godless behavior. It stands in contrast to “those who fear God” in the following line.

[15:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “those who fear the Lord.” The one who fears the Lord respects his sovereignty and obeys his commandments. See Ps 128:1; Prov 14:2.

[15:4]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he takes an oath to do harm and does not change.” The phrase “to do harm” cannot mean “do harm to others,” for the preceding verse clearly characterizes this individual as one who does not harm others. In this context the phrase must refer to an oath to which a self-imprecation is attached. The godly individual takes his commitments to others so seriously he is willing to “swear to his own hurt.” For an example of such an oath, see Ruth 1:16-17.

[25:6]  ¹⁷ tn That is, “remember” with the intention of repeating.

[25:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “for from antiquity [are] they.”

[28:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[28:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “speakers of peace with their neighbors.”

[28:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “and evil [is] in their heart[s].”

[34:18]  ²² tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form highlights the generalizing statement and draws attention to the fact that the Lord typically delivers the oppressed and needy.

[34:18]  ²³ tn Heb “the crushed in spirit.”

[49:7]  ²⁴ tn Heb “a brother, he surely does not ransom, a man.” The sequence אִישׁ...אָח (’akh...’ish, “a brother…a man”) is problematic, for the usual combination is אָח...אָח (“a brother…a brother”) or אִישׁ...אִישׁ (“a man…a man”). When אִישׁ and אָח are combined, the usual order is אָח...אִישׁ (“a man…a brother”), with “brother” having a third masculine singular suffix, “his brother.” This suggests that “brother” is the object of the verb and “man” the subject. (1) Perhaps the altered word order and absence of the suffix can be explained by the text’s poetic character, for ellipsis is a feature of Hebrew poetic style. (2) Another option, supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss, is to emend “brother” to the similar sounding אַךְ (’akh, “surely; but”) which occurs in v. 15 before the verb פָּדָה (padah, “ransom”). If this reading is accepted the Qal imperfect יִפְדֶּה (yifddeh, “he can [not] ransom”) would need to be emended to a Niphal (passive) form, יִפָּדֶה (yifadeh, “he can[not] be ransomed”) unless one understands the subject of the Qal verb to be indefinite (“one cannot redeem a man”). (A Niphal imperfect can be collocated with a Qal infinitive absolute. See GKC 344-45 §113.w.) No matter how one decides the textual issues, the imperfect in this case is modal, indicating potential, and the infinitive absolute emphasizes the statement.

[49:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “he cannot pay to God his ransom price.” Num 35:31 may supply the legal background for the metaphorical language used here. The psalmist pictures God as having a claim on the soul of the individual. When God comes to claim the life that ultimately belongs to him, he demands a ransom price that is beyond the capability of anyone to pay. The psalmist’s point is that God has ultimate authority over life and death; all the money in the world cannot buy anyone a single day of life beyond what God has decreed.

[53:3]  ²⁶ tn Heb “all of it turns away.” Ps 14:1 has הָכֹּל (hakkol) instead of כֻּלּוֹ, and סָר (sar, “turn aside”) instead of סָג (sag, “turn away”).

[53:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[53:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[58:3]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[58:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “speakers of a lie go astray from the womb.”

[99:8]  ³¹ tn Heb “a God of lifting up [i.e., forgiveness] you were to them, and an avenger concerning their deeds.” The present translation reflects the traditional interpretation, which understands the last line as qualifying the preceding one. God forgave Moses and Aaron, but he also disciplined them when they sinned (cf. NIV, NRSV). Another option is to take “their deeds” as referring to harmful deeds directed against Moses and Aaron. In this case the verse may be translated, “and one who avenged attacks against them.” Still another option is to emend the participial form נֹקֵם (noqem, “an avenger”) to נֹקָם (noqam), a rare Qal participial form of נָקַה (naqah, “purify”) with a suffixed pronoun. In this case one could translate, “and one who purified them from their [sinful] deeds” (cf. NEB “and held them innocent”).