Mazmur 70:2

70:2 May those who are trying to take my life

be embarrassed and ashamed! ¹ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ² 

Mazmur 95:10

95:10 For forty years I was continually disgusted ³  with that generation,

and I said, ‘These people desire to go astray; ⁴ 

they do not obey my commands.’ ⁵ 

[70:2]  ¹ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed, the ones seeking my life.” Ps 40:14 has “together” after “ashamed,” and “to snatch it away” after “my life.”

[70:2]  ² tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[70:2]  sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.

[95:10]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite or an imperfect. If the latter, it emphasizes the ongoing nature of the condition in the past. The translation reflects this interpretation of the verbal form.

[95:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “a people, wanderers of heart [are] they.”

[95:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and they do not know my ways.” In this context the Lord’s “ways” are his commands, viewed as a pathway from which his people, likened to wayward sheep (see v. 7), wander.