44:13 You made us 1 an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. 2
44:14 You made us 3 an object of ridicule 4 among the nations;
foreigners treat us with contempt. 5
44:15 All day long I feel humiliated 6
and am overwhelmed with shame, 7
44:16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me. 8
69:9 Certainly 9 zeal for 10 your house 11 consumes me;
I endure the insults of those who insult you. 12
69:19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated and disgraced;
you can see all my enemies. 13
69:20 Their insults are painful 14 and make me lose heart; 15
I look 16 for sympathy, but receive none, 17
for comforters, but find none.
74:18 Remember how 18 the enemy hurls insults, O Lord, 19
and how a foolish nation blasphemes your name!
74:22 Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! 20
Remember how fools insult you all day long! 21
79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”
Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants
be avenged among the nations! 22
79:11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! 23
Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! 24
79:12 Pay back our neighbors in full! 25
May they be insulted the same way they insulted you, O Lord! 26
1 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
2 tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”
3 tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).
4 tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”
5 tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).
6 tn Heb “all the day my humiliation [is] in front of me.”
7 tn Heb “and the shame of my face covers me.”
8 tn Heb “from the voice of one who ridicules and insults, from the face of an enemy and an avenger.” See Ps 8:2.
9 tn Or “for.” This verse explains that the psalmist’s suffering is due to his allegiance to God.
10 tn Or “devotion to.”
11 sn God’s house, the temple, here represents by metonymy God himself.
12 tn Heb “the insults of those who insult you fall upon me.”
13 tn Heb “before you [are] all my enemies.”
14 tn Heb “break my heart.” The “heart” is viewed here as the origin of the psalmist’s emotions.
15 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.
16 tn Heb “wait.”
17 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.
18 tn Heb “remember this.”
19 tn Or “[how] the enemy insults the
20 tn Or “defend your cause.”
21 tn Heb “remember your reproach from a fool all the day.”
22 tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”
23 tn Heb “may the painful cry of the prisoner come before you.”
24 tn Heb “according to the greatness of your arm leave the sons of death.” God’s “arm” here symbolizes his strength to deliver. The verbal form הוֹתֵר (hoter) is a Hiphil imperative from יָתַר (yatar, “to remain; to be left over”). Here it must mean “to leave over; to preserve.” However, it is preferable to emend the form to הַתֵּר (hatter), a Hiphil imperative from נָתַר (natar, “be free”). The Hiphil form is used in Ps 105:20 of Pharaoh freeing Joseph from prison. The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 102:21) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.
25 tn Heb “Return to our neighbors sevenfold into their lap.” The number seven is used rhetorically to express the thorough nature of the action. For other rhetorical/figurative uses of the Hebrew phrase שִׁבְעָתַיִם (shiv’atayim, “seven times”) see Gen 4:15, 24; Ps 12:6; Prov 6:31; Isa 30:26.
26 tn Heb “their reproach with which they reproached you, O Lord.”
27 sn A quotation from Ps 69:9.