Mazmur 8:2

8:2 From the mouths of children and nursing babies

you have ordained praise on account of your adversaries, ¹ 

so that you might put an end to the vindictive enemy. ² 

Mazmur 28:5

28:5 For they do not understand the Lord’s actions,

or the way he carries out justice. ³ 

The Lord ⁴  will permanently demolish them. ⁵ 

Mazmur 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ⁶ 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Mazmur 55:15

55:15 May death destroy them! ⁷ 

May they go down alive into Sheol! ⁸ 

For evil is in their dwelling place and in their midst.

Mazmur 59:12

59:12 They speak sinful words. ⁹ 

So let them be trapped by their own pride

and by the curses and lies they speak!

Mazmur 68:11

68:11 The Lord speaks; ¹⁰ 

many, many women spread the good news. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 78:50

78:50 He sent his anger in full force; ¹² 

he did not spare them from death;

he handed their lives over to destruction. ¹³ 

Mazmur 105:5

105:5 Recall the miraculous deeds he performed,

his mighty acts and the judgments he decreed, ¹⁴ 

Mazmur 140:10

140:10 May he rain down ¹⁵  fiery coals upon them!

May he throw them into the fire!

From bottomless pits they will not escape. ¹⁶ 

[8:2]  ¹ tn Heb “you establish strength because of your foes.” The meaning of the statement is unclear. The present translation follows the reading of the LXX which has “praise” (αἶνος, ainos) in place of “strength” (עֹז, ’oz); cf. NIV, NCV, NLT.

[8:2]  ² tn Heb “to cause to cease an enemy and an avenger.” The singular forms are collective. The Hitpael participle of נָקַם (naqam) also occurs in Ps 44:16.

[28:5]  ³ tn Heb “or the work of his hands.” In this context “the Lord’s actions” and “the work of his hands” probably refer to the way he carries out justice by vindicating the godly and punishing the wicked. (Note the final line of the verse, which refers to divine judgment. See also Ps 92:4-7.) Evil men do not “understand” God’s just ways; they fail to realize he will protect the innocent. Consequently they seek to harm the godly, as if they believe they will never be held accountable for their actions.

[28:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord, who is referred to in the two immediately preceding lines) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[28:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “will tear them down and not rebuild them.” The ungodly are compared to a structure that is permanently demolished.

[38:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[55:15]  ⁷ tc The meaning of the MT is unclear. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads יַשִּׁימָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashimavet ’alemo, “May devastation [be] upon them!”). The proposed noun יַשִּׁימָוֶת occurs only here and perhaps in the place name Beth-Jeshimoth in Num 33:49. The Qere (marginal text) has יַשִּׁי מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashi mavet ’alemo). The verbal form יַשִּׁי is apparently an alternate form of יַשִּׁיא (yashi’), a Hiphil imperfect from נָשַׁא (nasha’, “deceive”). In this case one might read “death will come deceptively upon them.” This reading has the advantage of reading מָוֶת (mavet, “death”) which forms a natural parallel with “Sheol” in the next line. The present translation is based on the following reconstruction of the text: יְשִׁמֵּם מָוֶת (yeshimmem mavet). The verb assumed in the reconstruction is a Hiphil jussive third masculine singular from שָׁמַם (shamam, “be desolate”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix attached. This reconstruction assumes that (1) haplography has occurred in the traditional text (the original sequence of three mems [מ] was lost with only one mem remaining), resulting in the fusion of originally distinct forms in the Kethib, and (2) that עָלֵימוֹ (’alemo, “upon them”) is a later scribal addition attempting to make sense of a garbled and corrupt text. The preposition עַל (’al) does occur with the verb שָׁמַם (shamam), but in such cases the expression means “be appalled at/because of” (see Jer 49:20; 50:45). If one were to retain the prepositional phrase here, one would have to read the text as follows: יַשִּׁים מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashim mavet ’alemo, “Death will be appalled at them”). The idea seems odd, to say the least. Death is not collocated with this verb elsewhere.

[55:15]  ⁸ sn Go down alive. This curse imagines a swift and sudden death for the psalmist’s enemies.

[59:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”

[68:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.

[68:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army.” The participle translated “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural form. Apparently the good news here is the announcement that enemy kings have been defeated (see v. 12).

[78:50]  ¹² tn Heb “he leveled a path for his anger.” There were no obstacles to impede its progress; it moved swiftly and destructively.

[78:50]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps “[the] plague.”

[105:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and the judgments of his mouth.”

[140:10]  ¹⁵ tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.

[140:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “into bottomless pits, they will not arise.” The translation assumes that the preposition -בְּ (bet) has the nuance “from” here. Another option is to connect the line with what precedes, take the final clause as an asyndetic relative clause, and translate, “into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot arise.” The Hebrew noun מַהֲמֹרָה (mahamorah, “bottomless pit”) occurs only here in the OT.