12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, 1
because of the painful cries 2 of the needy,
I will spring into action,” 3 says the Lord.
“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” 4
54:3 For foreigners 5 attack me; 6
ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. 7 (Selah)
73:8 They mock 8 and say evil things; 9
they proudly threaten violence. 10
ל (Lamed)
3:34 To crush underfoot
all the earth’s prisoners, 11
3:35 to deprive a person 12 of his rights 13
in the presence of the Most High,
3:36 to defraud a person in a lawsuit –
the Lord 14 does not approve 15 of such things!
1 tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.
2 tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).
3 tn Heb “I will rise up.”
4 tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the
5 tc Many medieval Hebrew
6 tn Heb “rise against me.”
7 tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”
8 tn The verb מוּק (muq, “mock”) occurs only here in the OT.
9 tn Heb “and speak with evil.”
10 tn Heb “oppression from an elevated place they speak.” The traditional accentuation of the MT places “oppression” with the preceding line. In this case, one might translate, “they mock and speak with evil [of] oppression, from an elevated place [i.e., “proudly”] they speak.” By placing “oppression” with what follows, one achieves better poetic balance in the parallelism.
11 tn Heb “prisoners of earth/land.” The term ארצ may refer to (1) the earth or (2) a country or (3) the promised land in particular (as well as other referents). “Earth” is chosen here since the context presents God’s general principles in dealing with humanity. Given the historical circumstances, however, prisoners from the land of Israel are certainly in the background.
12 tn The speaking voice is still that of the גֶּבֶר (gever, “man”), but the context and line are more universal in character.
13 tn Heb “to turn away a man’s justice,” that is, the justice or equitable judgment he would receive. See the previous note regarding the “man.”
14 tc The MT reads אֲדֹנָי (’adonay, “the Lord”) here rather than יהוה (YHWH, “the
15 tn Heb “the Lord does not see.” The verb רָאָה (ra’ah, “to see”) is here used in reference to mental observation and approval: “to gaze at” with joy and pleasure (e.g., 2 Kgs 10:16; Mic 7:9; Jer 29:32; Isa 52:8; Job 20:17; 33:28; Pss 54:9; 106:5; 128:5; Son 3:11; 6:11; Eccl 2:1). If the line is parallel to the end of v. 35 then a circumstantial clause “the Lord not seeing” would be appropriate. The infinitives in 34-36 would then depend on the verbs in v. 33; see D. R. Hillers, Lamentations (AB), 71.