Mazmur 5:4

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

evil people ³  cannot dwell with you. ⁴ 

Mazmur 7:7

7:7 The countries are assembled all around you; ⁵ 

take once more your rightful place over them! ⁶ 

Mazmur 14:3

14:3 Everyone rejects God; ⁷ 

they are all morally corrupt. ⁸ 

None of them does what is right, ⁹ 

not even one!

Mazmur 15:4

15:4 He despises a reprobate, ¹⁰ 

but honors the Lord’s loyal followers. ¹¹ 

He makes firm commitments and does not renege on his promise. ¹² 

Mazmur 19:12

19:12 Who can know all his errors? ¹³ 

Please do not punish me for sins I am unaware of. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 28:3

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

with those who behave wickedly, ¹⁵ 

who talk so friendly to their neighbors, ¹⁶ 

while they plan to harm them! ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 49:7

49:7 Certainly a man cannot rescue his brother; ¹⁸ 

he cannot pay God an adequate ransom price ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 51:7

51:7 Sprinkle me ²⁰  with water ²¹  and I will be pure; ²² 

wash me ²³  and I will be whiter than snow. ²⁴ 

Mazmur 53:3

53:3 Everyone rejects God; ²⁵ 

they are all morally corrupt. ²⁶ 

None of them does what is right, ²⁷ 

not even one!

Mazmur 79:8

79:8 Do not hold us accountable for the sins of earlier generations! ²⁸ 

Quickly send your compassion our way, ²⁹ 

for we are in serious trouble! ³⁰ 

Mazmur 94:23

94:23 He will pay them back for their sin. ³¹ 

He will destroy them because of ³²  their evil;

the Lord our God will destroy them.

[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.

[7:7]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[14:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “everyone turns aside.”

[14:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[14:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[15:4]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² 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.

[19:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “Errors who can discern?” This rhetorical question makes the point that perfect moral discernment is impossible to achieve. Consequently it is inevitable that even those with good intentions will sin on occasion.

[19:12]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “declare me innocent from hidden [things],” i.e., sins. In this context (see the preceding line) “hidden” sins are not sins committed in secret, but sins which are not recognized as such by the psalmist.

[28:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[28:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “speakers of peace with their neighbors.”

[28:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and evil [is] in their heart[s].”

[49:7]  ¹⁸ 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]  ¹⁹ 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.

[51:7]  ²⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “cleanse me with hyssop.” “Hyssop” was a small plant (see 1 Kgs 4:33) used to apply water (or blood) in purification rites (see Exod 12:22; Lev 14:4-6, 49-52; Num 19:6-18. The psalmist uses the language and imagery of such rites to describe spiritual cleansing through forgiveness.

[51:7]  ²² tn After the preceding imperfect, the imperfect with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates result.

[51:7]  ²³ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[51:7]  ²⁴ sn I will be whiter than snow. Whiteness here symbolizes the moral purity resulting from forgiveness (see Isa 1:18).

[53:3]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[53:3]  ²⁷ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[79:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “do not remember against us sins, former.” Some understand “former” as an attributive adjective modifying sins, “former [i.e., chronologically prior] sins” (see BDB 911 s.v. רִאשׁוֹן). The present translation assumes that ראשׁנים (“former”) here refers to those who lived formerly, that is, the people’s ancestors (see Lam 5:7). The word is used in this way in Lev 26:45; Deut 19:14 and Eccl 1:11.

[79:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “may your compassion quickly confront us.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive, indicating a tone of prayer.

[79:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “for we are very low.”

[94:23]  ³¹ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.

[94:23]  ³² tn Or “in.”