32:6 For this reason every one of your faithful followers 1 should pray to you
while there is a window of opportunity. 2
Certainly 3 when the surging water 4 rises,
it will not reach them. 5
For the music director; according to the al-tashcheth style; 7 a prayer 8 of David, written when Saul sent men to surround his house and murder him. 9
59:1 Deliver me from my enemies, my God!
Protect me 10 from those who attack me! 11
59:2 Deliver me from evildoers! 12
Rescue me from violent men! 13
93:3 The waves 14 roar, O Lord,
the waves roar,
the waves roar and crash. 15
93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, 16
and the mighty waves of the sea,
the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. 17
124:4 The water would have overpowered us;
the current 18 would have overwhelmed 19 us. 20
124:5 The raging water
would have overwhelmed us. 21
A song of ascents. 23
130:1 From the deep water 24 I cry out to you, O Lord.
43:2 When you pass through the waters, I am with you;
when you pass 25 through the streams, they will not overwhelm you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned;
the flames will not harm 26 you.
3:54 The waters closed over my head;
I thought 27 I was about to die. 28
17:15 Then 29 the angel 30 said to me, “The waters you saw (where the prostitute is seated) are peoples, multitudes, 31 nations, and languages.
1 tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
2 tn Heb “at a time of finding.” This may mean, “while there is time to ‘find’ [the
3 tn The Hebrew term רַק (raq) occasionally has an asseverative force.
4 sn The surging water is here a metaphor for trouble that endangers one’s life.
5 tn Heb “him.” The translation uses the plural “them” to agree with the plural “every one of your faithful followers” in the first line of v. 6.
6 sn Psalm 59. The psalmist calls down judgment on his foreign enemies, whom he compares to ravenous wild dogs.
7 tn Heb “do not destroy.” Perhaps this refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. These words also appear in the superscription to Pss 57-58, 75.
8 tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16, 56-58, 60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”
9 tn Heb “when Saul sent and they watched his house in order to kill him.”
10 tn Or “make me secure”; Heb “set me on high.”
11 tn Heb “from those who raise themselves up [against] me.”
12 tn Heb “from the workers of wickedness.”
13 tn Heb “from men of bloodshed.”
14 tn The Hebrew noun translated “waves” often refers to rivers or streams, but here it appears to refer to the surging waves of the sea (see v. 4, Ps 24:2).
15 tn Heb “the waves lift up, O
16 tn Heb “mighty waters.”
17 tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the
18 tn Or “stream.”
19 tn Heb “would have passed over.”
20 tn Heb “our being.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
21 tn Heb “then they would have passed over our being, the raging waters.”
22 sn Psalm 130. The psalmist, confident of the Lord’s forgiveness, cries out to the Lord for help in the midst of his suffering and urges Israel to do the same.
23 sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.
24 tn Heb “depths,” that is, deep waters (see Ps 69:2, 14; Isa 51:10), a metaphor for the life-threatening danger faced by the psalmist.
25 tn The verb is understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line).
26 tn Heb “burn” (so NASB); NAB, NRSV, NLT “consume”; NIV “set you ablaze.”
27 tn Heb “I said,” meaning “I said to myself” = “I thought.”
28 tn Heb “I was about to be cut off.” The verb נִגְזָרְתִּי (nigzarti), Niphal perfect 1st person common singular from גָּזַר (gazar, “to be cut off”), functions in an ingressive sense: “about to be cut off.” It is used in reference to the threat of death (e.g., Ezek 37:11). To be “cut off” from the hand of the living means to experience death (Ps 88:6).
29 tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence within the narrative.
30 tn Grk “he”; the referent (the angel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 tn Grk “and multitudes,” but καί (kai) has not been translated here and before the following term since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more.