94:19 When worries threaten to overwhelm me, 1
your soothing touch makes me happy. 2
94:20 Cruel rulers 3 are not your allies,
those who make oppressive laws. 4
94:21 They conspire against 5 the blameless, 6
and condemn to death the innocent. 7
94:22 But the Lord will protect me, 8
and my God will shelter me. 9
94:23 He will pay them back for their sin. 10
He will destroy them because of 11 their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.
1 tn Heb “when my worries are many within me.”
2 tn Heb “your comforts cause my soul to delight.”
3 tn Heb “a throne of destruction.” “Throne” stands here by metonymy for rulers who occupy thrones.
4 tn Heb “Is a throne of destruction united to you, one that forms trouble upon a statute?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “Of course not!” The translation, while not preserving the interrogative form of the statement, reflects its rhetorical force.
5 tn Or “attack.”
6 tn Heb “the life of the blameless.”
7 tn Heb “and the blood of the innocent they declare guilty.”
8 tn Heb “and the
9 tn Heb “and my God [has become] a rocky summit of my safety.”
10 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
11 tn Or “in.”