Psalms 31:13

31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, ¹ 

the terrifying news that comes from every direction. ² 

When they plot together against me,

they figure out how they can take my life.

Psalms 57:4

57:4 I am surrounded by lions;

I lie down ³  among those who want to devour me; ⁴ 

men whose teeth are spears and arrows,

whose tongues are a sharp sword. ⁵ 

Psalms 64:2-4

64:2 Hide me from the plots of evil men,

from the crowd of evildoers. ⁶ 

64:3 They ⁷  sharpen their tongues like a sword;

they aim their arrow, a slanderous charge, ⁸ 

64:4 in order to shoot down the innocent ⁹  in secluded places.

They shoot at him suddenly and are unafraid of retaliation. ¹⁰ 

Matthew 26:59-60

26:59 The ¹¹  chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were trying to find false testimony against Jesus so that they could put him to death. 26:60 But they did not find anything, though many false witnesses came forward. Finally ¹²  two came forward

[31:13]  ¹ tn Heb “the report of many.”

[31:13]  ² tn Heb “the terror from all around.”

[57:4]  ³ tn The cohortative form אֶשְׁכְּבָה (’eshkÿvah, “I lie down”) is problematic, for it does not seem to carry one of the normal functions of the cohortative (resolve or request). One possibility is that the form here is a “pseudo-cohortative” used here in a gnomic sense (IBHS 576-77 §34.5.3b).

[57:4]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verb לָהַט (lahat) is here understood as a hapax legomenon meaning “devour” (see HALOT 521 s.v. II להט), a homonym of the more common verb meaning “to burn.” A more traditional interpretation takes the verb from this latter root and translates, “those who are aflame” (see BDB 529 s.v.; cf. NASB “those who breathe forth fire”).

[57:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “my life, in the midst of lions, I lie down, devouring ones, sons of mankind, their teeth a spear and arrows and their tongue a sharp sword.” The syntax of the verse is difficult. Another option is to take “my life” with the preceding verse. For this to make sense, one must add a verb, perhaps “and may he deliver” (cf. the LXX), before the phrase. One might then translate, “May God send his loyal love and faithfulness and deliver my life.” If one does take “my life” with v. 4, then the parallelism of v. 5 is altered and one might translate: “in the midst of lions I lie down, [among] men who want to devour me, whose teeth….”

[64:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “workers of wickedness.”

[64:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was started here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[64:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “a bitter word.”

[64:4]  ⁹ tn The psalmist uses the singular because he is referring to himself here as representative of a larger group.

[64:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and are unafraid.” The words “of retaliation” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[26:59]  ¹¹ tn Grk “Now the.” Here δέ (de) has not been translated.

[26:60]  ¹² tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated.