21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace 6 when you appear; 7
the Lord angrily devours them; 8
the fire consumes them.
For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; 10 a prayer 11 of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. 12
56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! 13
All day long hostile enemies 14 are tormenting me. 15
56:2 Those who anticipate my defeat 16 attack me all day long.
Indeed, 17 many are fighting against me, O Exalted One. 18
57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me 19
from my enemies who hurl insults! 20 (Selah)
May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!
124:3 they would have swallowed us alive,
when their anger raged against us.
1:12 We will swallow them alive 21 like Sheol, 22
those full of vigor 23 like those going down to the Pit.
28:7 Even these men 24 stagger because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer –
priests and prophets stagger because of beer,
they are confused 25 because of wine,
they stumble around because of beer;
they stagger while seeing prophetic visions, 26
they totter while making legal decisions. 27
28:1 The splendid crown of Ephraim’s drunkards is doomed, 28
the withering flower, its beautiful splendor, 29
situated 30 at the head of a rich valley,
the crown of those overcome with wine. 31
1:1 From Paul, 32 an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
1 sn See the note in 5:1 on the phrase the tent we live in.
2 tn Or “we are burdened.”
3 tn Or “dwelling place.”
4 tn Or “to be clothed with.”
5 sn Silvanus is usually considered to be the same person as Silas (L&N 93.340).
6 tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).
7 tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.
8 tn Heb “the
9 sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.
10 tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.
11 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
12 sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).
13 tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”
14 tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.
15 tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.
16 tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 59:10.
17 tn Or “for.”
18 tn Some take the Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “on high; above”) as an adverb modifying the preceding participle and translate, “proudly” (cf. NASB; NIV “in their pride”). The present translation assumes the term is a divine title here. The
19 tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).
20 tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”
21 tn Heb “lives.” The noun חַיִּים (khayyim, “lives”) functions as an adverbial accusative of manner: “alive.” The form is a plural of state, used to describe a condition of life which encompasses a long period of time – in this case a person’s entire life. Murder cuts short a person’s life.
22 tn The noun שְׁאוֹל (shÿ’ol) can mean (1) “death,” cf. NCV; (2) “the grave,” cf. KJV, NIV, NLT (3) “Sheol” as the realm of departed spirits, cf. NAB “the nether world,” and (4) “extreme danger.” Here it is parallel to the noun בוֹר (vor, “the Pit”) so it is the grave or more likely “Sheol” (cf. ASV, NRSV). Elsewhere Sheol is personified as having an insatiable appetite and swallowing people alive as they descend to their death (e.g., Num 16:30, 33; Isa 5:14; Hab 2:5). In ancient Near Eastern literature, the grave is often personified in similar manner, e.g., in Ugaritic mythological texts Mot (= “death”) is referred to as “the great swallower.”
23 tn Heb “and whole.” The vav (ו) is asseverative or appositional (“even”); it is omitted in the translation for the sake of style and smoothness. The substantival adjective תָּמִים (tamim, “whole; perfect; blameless”) is an adverbial accusative describing the condition and state of the object. Used in parallel to חַיִּים (khayyim, “alive”), it must mean “full of health” (BDB 1071 s.v. תָּמִים 2). These cutthroats want to murder a person who is full of vigor.
24 tn Heb “these.” The demonstrative pronoun anticipates “priests and prophets” two lines later.
25 tn According to HALOT 135 s.v. III בלע, the verb form is derived from בָּלַע (bala’, “confuse”), not the more common בָּלַע (“swallow”). See earlier notes at 3:12 and 9:16.
26 tn Heb “in the seeing.”
27 tn Heb “[in] giving a decision.”
28 tn Heb “Woe [to] the crown [or “wreath”] of the splendor [or “pride”] of the drunkards of Ephraim.” The “crown” is Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom (Ephraim). Priests and prophets are included among these drunkards in v. 7.
29 tn Heb “the beauty of his splendor.” In the translation the masculine pronoun (“his”) has been replaced by “its” because the referent (the “crown”) is the city of Samaria.
30 tn Heb “which [is].”
31 tn Heb “ones overcome with wine.” The words “the crown of” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The syntactical relationship of the final phrase to what precedes is uncertain. הֲלוּמֵי יָיִן (halume yayin, “ones overcome with wine”) seems to correspond to שִׁכֹּרֵי אֶפְרַיִם (shikkore ’efrayim, “drunkards of Ephraim”) in line 1. The translation assumes that the phrase “the splendid crown” is to be understood in the final line as well.
32 tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.