5:5 Arrogant people cannot stand in your presence; 1
you hate 2 all who behave wickedly. 3
6:8 Turn back from me, all you who behave wickedly, 4
for the Lord has heard the sound of my weeping! 5
14:4 All those who behave wickedly 6 do not understand – 7
those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,
and do not call out to the Lord.
36:12 I can see the evildoers! They have fallen! 8
They have been knocked down and are unable to get up! 9
53:4 All those who behave wickedly 10 do not understand 11 –
those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,
and do not call out to God.
55:3 because of what the enemy says, 12
and because of how the wicked 13 pressure me, 14
for they hurl trouble 15 down upon me 16
and angrily attack me.
56:7 Because they are bent on violence, do not let them escape! 17
In your anger 18 bring down the nations, 19 O God!
92:7 When the wicked sprout up like grass,
and all the evildoers glisten, 20
it is so that they may be annihilated. 21
94:16 Who will rise up to defend me 22 against the wicked?
Who will stand up for me against the evildoers? 23
101:8 Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land,
and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.
1 tn Heb “before your eyes.”
2 sn You hate. The
3 tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.”
4 tn Heb “all [you] workers of wickedness.” See Ps 5:5.
5 sn The
7 tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8.
8 tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question (rendered in the translation as a positive affirmation) expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-7).
10 tn Heb “there the workers of wickedness have fallen.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here for dramatic effect, as the psalmist envisions the evildoers lying fallen at a spot that is vivid in his imagination (BDB 1027 s.v.).
11 tn The psalmist uses perfect verbal forms in v. 12 to describe the demise of the wicked as if it has already taken place.
13 tn Heb “the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8. Ps 14:4 adds כֹּל (kol, “all of”) before “workers of wickedness.”
14 tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-6).
16 tn Heb “because of [the] voice of [the] enemy.”
17 tn The singular forms “enemy” and “wicked” are collective or representative, as the plural verb forms in the second half of the verse indicate.
18 tn Heb “from before the pressure of the wicked.” Some suggest the meaning “screech” (note the parallel “voice”; cf. NEB “shrill clamour”; NRSV “clamor”) for the rare noun עָקָה (’aqah, “pressure”).
19 tn Heb “wickedness,” but here the term refers to the destructive effects of their wicked acts.
20 tc The verb form in the MT appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוֹט (mot, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in the Kethib (consonantal text) of Ps 140:10, where the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read. Here in Ps 55:3 it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). It is odd for “rain down” to be used with an abstract object like “wickedness,” but in Job 20:23 God “rains down” anger (unless one emends the text there; see BHS).
19 tc Heb “because of wickedness, deliverance to them.” As it stands, the MT makes no sense. The negative particle אַיִן (’ayin, “there is not,” which is due to dittography of the immediately preceding אָוֶן, ’aven, “wickedness”), should probably be added before “deliverance” (see BHS, note a). The presence of an imperative in the next line (note “bring down”) suggests that this line should be translated as a prayer as well, “may there not be deliverance to them.”
20 tn Heb “in anger.” The pronoun “your” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
21 tn Or perhaps “people” in a general sense.
22 tn Or “flourish.”
23 tn Heb “in order that they might be destroyed permanently.”
25 tn Heb “for me.”
26 sn Who will stand up for me…? The questions anticipate the answer, “No one except God” (see v. 17).