Mazmur 9:20

9:20 Terrify them, Lord! ¹ 

Let the nations know they are mere mortals! ²  (Selah)

Mazmur 10:17

10:17 Lord, you have heard ³  the request ⁴  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ⁵ 

Mazmur 36:10

36:10 Extend ⁶  your loyal love to your faithful followers, ⁷ 

and vindicate ⁸  the morally upright! ⁹ 

Mazmur 38:9

38:9 O Lord, you understand my heart’s desire; ¹⁰ 

my groaning is not hidden from you.

Mazmur 67:2

67:2 Then those living on earth will know what you are like;

all nations will know how you deliver your people. ¹¹ 

Mazmur 71:15

71:15 I will tell about your justice,

and all day long proclaim your salvation, ¹² 

though I cannot fathom its full extent. ¹³ 

Mazmur 82:5

82:5 They ¹⁴  neither know nor understand.

They stumble ¹⁵  around in the dark,

while all the foundations of the earth crumble. ¹⁶ 

Mazmur 88:12

88:12 Are your amazing deeds experienced ¹⁷  in the dark region, ¹⁸ 

or your deliverance in the land of oblivion? ¹⁹ 

Mazmur 119:79

119:79 May your loyal followers ²⁰  turn to me,

those who know your rules.

Mazmur 139:14

139:14 I will give you thanks because your deeds are awesome and amazing. ²¹ 

You knew me thoroughly; ²² 

[9:20]  ¹ tn Heb “place, Lord, terror with regard to them.” The Hebrew term מוֹרָה (morah, “terror”) is an alternative form of מוֹרָא (mora’; a reading that appears in some mss and finds support in several ancient textual witnesses).

[9:20]  ² tn Heb “let the nations know they [are] man[kind]”; i.e., mere human beings (as opposed to God).

[10:17]  ³ sn You have heard. The psalmist is confident that God has responded positively to his earlier petitions for divine intervention. The psalmist apparently prayed the words of vv. 16-18 after the reception of an oracle of deliverance (given in response to the confident petition of vv. 12-15) or after the Lord actually delivered him from his enemies.

[10:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[36:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “draw out to full length.”

[36:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “to those who know you.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’, “know”) is used here of those who “know” the Lord in the sense that they recognize his royal authority and obey his will (see Jer 22:16).

[36:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “and your justice to.” The verb “extend” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the previous line).

[36:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “the pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[38:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “O Lord, before you [is] all my desire.”

[67:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to know in the earth your way, among all nations your deliverance.” The infinitive with -לְ (lamed) expresses purpose/result. When God demonstrates his favor to his people, all nations will recognize his character as a God who delivers. The Hebrew term דֶּרֶךְ (derekh, “way”) refers here to God’s characteristic behavior, more specifically, to the way he typically saves his people.

[71:15]  ¹² tn Heb “my mouth declares your vindication, all the day your deliverance.”

[71:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “though I do not know [the] numbers,” that is, the tally of God’s just and saving acts. HALOT 768 s.v. סְפֹרוֹת understands the plural noun to mean “the art of writing.”

[82:5]  ¹⁴ sn Having addressed the defendants, God now speaks to those who are observing the trial, referring to the gods in the third person.

[82:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “walk.” The Hitpael stem indicates iterative action, picturing these ignorant “judges” as stumbling around in the darkness.

[82:5]  ¹⁶ sn These gods, though responsible for justice, neglect their duty. Their self-imposed ignorance (which the psalmist compares to stumbling around in the dark) results in widespread injustice, which threatens the social order of the world (the meaning of the phrase all the foundations of the earth crumble).

[88:12]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “known.”

[88:12]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “darkness,” here a title for Sheol.

[88:12]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “forgetfulness.” The noun, which occurs only here in the OT, is derived from a verbal root meaning “to forget.”

[88:12]  sn The rhetorical questions in vv. 10-12 expect the answer, “Of course not!”

[119:79]  ²⁰ tn Heb “those who fear you.”

[139:14]  ²¹ tc Heb “because awesome things, I am distinct, amazing [are] your works.” The text as it stands is syntactically problematic and makes little, if any, sense. The Niphal of פָּלָה (pala’) occurs elsewhere only in Exod 33:16. Many take the form from פָלָא (pala’; see GKC 216 §75.qq), which in the Niphal perfect means “to be amazing” (see 2 Sam 1:26; Ps 118:23; Prov 30:18). Some, following the LXX and some other ancient witnesses, also prefer to emend the verb from first to second person, “you are amazing” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 249, 251). The present translation assumes the text conflates two variants: נפלאים, the otherwise unattested masculine plural participle of פָלָא, and נִפְלָאוֹת (nifla’ot), the usual (feminine) plural form of the Niphal participle. The latter has been changed to a verb by later scribes in an attempt to accommodate it syntactically. The original text likely read, נוראות נפלאותים מעשׂיך (“your works [are] awesome [and] amazing”).

[139:14]  ²² tc Heb “and my being knows very much.” Better parallelism is achieved (see v. 15a) if one emends יֹדַעַת (yoda’at), a Qal active participle, feminine singular form, to יָדַעְתָּ (yada’ta), a Qal perfect second masculine singular perfect. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252.