2:1 Why 2 do the nations rebel? 3
Why 4 are the countries 5 devising 6 plots that will fail? 7
2:2 The kings of the earth 8 form a united front; 9
the rulers collaborate 10
against the Lord and his anointed king. 11
2:3 They say, 12 “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! 13
Let’s free ourselves from 14 their ropes!”
2:4 The one enthroned 15 in heaven laughs in disgust; 16
the Lord taunts 17 them.
2:5 Then he angrily speaks to them
and terrifies them in his rage, 18 saying, 19
2:6 “I myself 20 have installed 21 my king
on Zion, my holy hill.”
21:8 You 22 prevail over 23 all your enemies;
your power is too great for those who hate you. 24
21:9 You burn them up like a fiery furnace 25 when you appear; 26
the Lord angrily devours them; 27
the fire consumes them.
109:3 They surround me and say hateful things; 28
they attack me for no reason.
109:4 They repay my love with accusations, 29
but I continue to pray. 30
109:5 They repay me evil for good, 31
and hate for love.
109:6 32 Appoint an evil man to testify against him! 33
May an accuser stand 34 at his right side!
109:7 When he is judged, he will be found 35 guilty! 36
Then his prayer will be regarded as sinful.
109:8 May his days be few! 37
May another take his job! 38
109:9 May his children 39 be fatherless,
and his wife a widow!
109:10 May his children 40 roam around begging,
asking for handouts as they leave their ruined home! 41
109:11 May the creditor seize 42 all he owns!
May strangers loot his property! 43
109:12 May no one show him kindness! 44
May no one have compassion 45 on his fatherless children!
109:13 May his descendants 46 be cut off! 47
May the memory of them be wiped out by the time the next generation arrives! 48
109:14 May his ancestors’ 49 sins be remembered by the Lord!
May his mother’s sin not be forgotten! 50
109:15 May the Lord be constantly aware of them, 51
and cut off the memory of his children 52 from the earth!
109:16 For he never bothered to show kindness; 53
he harassed the oppressed and needy,
and killed the disheartened. 54
109:17 He loved to curse 55 others, so those curses have come upon him. 56
He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. 57
109:18 He made cursing a way of life, 58
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil. 59
109:19 May a curse attach itself to him, like a garment one puts on, 60
or a belt 61 one wears continually!
109:20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way, 62
those who say evil things about 63 me! 64
109:21 O sovereign Lord,
intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation! 65
Because your loyal love is good, deliver me!
109:22 For I am oppressed and needy,
and my heart beats violently within me. 66
109:23 I am fading away like a shadow at the end of the day; 67
I am shaken off like a locust.
109:24 I am so starved my knees shake; 68
I have turned into skin and bones. 69
109:25 I am disdained by them. 70
When they see me, they shake their heads. 71
109:26 Help me, O Lord my God!
Because you are faithful to me, deliver me! 72
109:27 Then they will realize 73 this is your work, 74
and that you, Lord, have accomplished it.
109:28 They curse, but you will bless. 75
When they attack, they will be humiliated, 76
but your servant will rejoice.
109:29 My accusers will be covered 77 with shame,
and draped in humiliation as if it were a robe.
109:30 I will thank the Lord profusely, 78
in the middle of a crowd 79 I will praise him,
109:31 because he stands at the right hand of the needy,
to deliver him from those who threaten 80 his life.
A psalm of David.
110:1 Here is the Lord’s proclamation 82 to my lord: 83
“Sit down at my right hand 84 until I make your enemies your footstool!” 85
132:18 I will humiliate his enemies, 86
and his crown will shine.
1 sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.
2 tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.
3 tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.
4 tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
5 tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).
6 tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).
7 tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.
8 sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.
9 tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.
10 tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).
11 tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).
12 tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The quotation represents the words of the rebellious kings.
13 tn Heb “their (i.e., the
14 tn Heb “throw off from us.”
15 tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12; 123:1).
