2 Chronicles 20:12

20:12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we are powerless against this huge army that attacks us! We don’t know what we should do; we look to you for help.” ¹ 

Psalms 17:9

17:9 Protect me from ²  the wicked men who attack ³  me,

my enemies who crowd around me for the kill. ⁴ 

Psalms 17:11

17:11 They attack me, now they surround me; ⁵ 

they intend to throw me to the ground. ⁶ 

Psalms 22:12

22:12 Many bulls ⁷  surround me;

powerful bulls of Bashan ⁸  hem me in.

Psalms 22:16

22:16 Yes, ⁹  wild dogs surround me –

a gang of evil men crowd around me;

like a lion they pin my hands and feet. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 118:11-13

118:11 They surrounded me, yes, they surrounded me.

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

118:12 They surrounded me like bees.

But they disappeared as quickly ¹¹  as a fire among thorns. ¹² 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord I pushed them away.

118:13 “You aggressively attacked me ¹³  and tried to knock me down, ¹⁴ 

but the Lord helped me.

Psalms 140:1-9

Psalm 140 ¹⁵ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

140:1 O Lord, rescue me from wicked men! ¹⁶ 

Protect me from violent men, ¹⁷ 

140:2 who plan ways to harm me. ¹⁸ 

All day long they stir up conflict. ¹⁹ 

140:3 Their tongues wound like a serpent; ²⁰ 

a viper’s ²¹  venom is behind ²²  their lips. (Selah)

140:4 O Lord, shelter me from the power ²³  of the wicked!

Protect me from violent men,

who plan to knock me over. ²⁴ 

140:5 Proud men hide a snare for me;

evil men ²⁵  spread a net by the path;

they set traps for me. (Selah)

140:6 I say to the Lord, “You are my God.”

O Lord, pay attention to my plea for mercy!

140:7 O sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, ²⁶ 

you shield ²⁷  my head in the day of battle.

140:8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way! ²⁸ 

Do not allow their ²⁹  plan to succeed when they attack! ³⁰  (Selah)

140:9 As for the heads of those who surround me –

may the harm done by ³¹  their lips overwhelm them!

Psalms 140:2

140:2 who plan ways to harm me. ³² 

All day long they stir up conflict. ³³ 

Colossians 1:8

1:8 who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

Revelation 20:9

20:9 They ³⁴  went up ³⁵  on the broad plain of the earth ³⁶  and encircled ³⁷  the camp ³⁸  of the saints and the beloved city, but ³⁹  fire came down from heaven and devoured them completely. ⁴⁰ 

[20:12]  ¹ tn Heb “for [or “indeed”] upon you are our eyes.”

[17:9]  ² tn Heb “from before”; or “because.” In the Hebrew text v. 9 is subordinated to v. 8. The words “protect me” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[17:9]  ³ tn Heb “destroy.” The psalmist uses the perfect verbal form to emphasize the degree of danger. He describes the wicked as being already in the process of destroying him.

[17:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “my enemies, at the risk of life they surround me.” The Hebrew phrase בְּנֶפֶשׁ (bÿnefesh) sometimes has the nuance “at the risk of [one’s] life” (see 1 Kgs 2:23; Prov 7:23; Lam 5:9).

[17:11]  ⁵ tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).

[17:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”

[22:12]  ⁷ sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.

[22:12]  ⁸ sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.

[22:16]  ⁹ tn Or “for.”

[22:16]  ¹⁰ 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.”

[118:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “were extinguished.”

[118:12]  ¹² tn The point seems to be that the hostility of the nations (v. 10) is short-lived, like a fire that quickly devours thorns and then burns out. Some, attempting to create a better parallel with the preceding line, emend דֹּעֲכוּ (do’akhu, “they were extinguished”) to בָּעֲרוּ (ba’aru, “they burned”). In this case the statement emphasizes their hostility.

[118:13]  ¹³ tn Heb “pushing, you pushed me.” The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea. The psalmist appears to address the nations as if they were an individual enemy. Some find this problematic and emend the verb form (which is a Qal perfect second masculine singular with a first person singular suffix) to נִדְחֵיתִי (nidkheti), a Niphal perfect first common singular, “I was pushed.”

[118:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to fall,” i.e., “that [I] might fall.”

[140:1]  ¹⁵ sn Psalm 140. The psalmist asks God to deliver him from his deadly enemies, calls judgment down upon them, and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.

[140:1]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from a wicked man.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).

[140:1]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a man of violent acts.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).

[140:2]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”

[140:2]  ¹⁹ tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.

[140:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they sharpen their tongue like a serpent.” Ps 64:3 reads, “they sharpen their tongues like sword.” Perhaps Ps 140:3 uses a mixed metaphor, the point being that “they sharpen their tongues [like a sword],” as it were, so that when they speak, their words wound like a serpent’s bite. Another option is that the language refers to the pointed or forked nature of a serpent’s tongue, which is viewed metaphorically as “sharpened.”

[140:3]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew term is used only here in the OT.

[140:3]  ²² tn Heb “under.”

[140:4]  ²³ tn Heb “hands.”

[140:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to push down my steps.”

[140:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and ropes,” but many prefer to revocalize the noun as a participle (חֹבְלִים, khovÿlim) from the verb חָבַל (khaval, “act corruptly”).

[140:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the strength of my deliverance.”

[140:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “cover.”

[140:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “do not grant the desires of the wicked.”

[140:8]  ²⁹ tn Heb “his.” The singular is used in a representative sense (see v. 1).

[140:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his plot do not promote, they rise up.” The translation understands the final verb as being an unmarked temporal clause. Another option is to revocalize the verb as a Hiphil and take the verb with the next verse, “those who surround me lift up [their] head,” which could refer to their proud attitude as they anticipate victory (see Ps 27:6).

[140:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “harm of their lips.” The genitive here indicates the source or agent of the harm.

[140:2]  ³² tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”

[140:2]  ³³ tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.

[20:9]  ³⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[20:9]  ³⁵ tn The shift here to past tense reflects the Greek text.

[20:9]  ³⁶ tn On the phrase “broad plain of the earth” BDAG 823 s.v. πλάτος states, “τὸ πλάτος τῆς γῆς Rv 20:9 comes fr. the OT (Da 12:2 LXX. Cp. Hab 1:6; Sir 1:3), but the sense is not clear: breadth = the broad plain of the earth is perh. meant to provide room for the countless enemies of God vs. 8, but the ‘going up’ is better suited to Satan (vs. 7) who has recently been freed, and who comes up again fr. the abyss (vs. 3).” The referent here thus appears to be a plain large enough to accommodate the numberless hoards that have drawn up for battle against the Lord Christ and his saints.

[20:9]  ³⁷ tn Or “surrounded.”

[20:9]  ³⁸ tn On the term παρεμβολή (parembolh) BDAG 775 s.v. states, “Mostly used as a military t.t.…so always in our lit.…1. a (fortified) camp…ἡ παρεμβολὴ τῶν ἁγίων Rv 20:9 is also to be understood fr. the OT use of the word.”

[20:9]  ³⁹ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “but” to indicate the contrast present in this context.

[20:9]  ⁴⁰ tn See L&N 20.45 for the translation of κατεσθίω (katesqiw) as “to destroy utterly, to consume completely.”