Psalms 35:16

35:16 When I tripped, they taunted me relentlessly, ¹ 

and tried to bite me. ² 

Psalms 37:12

37:12 Evil men plot against the godly ³ 

and viciously attack them. ⁴ 

Lamentations 2:16

פ (Pe)

2:16 All your enemies

gloated over you. ⁵ 

They sneered and gnashed their teeth;

they said, “We have destroyed ⁶  her!

Ha! We have waited a long time for this day.

We have lived to see it!” ⁷ 

[35:16]  ¹ tc The MT reads “as profane [ones] of mockers of food,” which is nonsensical. The present translation assumes (1) an emendation of בְּחַנְפֵי (bÿkhanfey, “as profane men”) to בְּחַנְפִי (bekhanfiy, “when I tripped”; preposition + Qal infinitive construct from II חָנַף [“limp”] + first common singular pronominal suffix) and (2) an emendation of לַעֲגֵי מָעוֹג (la’agey ma’og, “mockers of food”) to עָגוּ[ם]לַעְגָּ (la’gam ’agu, “[with] taunting they taunted”; masculine plural noun with enclitic mem + Qal perfect third common plural from לַּעַג [la’ag, “taunt”]).

[35:16]  ² tn Heb “gnashing at me with their teeth.” The infinitive absolute adds a complementary action – they gnashed with their teeth as they taunted.

[37:12]  ³ tn Or “innocent.” The singular is used here in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and the typical godly individual are in view.

[37:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and gnashes at him with his teeth” (see Ps 35:16). The language may picture the evil men as wild animals. The active participles in v. 12 are used for purposes of dramatic description.

[2:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “they have opened wide their mouth against you.”

[2:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “We have swallowed!”

[2:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “We have attained, we have seen!” The verbs מָצָאנוּ רָאִינוּ (matsa’nu ra’inu) form a verbal hendiadys in which the first retains its full verbal sense and the second functions as an object complement. It forms a Hebrew idiom that means something like, “We have lived to see it!” The three asyndetic 1st person common plural statements in 2:16 (“We waited, we destroyed, we saw!”) are spoken in an impassioned, staccato style reflecting the delight of the conquerors.