54:3 For foreigners 1 attack me; 2
ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. 3 (Selah)
For the music director, to be accompanied by stringed instruments; a well-written song 5 by David. It was written when the Ziphites came and informed Saul: “David is hiding with us.” 6
54:1 O God, deliver me by your name! 7
Vindicate me 8 by your power!
21:7 For the king trusts 9 in the Lord,
and because of the sovereign Lord’s 10 faithfulness he is not upended. 11
22:9 Yes, you are the one who brought me out 12 from the womb
and made me feel secure on my mother’s breasts.
22:10 I have been dependent on you since birth; 13
from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. 14
22:11 Do not remain far away from me,
for trouble is near and I have no one to help me. 15
22:12 Many bulls 16 surround me;
powerful bulls of Bashan 17 hem me in.
22:13 They 18 open their mouths to devour me 19
like a roaring lion that rips its prey. 20
22:14 My strength drains away like water; 21
all my bones are dislocated;
my heart 22 is like wax;
it melts away inside me.
22:15 The roof of my mouth 23 is as dry as a piece of pottery;
my tongue sticks to my gums. 24
You 25 set me in the dust of death. 26
22:16 Yes, 27 wild dogs surround me –
a gang of evil men crowd around me;
like a lion they pin my hands and feet. 28
22:17 I can count 29 all my bones;
my enemies 30 are gloating over me in triumph. 31
22:18 They are dividing up my clothes among themselves;
they are rolling dice 32 for my garments.
22:19 But you, O Lord, do not remain far away!
You are my source of strength! 33 Hurry and help me! 34
1 tc Many medieval Hebrew
2 tn Heb “rise against me.”
3 tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”
4 sn Psalm 54. The psalmist asks God for protection against his enemies, confidently affirms that God will vindicate him, and promises to give thanks to God for his saving intervention.
5 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.
6 tn Heb “Is not David hiding with us?”
7 tn God’s “name” refers here to his reputation and revealed character, which would instill fear in the psalmist’s enemies (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:17).
8 tn The imperfect verbal form is used here to express the psalmist’s wish or request.
9 tn The active participle draws attention to the ongoing nature of the action.
10 tn Traditionally “the Most High’s.” The divine title “Most High” (עֶלְיוֹן, ’elyon) pictures God as the exalted ruler of the universe who vindicates the innocent and judges the wicked. Note the focus of vv. 8-12 and see Ps 47:2.
11 tn Another option is to translate the imperfect verbal form as future, “he will not be upended” (cf. NRSV “he shall not be moved”). Even if one chooses this option, the future tense must be understood in a generalizing sense.
12 tn Or “the one who pulled me.” The verb is derived from either גָחָה (gakhah; see HALOT 187 s.v. גחה) or גִּיחַ (giyakh; see BDB 161 s.v. גִּיחַ) and seems to carry the nuance “burst forth” or “pull out.”
13 tn Heb “upon you I was cast from [the] womb.”
14 tn Heb “from the womb of my mother you [have been] my God.”
15 tn Heb “and there is no helper.”
16 sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.
17 sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.
18 tn “They” refers to the psalmist’s enemies, who in the previous verse are described as “powerful bulls.”
19 tn Heb “they open against me their mouth[s].” To “open the mouth against” is a Hebrew idiom associated with eating and swallowing (see Ezek 2:8; Lam 2:16).
20 tn Heb “a lion ripping and roaring.”
21 tn Heb “like water I am poured out.”
22 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.
23 tc Heb “my strength” (כֹּחִי, kokhiy), but many prefer to emend the text to חִכִּי (khikiy, “my palate”; cf. NEB, NRSV “my mouth”) assuming that an error of transposition has occurred in the traditional Hebrew text.
24 tn Cf. NEB “my jaw”; NASB, NRSV “my jaws”; NIV “the roof of my mouth.”
25 sn Here the psalmist addresses God and suggests that God is ultimately responsible for what is happening because of his failure to intervene (see vv. 1-2, 11).
26 sn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the progressive nature of the action. The psalmist is in the process of dying.
27 tn Or “for.”
28 tn Heb “like a lion, my hands and my feet.” This reading is often emended because it is grammatically awkward, but perhaps its awkwardness is by rhetorical design. Its broken syntax may be intended to convey the panic and terror felt by the psalmist. The psalmist may envision a lion pinning the hands and feet of its victim to the ground with its paws (a scene depicted in ancient Near Eastern art), or a lion biting the hands and feet. The line has been traditionally translated, “they pierce my hands and feet,” and then taken as foreshadowing the crucifixion of Christ. Though Jesus does appropriate the language of this psalm while on the cross (compare v. 1 with Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34), the NT does not cite this verse in describing the death of Jesus. (It does refer to vv. 7-8 and 18, however. See Matt 27:35, 39, 43; Mark 15:24, 29; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24.) If one were to insist on an emendation of כָּאֲרִי (ka’ariy, “like a lion”) to a verb, the most likely verbal root would be כָּרָה (karah, “dig”; see the LXX). In this context this verb could refer to the gnawing and tearing of wild dogs (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV). The ancient Greek version produced by Symmachus reads “bind” here, perhaps understanding a verbal root כרך, which is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic and means “to encircle, entwine, embrace” (see HALOT 497-98 s.v. כרך and Jastrow 668 s.v. כָּרַךְ). Neither one of these proposed verbs can yield a meaning “bore, pierce.”
29 tn The imperfect verbal forms in vv. 17-18 draw attention to the progressive nature of the action.
30 tn Heb “they.” The masculine form indicates the enemies are in view. The referent (the psalmist’s enemies) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
31 tn Heb “they gaze, they look upon me.”
32 tn Heb “casting lots.” The precise way in which this would have been done is not certain.
33 tn Heb “O my strength.”
34 tn Heb “hurry to my help.”