Mazmur 5:5

5:5 Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence; ¹ 

you hate ²  all who behave wickedly. ³ 

Mazmur 14:4

14:4 All those who behave wickedly ⁴  do not understand – ⁵ 

those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,

and do not call out to the Lord.

Mazmur 15:3

15:3 He ⁶  does not slander, ⁷ 

or do harm to others, ⁸ 

or insult his neighbor. ⁹ 

Mazmur 35:18

35:18 Then I will give you thanks in the great assembly; ¹⁰ 

I will praise you before a large crowd of people! ¹¹ 

Mazmur 51:12

51:12 Let me again experience the joy of your deliverance!

Sustain me by giving me the desire to obey! ¹² 

Mazmur 58:7

58:7 Let them disappear ¹³  like water that flows away! ¹⁴ 

Let them wither like grass! ¹⁵ 

Mazmur 76:12

76:12 He humbles princes; ¹⁶ 

the kings of the earth regard him as awesome. ¹⁷ 

Mazmur 102:20

102:20 in order to hear the painful cries of the prisoners,

and to set free those condemned to die, ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 135:6

135:6 He does whatever he pleases

in heaven and on earth,

in the seas and all the ocean depths.

Mazmur 140:9

140:9 As for the heads of those who surround me –

may the harm done by ¹⁹  their lips overwhelm them!

[5:5]  ¹ tn Heb “before your eyes.”

[5:5]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.”

[14:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8.

[14:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question (rendered in the translation as a positive affirmation) expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-7).

[15:3]  ⁶ sn Hebrew literature often assumes and reflects the male-oriented perspective of ancient Israelite society. The principle of the psalm is certainly applicable to all people, regardless of their gender or age.

[15:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “he does not slander upon his tongue.” For another example of רָגַל (ragal, “slander”) see 2 Sam 19:28.

[15:3]  ⁸ tn Or “his fellow.”

[15:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “and he does not lift up an insult against one who is near to him.”

[35:18]  ¹⁰ sn The great assembly is also mentioned in Ps 22:25.

[35:18]  ¹¹ tn Heb “among numerous people.”

[51:12]  ¹² tn Heb “and [with] a willing spirit sustain me.” The psalmist asks that God make him the kind of person who willingly obeys the divine commandments. The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.

[58:7]  ¹³ tn Following the imperatival forms in v. 6, the prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive expressing the psalmist’s wish. Another option is to take the form as an imperfect (indicative) and translate, “they will scatter” (see v. 9). The verb מָאַס (ma’as; which is a homonym of the more common מָאַס, “to refuse, reject”) appears only here and in Job 7:5, where it is used of a festering wound from which fluid runs or flows.

[58:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “like water, they go about for themselves.” The translation assumes that the phrase “they go about for themselves” is an implied relative clause modifying “water.” Another option is to take the clause as independent and parallel to what precedes. In this case the enemies would be the subject and the verb could be taken as jussive, “let them wander about.”

[58:7]  ¹⁵ tc The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult and the meaning uncertain. The text reads literally, “he treads his arrows (following the Qere; Kethib has “his arrow”), like they are cut off/dry up.” It is not clear if the verbal root is מָלַל (malal, “circumcise”; BDB 576 s.v. IV מָלַל) or the homonymic מָלַל (“wither”; HALOT 593-94 s.v. I מלל). Since the verb מָלַל (“to wither”) is used of vegetation, it is possible that the noun חָצִיר (khatsir, “grass,” which is visually similar to חִצָּיו, khitsayv, “his arrows”) originally appeared in the text. The translation above assumes that the text originally was כְּמוֹ חָצִיר יִתְמֹלָלוּ(kÿmo khatsir yitmolalu, “like grass let them wither”). If original, it could have been accidentally corrupted to חִצָּיר כְּמוֹ יִתְמֹלָלוּ (“his arrow(s) like they dry up”) with דָּרַךְ (darakh, “to tread”) being added later in an effort to make sense of “his arrow(s).”

[76:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he reduces the spirit of princes.” According to HALOT 148 s.v. II בצר, the Hebrew verb בָּצַר (batsar) is here a hapax legomenon meaning “reduce, humble.” The statement is generalizing, with the imperfect tense highlighting God’s typical behavior.

[76:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “[he is] awesome to the kings of the earth.”

[102:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the sons of death.” The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 79:11) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.

[140:9]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “harm of their lips.” The genitive here indicates the source or agent of the harm.