Psalms 3:2

3:2 Many say about me,

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

Psalms 14:6

14:6 You want to humiliate the oppressed, ³ 

even though ⁴  the Lord is their ⁵  shelter.

Psalms 22:8

22:8 They say, ⁶ 

“Commit yourself ⁷  to the Lord!

Let the Lord ⁸  rescue him!

Let the Lord ⁹  deliver him, for he delights in him.” ¹⁰ 

Psalms 42:10

42:10 My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone, ¹¹ 

as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ¹² 

Psalms 71:11

71:11 They say, ¹³  “God has abandoned him.

Run and seize him, for there is no one who will rescue him!”

Isaiah 36:15

36:15 Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord by saying, “The Lord will certainly rescue us; this city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

Isaiah 36:18

36:18 Hezekiah is misleading you when he says, “The Lord will rescue us.” Has any of the gods of the nations rescued his land from the power of the king of Assyria? ¹⁴ 

Isaiah 37:10

37:10 “Tell King Hezekiah of Judah this: ‘Don’t let your God in whom you trust mislead you when he says, “Jerusalem will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.”

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 Heb “the counsel of the oppressed you put to shame.” Using a second person plural verb form, the psalmist addresses the wicked. Since the context indicates their attempt to harm the godly will be thwarted, the imperfect should be taken in a subjunctive (cf. NASB, NRSV) rather than an indicative manner (cf. NIV). Here it probably expresses their desire or intent (“want to humiliate”).

⁴ tn It is unlikely that כִּי (ki) has a causal force here. The translation assumes a concessive force; another option is to understand an asseverative use (“certainly, indeed”).

⁵ tn Heb “his.” The antecedent of the singular pronoun is the singular form עָנִי (’ani, “oppressed”) in the preceding line. The singular is collective or representative here (and thus translated as plural, “they”).

⁶ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons. The psalmist here quotes the sarcastic taunts of his enemies.

⁷ tn Heb “roll [yourself].” The Hebrew verb גלל here has the sense of “commit” (see Prov 16:3). The imperatival form in the Hebrew text indicates the enemies here address the psalmist. Since they refer to him in the third person in the rest of the verse, some prefer to emend the verb to a perfect, “he commits himself to the Lord.”

⁸ tn Heb “Let him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁹ tn Heb “Let him”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn That is, “for he [the Lord] delights in him [the psalmist].” For other cases where the expression “delight in” refers to God’s delight in a person, see Num 14:8; 1 Kgs 10:9; Pss 18:19; 40:8.

¹¹ tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”

¹² sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.

¹³ tn Heb “saying.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “Have the gods of the nations rescued, each his land, from the hand of the king of Assyria?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course not!”