Psalms 35:7

35:7 I did not harm them, but they hid a net to catch me

and dug a pit to trap me. ¹ 

Lamentations 4:20

ר (Resh)

4:20 Our very life breath – the Lord’s anointed king ²  –

was caught in their traps, ³ 

of whom we thought, ⁴ 

“Under his protection ⁵  we will survive among the nations.”

[35:7]  ¹ tc Heb “for without cause they hid for me a pit of their net, without cause they dug for my life.” It appears that the words “pit” and “net” have been transposed. “Net” goes with the verb “hid” in the first line (see v. 8, as well as Pss 9:15; 31:4), while “pit” goes with the verb “dug” in the second line (see Ps 7:15).

[4:20]  ² tn Heb “the anointed one of the Lord.” The term “king” is added in the translation to clarify the referent of the phrase “the Lord’s anointed.”

[4:20]  ³ tn Heb “was captured in their pits.”

[4:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “of whom we had said.”

[4:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “under his shadow.” The term צֵל (tsel, “shadow”) is used figuratively here to refer the source of protection from military enemies. In the same way that the shade of a tree gives physical relief and protection from the heat of the sun (e.g., Judg 9:15; Job 40:22; Ps 80:11; Song 2:3; Ezek 17:23; 31:6, 12, 17; Hos 4:13; 14:8; Jon 4:5, 6), a faithful and powerful king can provide “shade” (= protection) from enemies and military attack (Num 14:19; Ps 91:1; Isa 30:2, 3; 49:2; 51:16; Jer 48:45; Lam 4:20).