Psalms 20:9

20:9 The Lord will deliver the king;¹

he will answer us² when we call to him for help!³

Psalms 25:13

25:13 They experience his favor;⁴

their descendants⁵ inherit the land.⁶

Psalms 48:12

48:12 Walk around⁷ Zion! Encircle it!

Count its towers!

Psalms 51:3

51:3 For I am aware of⁸ my rebellious acts;

I am forever conscious of my sin.⁹

Psalms 52:2

52:2 Your tongue carries out your destructive plans;¹⁰

it is as effective as a sharp razor, O deceiver.¹¹

Psalms 78:64

78:64 Their¹² priests fell by the sword,

but their¹³ widows did not weep.¹⁴

Psalms 91:16

91:16 I will satisfy him with long life,¹⁵

and will let him see my salvation.

Psalms 119:152

119:152 I learned long ago that

you ordained your rules to last.¹⁶

¹tc This translation assumes an emendation of the verbal form הוֹשִׁיעָה (hoshi’ah). As it stands, the form is an imperative. In this case the people return to the petitionary mood with which the psalm begins (“O Lord, deliver”). But the immediate context is one of confidence (vv. 6-8), not petition (vv. 1-5). If one takes the final he on the verb “deliver” as dittographic (note the initial he (ה) on the following phrase, “the king”), one can repoint the verbal form as a perfect and understand it as expressing the people’s confidence, “the Lord will deliver the king” (see v. 6). The Hebrew scribal tradition takes “the king” with the following line, in which case it would be best interpreted as a divine title, “may the King answer us” or “the king will answer us” (see Pss 98:6; 145:1). However, the poetic parallelism is better balanced if “the king” is taken with the first line. In this case the referent is the Davidic king, who is earlier called the Lord’s “anointed one” (cf. note on “chosen king” in v. 6; see Pss 21:7; 45:5, 11; 63:11).

²tn If the imperative is retained in the preceding line, then the prefixed verbal form is best taken as a jussive of prayer, “may he answer us.” However, if the imperative in the previous line is emended to a perfect, the prefixed form is best taken as imperfect, “he will answer us” (see the note on the word “king” at the end of the previous line).

³tn Heb “in the day we call.”

⁴tn Heb “his life in goodness dwells.” The singular is representative (see v. 14).

⁵tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

⁶tn Or “earth.”

⁷tn The verb forms in vv. 12-13 are plural; the entire Judahite community is addressed.

¹⁰tn Heb “know.”

¹¹tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

¹³tn Heb “destruction your tongue devises.”

¹⁴tn Heb “like a sharpened razor, doer of deceit.” The masculine participle עָשָׂה (’asah) is understood as a substantival vocative, addressed to the powerful man.

¹⁶tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

¹⁷tn Heb “his.” The singular pronominal suffix is collective, referring back to God’s “people” (v. 62).

¹⁸sn Because of the invading army and the ensuing panic, the priests’ widows had no time to carry out the normal mourning rites.

¹⁹tn Heb “length of days.”

²²tn Heb “long ago I knew concerning your rules, that forever you established them.” See v. 89 for the same idea. The translation assumes that the preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “your rules” introduces the object of the verb יָדַע (yada’), as in 1 Sam 23:23. Another option is that the preposition indicates source, in which case one might translate, “Long ago I realized from your rules that forever you established them” (cf. NIV, NRSV).