31:11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; 1
my neighbors are appalled by my suffering 2 –
those who know me are horrified by my condition; 3
those who see me in the street run away from me.
31:12 I am forgotten, like a dead man no one thinks about; 4
I am regarded as worthless, like a broken jar. 5
31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, 6
the terrifying news that comes from every direction. 7
When they plot together against me,
they figure out how they can take my life.
35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together;
they gathered together to ambush me. 8
They tore at me without stopping to rest. 9
35:16 When I tripped, they taunted me relentlessly, 10
and tried to bite me. 11
69:9 Certainly 12 zeal for 13 your house 14 consumes me;
I endure the insults of those who insult you. 15
69:10 I weep and refrain from eating food, 16
which causes others to insult me. 17
69:11 I wear sackcloth
and they ridicule me. 18
69:12 Those who sit at the city gate gossip about me;
drunkards mock me in their songs. 19
69:19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated and disgraced;
you can see all my enemies. 20
69:20 Their insults are painful 21 and make me lose heart; 22
I look 23 for sympathy, but receive none, 24
for comforters, but find none.
1 tn Heb “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”
2 tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).
3 tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”
4 tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.
5 tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.
6 tn Heb “the report of many.”
7 tn Heb “the terror from all around.”
8 tn Heb “they gathered together against me, stricken [ones], and I did not know.” The Hebrew form נֵכִים (nekhim, “stricken ones” ?) is problematic. Some suggest an emendation to נָכְרִים[כְ] (kÿnokhÿrim, “foreigners”) or “like foreigners,” which would fit with what follows, “[like] foreigners that I do not recognize.” Perhaps the form should be read as a Qal active participle, נֹכִים (nokhim, “ones who strike”) from the verbal root נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike”). The Qal of this verb is unattested in biblical Hebrew, but the peal (basic) stem appears in Old Aramaic (J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire [BibOr], 114; DNWSI 1:730.) In this case one might translate, “attackers gathered together against me though I was not aware of it” (cf. NASB “smiters”; NEB, NRSV “ruffians”; NIV “attackers”).
9 tn Heb “they tore and did not keep quiet.” By using the verb “tear,” the psalmist likens his enemies to a wild animal (see Hos 13:8). In v. 17 he compares them to hungry young lions.
10 tc The MT reads “as profane [ones] of mockers of food,” which is nonsensical. The present translation assumes (1) an emendation of בְּחַנְפֵי (bÿkhanfey, “as profane men”) to בְּחַנְפִי (bekhanfiy, “when I tripped”; preposition + Qal infinitive construct from II חָנַף [“limp”] + first common singular pronominal suffix) and (2) an emendation of לַעֲגֵי מָעוֹג (la’agey ma’og, “mockers of food”) to עָגוּ[ם]לַעְגָּ (la’gam ’agu, “[with] taunting they taunted”; masculine plural noun with enclitic mem + Qal perfect third common plural from לַּעַג [la’ag, “taunt”]).
11 tn Heb “gnashing at me with their teeth.” The infinitive absolute adds a complementary action – they gnashed with their teeth as they taunted.
12 tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.
13 tn Or “devotion to.”
14 sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.
15 tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”
16 sn Fasting was a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.
17 tn Heb “and it becomes insults to me.”
18 tn Heb “and I am an object of ridicule to them.”
19 tn Heb “the mocking songs of the drinkers of beer.”
20 tn Heb “before you [are] all my enemies.”
21 tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.
22 tn The verb form appears to be a Qal preterite from an otherwise unattested root נוּשׁ (nush), which some consider an alternate form of אָנַשׁ (’anash, “be weak; be sick”; see BDB 60 s.v. I אָנַשׁ). Perhaps the form should be emended to a Niphal, וָאֵאָנְשָׁה (va’e’onshah, “and I am sick”). The Niphal of אָנַשׁ occurs in 2 Sam 12:15, where it is used to describe David’s sick child.
23 tn Heb “wait.”
24 tn Heb “and I wait for sympathy, but there is none.” The form נוּד (nud) is an infinitive functioning as a verbal noun:, “sympathizing.” Some suggest emending the form to a participle נָד (nad, “one who shows sympathy”). The verb נוּד (nud) also has the nuance “show sympathy” in Job 2:11; 42:11 and Isa 51:19.
25 sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.
26 sn An allusion to Ps 110:1.
27 tn Grk “his abuse.”