16 tn As the next line indicates, this refers to derisive laughter. The Hebrew imperfect verbal forms in vv. 4-5 describe the action from the perspective of an eyewitness who is watching the divine response as it unfolds before his eyes.
17 tn Or “scoffs at”; “derides”; “mocks.”
18 sn And terrifies them in his rage. This line focuses on the effect that God’s angry response (see previous line) has on the rebellious kings.
19 tn The word “saying” is supplied in the translation for clarification to indicate that the speaker is the Lord (cf. RSV, NIV).
20 tn The first person pronoun appears before the first person verbal form for emphasis, reflected in the translation by “myself.”
21 tn Or perhaps “consecrated.”
22 tn The king is now addressed. One could argue that the
23 tn Heb “your hand finds.” The idiom pictures the king grabbing hold of his enemies and defeating them (see 1 Sam 23:17). The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 8-12 may be translated with the future tense, as long as the future is understood as generalizing.
24 tn Heb “your right hand finds those who hate you.”
25 tn Heb “you make them like a furnace of fire.” Although many modern translations retain the literal Hebrew, the statement is elliptical. The point is not that he makes them like a furnace, but like an object burned in a furnace (cf. NEB, “at your coming you shall plunge them into a fiery furnace”).
26 tn Heb “at the time of your face.” The “face” of the king here refers to his angry presence. See Lam 4:16.
27 tn Heb “the
28 tn Heb “and [with] words of hatred they surround me.”
29 tn Heb “in place of my love they oppose me.”
30 tn Heb “and I, prayer.”
31 tn Heb “and they set upon me evil in place of good.”
32 sn In vv. 6-19 the psalmist calls on God to judge his enemies severely. Some attribute this curse-list to the psalmist’s enemies rather than the psalmist. In this case one should paraphrase v. 6: “They say about me, ‘Appoint an evil man, etc.’” Those supporting this line of interpretation point out that vv. 2-5 and 20 refer to the enemies’ attack on the psalmist being a verbal one. Furthermore in vv. 1-5, 20 the psalmist speaks of his enemies in the plural, while vv. 6-19 refer to an individual. This use of the singular in vv. 6-19 could be readily explained if this is the psalmist’s enemies’ curse on him. However, it is much more natural to understand vv. 6-19 as the psalmist’s prayer against his enemies. There is no introductory quotation formula in v. 6 to indicate that the psalmist is quoting anyone, and the statement “may the
33 tn Heb “appoint against him an evil [man].”
34 tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive here (note the imperative in the preceding line).
35 tn The prefixed verbal form could be taken as a jussive, but the use of the imperfect form in the following line suggests that v. 7 anticipates the outcome of the accusation envisioned in v. 6.
36 tn Heb “he will go out [as] a criminal” (that is, guilty).
37 tn The prefixed verbal forms (except those with vav [ו] consecutive) in vv. 8-20 are taken as jussives of prayer. Note the distinct jussive forms used in vv. 12-13, 15, 19.
38 tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.
39 tn Or “sons.”
40 tn Or “sons.”
41 tn Heb “and roaming, may his children roam and beg, and seek from their ruins.” Some, following the LXX, emend the term וְדָרְשׁוּ (vÿdoreshu, “and seek”) to יְגֹרְשׁוּ (yÿgoreshu; a Pual jussive, “may they be driven away” [see Job 30:5; cf. NIV, NRSV]), but דָּרַשׁ (darash) nicely parallels שִׁאֵלוּ (shi’elu, “and beg”) in the preceding line.
42 tn Heb “lay snares for” (see Ps 38:12).
43 tn Heb “the product of his labor.”
44 tn Heb “may there not be for him one who extends loyal love.”
45 tn Perhaps this refers to being generous (see Ps 37:21).
46 tn Or “offspring.”
47 sn On the expression cut off see Ps 37:28.
48 tn Heb “in another generation may their name be wiped out.”
49 tn Or “fathers’ sins.”
50 tn Heb “not be wiped out.”
