32:35 I will get revenge and pay them back
at the time their foot slips;
for the day of their disaster is near,
and the impending judgment 1 is rushing upon them!”
28:4 Pay them back for their evil deeds!
Pay them back for what they do!
Punish them! 2
59:18 He repays them for what they have done,
dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries
and punishing his enemies. 3
He repays the coastlands. 4
66:9 “Do I bring a baby to the birth opening and then not deliver it?”
asks the Lord.
“Or do I bring a baby to the point of delivery and then hold it back?”
asks your God. 5
1 tn Heb “prepared things,” “impending things.” See BDB 800 s.v. עָתִיד.
2 tn Heb “Give to them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds. According to the work of their hands give to them. Return their due to them.” The highly repetitive style reflects the psalmist’s agitated emotional state and draws attention to his yearning for justice.
3 tn Heb “in accordance with deeds, so he repays, anger to his adversaries, repayment to his enemies.”
4 tn Or “islands” (KJV, NIV).
5 sn The rhetorical questions expect the answer, “Of course not!”
6 sn The message spoken through angels refers to the OT law, which according to Jewish tradition was mediated to Moses through angels (cf. Deut 33:2; Ps 68:17-18; Acts 7:38, 53; Gal 3:19; and Jub. 1:27, 29; Josephus, Ant. 15.5.3 [15.136]).
7 tn Grk “through angels became valid and every violation.”