25:15 I continually look to the Lord for help, 1
for he will free my feet from the enemy’s net. 2
91:3 he will certainly rescue you from the snare of the hunter 3
and from the destructive plague.
6:5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a snare, 4
and like a bird from the trap 5 of the fowler.
5:26 “Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people.
They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. 6
They set deadly traps 7 to catch people.
18:22 Let cries of terror be heard in their houses
when you send bands of raiders unexpectedly to plunder them. 8
For they have virtually dug a pit to capture me
and have hidden traps for me to step into.
2:26 Just as a thief has to suffer dishonor when he is caught,
so the people of Israel 11 will suffer dishonor for what they have done. 12
So will their kings and officials,
their priests and their prophets.
1 tn Heb “my eyes continually [are] toward the
2 tn Heb “for he will bring out from a net my feet.” The hostility of the psalmist’s enemies is probably in view (see v. 19).
3 tn The word refers specifically to a fowler (or hunter of birds).
4 tn Heb “from the hand.” Most translations supply “of the hunter.” The word “hand” can signify power, control; so the meaning is that of a gazelle freeing itself from a snare or a trap that a hunter set.
5 tc Heb “hand” (so KJV, NAB, NRSV). Some
6 tn The meaning of the last three words is uncertain. The pointing and meaning of the Hebrew word rendered “hiding in ambush” is debated. BDB relates the form (כְּשַׁךְ, kÿshakh) to a root שָׁכַךְ (shakhakh), which elsewhere means “decrease, abate” (cf. BDB 1013 s.v. שָׁכַךְ), and notes that this is usually understood as “like the crouching of fowlers,” but they say this meaning is dubious. HALOT 1345 s.v. I שׁוֹר questions the validity of the text and offers three proposals; the second appears to create the least textual modification, i.e., reading כְּשַׂךְ (kesakh, “as in the hiding place of (bird catchers)”; for the word שַׂךְ (sakh) see HALOT 1236 s.v. שׂךְ 4 and compare Lam 2:6 for usage. The versions do not help. The Greek does not translate the first two words of the line. The proposal given in HALOT is accepted with some hesitancy.
7 tn Heb “a destroying thing.”
8 tn Heb “when you bring marauders in against them.” For the use of the noun translated here “bands of raiders to plunder them” see 1 Sam 30:3, 15, 23 and BDB 151 s.v. גְּדוּד 1.
9 tn Heb “Get up and go down.” The first verb is not literal but is idiomatic for the initiation of an action. See 13:4, 6 for other occurrences of this idiom.
10 tn Heb “And I will cause you to hear my word there.”
11 tn Heb “house of Israel.”
12 tn The words “for what they have done” are implicit in the comparison and are supplied in the translation for clarification.