51 tn Heb “may they [that is, the sins mentioned in v. 14] be before the
52 tn Heb “their memory.” The plural pronominal suffix probably refers back to the children mentioned in v. 13, and for clarity this has been specified in the translation.
53 tn Heb “he did not remember to do loyal love.”
54 tn Heb “and he chased an oppressed and needy man, and one timid of heart to put [him] to death.”
55 sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.
56 tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.
57 tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”
58 tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”
59 tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”
60 tn Heb “may it be for him like a garment one puts on.”
61 tn The Hebrew noun מֵזַח (mezakh, “belt; waistband”) occurs only here in the OT. The form apparently occurs in Isa 23:10 as well, but an emendation is necessary there.
62 tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the
63 tn Or “against.”
64 tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
65 tn Heb “but you,
66 tc The verb in the Hebrew text (חָלַל, khalal) appears to be a Qal form from the root חלל meaning “pierced; wounded.” However, the Qal of this root is otherwise unattested. The translation assumes an emendation to יָחִיל (yakhil), a Qal imperfect from חוּל (khul, “tremble”) or to חֹלַל (kholal), a polal perfect from חוּל (khul). See Ps 55:4, which reads לִבִּי יָחִיל בְּקִרְבִּי (libbiy yakhil bÿqirbbiy, “my heart trembles [i.e., “beats violently”] within me”).
67 tn Heb “like a shadow when it is extended I go.” He is like a late afternoon shadow made by the descending sun that will soon be swallowed up by complete darkness. See Ps 102:11.
68 tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”
69 tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”
70 tn Heb “as for me, I am a reproach to them.”
71 sn They shake their heads. Apparently shaking the head was a taunting gesture. See also Job 16:4; Ps 22:7; Lam 2:15.
72 tn Heb “deliver me according to your faithfulness.”
73 tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.
74 tn Heb “that your hand [is] this.”
75 tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).
76 tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.
77 tn Heb “clothed.” Another option is to translate the prefixed verbal forms in this line and the next as jussives (“may my accusers be covered with shame”).
78 tn Heb “I will thank the
79 tn Heb “many.”
80 tn Heb “judge.”
81 sn Psalm 110. In this royal psalm the psalmist announces God’s oracle to the Davidic king. The first part of the oracle appears in v. 1, the second in v. 4. In vv. 2-3 the psalmist addresses the king, while in vv. 5-7 he appears to address God.
82 tn The word נְאֻם (nÿ’um) is used frequently in the OT of a formal divine announcement through a prophet.
83 sn My lord. In the psalm’s original context the speaker is an unidentified prophetic voice in the royal court. In the course of time the psalm is applied to each successive king in the dynasty and ultimately to the ideal Davidic king. NT references to the psalm understand David to be speaking about his “lord,” the Messiah. (See Matt 22:43-45; Mark 12:36-37; Luke 20:42-44; Acts 2:34-35).
84 tn To sit at the “right hand” of the king was an honor (see 1 Kgs 2:19). In Ugaritic myth (CTA 4 v. 108-10) the artisan god Kothar-and Khasis is described as sitting at the right hand of the storm god Baal. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 61-62.
85 sn When the Lord made his covenant with David, he promised to subdue the king’s enemies (see 2 Sam 7:9-11; Ps 89:22-23).
86 tn Heb “his enemies I will clothe [with] shame.”
87 tn Or “subjects.” Technically these people were not his subjects yet, but would be upon his return. They were citizens of his country who opposed his appointment as their king; later the newly-appointed king will refer to them as his “enemies” (v. 27).
88 tn The imperfect is intense in this context, suggesting an ongoing attitude.
89 tn Grk “this one” (somewhat derogatory in this context).
90 tn Or “to rule.”
91 tn Grk “to rule over them.”
92 tn This term, when used of people rather than animals, has some connotations of violence and mercilessness (L&N 20.72).
93 sn Slaughter them. To reject the king is to face certain judgment from him.