Mazmur 73:4

73:4 For they suffer no pain; ¹ 

their bodies ²  are strong and well-fed. ³ 

Mazmur 73:7

73:7 Their prosperity causes them to do wrong; ⁴ 

their thoughts are sinful. ⁵ 

Mazmur 109:24

109:24 I am so starved my knees shake; ⁶ 

I have turned into skin and bones. ⁷ 

Mazmur 66:15

66:15 I will offer up to you fattened animals as burnt sacrifices,

along with the smell of sacrificial rams.

I will offer cattle and goats. (Selah)

Mazmur 17:10

17:10 They are calloused; ⁸ 

they speak arrogantly. ⁹ 

Mazmur 22:29

22:29 All of the thriving people ¹⁰  of the earth will join the celebration and worship; ¹¹ 

all those who are descending into the grave ¹²  will bow before him,

including those who cannot preserve their lives. ¹³ 

Mazmur 92:14

92:14 They bear fruit even when they are old;

they are filled with vitality and have many leaves. ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 119:70

119:70 Their hearts are calloused, ¹⁵ 

but I find delight in your law.

Mazmur 63:5

63:5 As if with choice meat ¹⁶  you satisfy my soul. ¹⁷ 

My mouth joyfully praises you, ¹⁸ 

Mazmur 78:31

78:31 when the anger of God flared up against them.

He killed some of the strongest of them;

he brought the young men of Israel to their knees.

Mazmur 65:9

65:9 You visit the earth and give it rain; ¹⁹ 

you make it rich and fertile ²⁰ 

with overflowing streams full of water. ²¹ 

You provide grain for them, ²² 

for you prepare the earth to yield its crops. ²³ 

[73:4]  ¹ tn In Isa 58:6, the only other occurrence of this word in the OT, the term refers to “bonds” or “ropes.” In Ps 73:4 it is used metaphorically of pain and suffering that restricts one’s enjoyment of life.

[73:4]  ² tn Or “bellies.”

[73:4]  ³ tc Or “fat.” The MT of v. 4 reads as follows: “for there are no pains at their death, and fat [is] their body.” Since a reference to the death of the wicked seems incongruous in the immediate context (note v. 5) and premature in the argument of the psalm (see vv. 18-20, 27), some prefer to emend the text by redividing it. The term לְמוֹתָם (lÿmotam,“at their death”) is changed to לָמוֹ תָּם (lamo tam, “[there are no pains] to them, strong [and fat are their bodies]”). The term תָּם (tam, “complete; sound”) is used of physical beauty in Song 5:2; 6:9. This emendation is the basis for the present translation. However, in defense of the MT (the traditional Hebrew text), one may point to an Aramaic inscription from Nerab which views a painful death as a curse and a nonpainful death in one’s old age as a sign of divine favor. See ANET 661.

[73:7]  ⁴ tc The MT reads “it goes out from fatness their eye,” which might be paraphrased, “their eye protrudes [or “bulges”] because of fatness.” This in turn might refer to their greed; their eyes “bug out” when they see rich food or produce (the noun חֵלֶב [khelev, “fatness”] sometimes refers to such food or produce). However, when used with the verb יָצָא (yatsa’, “go out”) the preposition מִן (“from”) more naturally indicates source. For this reason it is preferable to emend עֵינֵמוֹ (’enemo, “their eye”) to עֲוֹנָמוֹ, (’avonamo, “their sin”) and read, “and their sin proceeds forth from fatness,” that is, their prosperity gives rise to their sinful attitudes. If one follows this textual reading, another interpretive option is to take חֵלֶב (“fatness”) in the sense of “unreceptive, insensitive” (see its use in Ps 17:10). In this case, the sin of the wicked proceeds forth from their spiritual insensitivity.

[73:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “the thoughts of [their] heart [i.e., mind] cross over” (i.e., violate God’s moral boundary, see Ps 17:3).

[109:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”

[109:24]  ⁷ tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”

[17:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “their fat they close.” The Hebrew term חֵלֶב (khelev, “fat”) appears to stand by metonymy for their calloused hearts. They attack the psalmist without feeling any pity or remorse. Some propose emending the text to חֵלֶב לִבָּמוֹ (khelev libbamo, “fat of their heart[s]; cf. Ps 119:70, “their heart is insensitive like fat”). This assumes haplography of the לב (lamed-bet) consonantal sequence.

[17:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “[with] their mouth they speak with arrogance.”

[22:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “fat [ones].” This apparently refers to those who are healthy and robust, i.e., thriving. In light of the parallelism, some prefer to emend the form to יְשֵׁנֵי (yÿsheney, “those who sleep [in the earth]”; cf. NAB, NRSV), but דִּשְׁנֵי (dishney, “fat [ones]”) seems to form a merism with “all who descend into the grave” in the following line. The psalmist envisions all people, whether healthy or dying, joining in worship of the Lord.

[22:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “eat and worship.” The verb forms (a perfect followed by a prefixed form with vav [ו] consecutive) are normally used in narrative to relate completed actions. Here the psalmist uses the forms rhetorically as he envisions a time when the Lord will receive universal worship. The mood is one of wishful thinking and anticipation; this is not prophecy in the strict sense.

[22:29]  ¹² tn Heb “all of the ones going down [into] the dust.” This group stands in contrast to those mentioned in the previous line. Together the two form a merism encompassing all human beings – the healthy, the dying, and everyone in between.

[22:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “and his life he does not revive.”

[92:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they are juicy and fresh.”

[119:70]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “their heart is insensitive like fat.”

[63:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “like fat and fatness.”

[63:5]  ¹⁷ tn Or “me.”

[63:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and [with] lips of joy my mouth praises.”

[65:9]  ¹⁹ tn The verb form is a Polel from שׁוּק (shuq, “be abundant”), a verb which appears only here and in Joel 2:24 and 3:13, where it is used in the Hiphil stem and means “overflow.”

[65:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “you greatly enrich it.”

[65:9]  ²¹ tn Heb “[with] a channel of God full of water.” The divine name is probably used here in a superlative sense to depict a very deep stream (“a stream fit for God,” as it were).

[65:9]  ²² tn The pronoun apparently refers to the people of the earth, mentioned in v. 8.

[65:9]  ²³ tn Heb “for thus [referring to the provision of rain described in the first half of the verse] you prepare it.” The third feminine singular pronominal suffix attached to the verb “prepare” refers back to the “earth,” which is a feminine noun with regard to grammatical form.