4:7 You make me happier 1
than those who have abundant grain and wine. 2
25:19 Watch my enemies, for they outnumber me;
they hate me and want to harm me. 3
104:24 How many living things you have made, O Lord! 4
You have exhibited great skill in making all of them; 5
the earth is full of the living things you have made.
A psalm of David, written when he fled from his son Absalom. 7
3:1 Lord, how 8 numerous are my enemies!
Many attack me. 9
69:4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to destroy me, my enemies for no reason, 10 outnumber me. 11
They make me repay what I did not steal! 12
1 tn Heb “you place joy in my heart.” Another option is to understand the perfect verbal form as indicating certitude, “you will make me happier.”
2 tn Heb “from (i.e., more than) the time (when) their grain and their wine are abundant.”
3 tn Heb “see my enemies for they are numerous, and [with] violent hatred they hate me.”
5 tn Heb “How many [are] your works, O
6 tn Heb “all of them with wisdom you have made.”
7 sn Psalm 3. The psalmist acknowledges that he is confronted by many enemies (vv. 1-2). But, alluding to a divine oracle he has received (vv. 4-5), he affirms his confidence in God’s ability to protect him (vv. 3, 6) and requests that God make his promise a reality (vv. 7-8).
8 sn According to Jewish tradition, David offered this prayer when he was forced to flee from Jerusalem during his son Absalom’s attempted coup (see 2 Sam 15:13-17).
9 tn The Hebrew term מָה (mah, “how”) is used here as an adverbial exclamation (see BDB 553 s.v.).
10 tn Heb “many rise up against me.”
9 tn Heb “[with] a lie.” The Hebrew noun שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, “lie”) is used here as an adverb, “falsely, wrongfully” (see Pss 35:19; 38:19).
10 tn The Hebrew verb עָצַם (’atsam) can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority; note the parallel verb רָבַב (ravav, “be many”).
11 tn Heb “that which I did not steal, then I restore.” Apparently אָז (’az, “then”) is used here to emphasize the verb that follows.