Psalms 44:5

44:5 By your power ¹  we will drive back ²  our enemies;

by your strength ³  we will trample down ⁴  our foes! ⁵ 

Psalms 60:12

60:12 By God’s power we will conquer; ⁶ 

he will trample down ⁷  our enemies.

Job 40:12

40:12 Look at every proud man and abase him;

crush the wicked on the spot! ⁸ 

Isaiah 10:6

10:6 I sent him ⁹  against a godless ¹⁰  nation,

I ordered him to attack the people with whom I was angry, ¹¹ 

to take plunder and to carry away loot,

to trample them down ¹²  like dirt in the streets.

Isaiah 63:3

63:3 “I have stomped grapes in the winepress all by myself;

no one from the nations joined me.

I stomped on them ¹³  in my anger;

I trampled them down in my rage.

Their juice splashed on my garments,

and stained ¹⁴  all my clothes.

Zechariah 10:5

10:5 And they will be like warriors trampling the mud of the streets in battle. They will fight, for the Lord will be with them, and will defeat the enemy cavalry. ¹⁵ 

Malachi 4:3

4:3 You will trample on the wicked, for they will be like ashes under the soles of your feet on the day which I am preparing,” says the Lord who rules over all.

¹ tn Heb “by you.”

² tn Heb “gore” (like an ox). If this portion of the psalm contains the song of confidence/petition the Israelites recited prior to battle, then the imperfects here and in the next line may express their expectation of victory. Another option is that the imperfects function in an emphatic generalizing manner. In this case one might translate, “you [always] drive back…you [always] trample down.”

³ tn Heb “in your name.” The Lord’s “name” refers here to his revealed character or personal presence. Specifically in this context his ability to deliver, protect, and energize for battle is in view (see Ps 54:1).

⁴ sn The image of the powerful wild ox continues; see the note on the phrase “drive back” in the preceding line.

⁵ tn Heb “those who rise up [against] us.”

⁶ tn Heb “in God we will accomplish strength.” The statement refers here to military success (see Num 24:18; 1 Sam 14:48; Pss 108:13; 118:15-16).

⁷ sn Trample down. On this expression see Ps 44:5.

⁸ tn The expression translated “on the spot” is the prepositional phrase תַּחְתָּם (takhtam, “under them”). “Under them” means in their place. But it can also mean “where someone stands, on the spot” (see Exod 16:29; Jos 6:5; Judg 7:21, etc.).

⁹ sn Throughout this section singular forms are used to refer to Assyria; perhaps the king of Assyria is in view (see v. 12).

¹⁰ tn Or “defiled”; cf. ASV “profane”; NAB “impious”; NCV “separated from God.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and against the people of my anger I ordered him.”

¹² tn Heb “to make it [i.e., the people] a trampled place.”

¹³ sn Nations, headed by Edom, are the object of the Lord’s anger (see v. 6). He compares military slaughter to stomping on grapes in a vat.

¹⁴ tn Heb “and I stained.” For discussion of the difficult verb form, see HALOT 170 s.v. II גאל. Perhaps the form is mixed, combining the first person forms of the imperfect (note the alef prefix) and perfect (note the תי- ending).

¹⁵ tn Heb “and the riders on horses will be put to shame,” figurative for the defeat of mounted troops. The word “enemy” in the translation is supplied from context.