17:12 He 1 is like a lion 2 that wants to tear its prey to bits, 3
like a young lion crouching 4 in hidden places.
59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; 5
powerful men stalk 6 me,
but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. 7
7:2 Faithful men have disappeared 8 from the land;
there are no godly men left. 9
They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; 10
they hunt their own brother with a net. 11
1 tn Here the psalmist switches to the singular pronoun; he views his enemies collectively, or singles out a representative of the group, perhaps its leader.
2 tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”
3 tn Heb “[that] longs to tear.”
4 tn Heb “sitting.”
5 tn Heb “my life.”
6 tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.
7 sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the
8 tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”
9 tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”
10 tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”
11 sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.
12 tn Grk “do not be persuaded by them.” The passive construction μὴ πεισθῇς αὐτοῖς (mh peisqh" autoi") has been converted to an active construction in the translation, and the phrase “to do this” supplied to indicate more clearly the object of their persuasion.
13 tn Grk “forty men of them.” In the expression ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρες (ex autwn andre") “men” is somewhat redundant and has not been included in the English translation.
14 tn Grk “are lying in wait for him” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἐνεδρεύω); see also v. 16.
15 tn Grk “for him, who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“they”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.
16 tn Or “bound themselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone… ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.”
17 tn The word “anything” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.
18 tn Grk “waiting for your approval,” “waiting for your agreement.” Since it would be possible to misunderstand the literal translation “waiting for your approval” to mean that the Jews were waiting for the commander’s approval to carry out their plot or to kill Paul (as if he were to be an accomplice to their plot), the object of the commander’s approval (their request to bring Paul to the council) has been specified in the translation as “their request.”