Mazmur 9:6

9:6 The enemy’s cities have been reduced to permanent ruins; ¹ 

you destroyed their cities; ² 

all memory of the enemies has perished. ³ 

Mazmur 64:1

Psalm 64 ⁴ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

64:1 Listen to me, ⁵  O God, as I offer my lament!

Protect ⁶  my life from the enemy’s terrifying attacks. ⁷ 

Mazmur 143:3

143:3 Certainly ⁸  my enemies ⁹  chase me.

They smash me into the ground. ¹⁰ 

They force me to live ¹¹  in dark regions, ¹² 

like those who have been dead for ages.

[9:6]  ¹ tn Heb “the enemy – they have come to an end [in] ruins permanently.” The singular form אוֹיֵב (’oyev, “enemy”) is collective. It is placed at the beginning of the verse to heighten the contrast with יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the Lord”) in v. 7.

[9:6]  ² tn Heb “you uprooted cities.”

[9:6]  ³ tn Heb “it has perished, their remembrance, they.” The independent pronoun at the end of the line is in apposition to the preceding pronominal suffix and lends emphasis (see IBHS 299 §16.3.4). The referent of the masculine pronoun is the nations/enemies (cf. v. 5), not the cities (the Hebrew noun עָרִים [’arim, “cities”] is grammatically feminine). This has been specified in the present translation for clarity; many modern translations retain the pronoun “them,” resulting in ambiguity (cf. NRSV “their cities you have rooted out; the very memory of them has perished”).

[64:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 64. The psalmist asks God to protect him from his dangerous enemies and then confidently affirms that God will destroy his enemies and demonstrate his justice in the sight of all observers.

[64:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “my voice.”

[64:1]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s request.

[64:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the terror of [the] enemy.” “Terror” is used here metonymically for the enemy’s attacks that produce fear because they threaten the psalmist’s life.

[143:3]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[143:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “an enemy.” The singular is used in a representative sense to describe a typical member of the larger group of enemies (note the plural “enemies” in vv. 9, 12).

[143:3]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he crushes on the ground my life.”

[143:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “sit.”

[143:3]  ¹² sn Dark regions refers to Sheol, which the psalmist views as a dark place located deep in the ground (see Ps 88:6).