Psalms 3:2

3:2 Many say about me,

“God will not deliver him.” ¹  (Selah) ² 

Psalms 3:4

3:4 To the Lord I cried out, ³ 

and he answered me from his holy hill. ⁴  (Selah)

Psalms 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ⁵ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ⁶  (Selah)

Psalms 9:16

9:16 The Lord revealed himself;

he accomplished justice;

the wicked were ensnared by their own actions. ⁷  (Higgaion. ⁸  Selah)

Psalms 9:20

9:20 Terrify them, Lord! ⁹ 

Let the nations know they are mere mortals! ¹⁰  (Selah)

¹ tn Heb “there is no deliverance for him in God.”

² sn The function of the Hebrew term סֶלָה (selah), transliterated here “Selah,” is uncertain. It may be a musical direction of some kind.

³ tn The prefixed verbal form could be an imperfect, yielding the translation “I cry out,” but the verb form in the next line (a vav [ו] consecutive with the preterite) suggests this is a brief narrative of what has already happened. Consequently the verb form in v. 4a is better understood as a preterite, “I cried out.” (For another example of the preterite of this same verb form, see Ps 30:8.) Sometime after the crisis arose, the psalmist prayed to the Lord and received an assuring answer. Now he confidently awaits the fulfillment of the divine promise.

⁴ sn His holy hill. That is, Zion (see Pss 2:6; 48:1-2). The psalmist recognizes that the Lord dwells in his sanctuary on Mount Zion.

⁵ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

⁶ tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

⁷ tn Heb “by the work of his hands [the] wicked [one] was ensnared. The singular form רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is collective or representative here (see vv. 15, 17). The form נוֹקֵשׁ (noqesh) appears to be an otherwise unattested Qal form (active participle) from נָקַשׁ (naqash), but the form should be emended to נוֹקַשׁ (noqash), a Niphal perfect from יָקַשׁ (yaqash).

⁸ tn This is probably a technical musical term.

⁹ 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).

¹⁰ tn Heb “let the nations know they [are] man[kind]”; i.e., mere human beings (as opposed to God).