Psalms 1:2

1:2 Instead ¹  he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; ² 

he meditates on ³  his commands ⁴  day and night.

Psalms 2:7

2:7 The king says, ⁵  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ⁶ 

‘You are my son! ⁷  This very day I have become your father!

Psalms 3:4

3:4 To the Lord I cried out, ⁸ 

and he answered me from his holy hill. ⁹  (Selah)

Psalms 9:19-20

9:19 Rise up, Lord! ¹⁰ 

Don’t let men be defiant! ¹¹ 

May the nations be judged in your presence!

9:20 Terrify them, Lord! ¹² 

Let the nations know they are mere mortals! ¹³  (Selah)

Psalms 31:21

31:21 The Lord deserves praise ¹⁴ 

for he demonstrated his amazing faithfulness to me when I was besieged by enemies. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 38:15

38:15 Yet ¹⁶  I wait for you, O Lord!

You will respond, O Lord, my God!

Psalms 64:10

64:10 The godly will rejoice in the Lord

and take shelter in him.

All the morally upright ¹⁷  will boast. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 68:20

68:20 Our God is a God who delivers;

the Lord, the sovereign Lord, can rescue from death. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 73:28

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ²⁰ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ²¹  I declare all the things you have done.

Psalms 99:8

99:8 O Lord our God, you answered them.

They found you to be a forgiving God,

but also one who punished their sinful deeds. ²² 

Psalms 109:21

109:21 O sovereign Lord,

intervene on my behalf for the sake of your reputation! ²³ 

Because your loyal love is good, deliver me!

Psalms 140:7

140:7 O sovereign Lord, my strong deliverer, ²⁴ 

you shield ²⁵  my head in the day of battle.

[1:2]  ¹ tn Here the Hebrew expression כִּי־אִם (ki-’im, “instead”) introduces a contrast between the sinful behavior depicted in v. 1 and the godly lifestyle described in v. 2.

[1:2]  ² tn Heb “his delight [is] in the law of the Lord.” In light of the following line, which focuses on studying the Lord’s law, one might translate, “he finds pleasure in studying the Lord’s commands.” However, even if one translates the line this way, it is important to recognize that mere study and intellectual awareness are not ultimately what bring divine favor. Study of the law is metonymic here for the correct attitudes and behavior that should result from an awareness of and commitment to God’s moral will; thus “obeying” has been used in the translation rather than “studying.”

[1:2]  ³ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form draws attention to the characteristic behavior described here and lends support to the hyperbolic adverbial phrase “day and night.” The verb הָגָה (hagag) means “to recite quietly; to meditate” and refers metonymically to intense study and reflection.

[1:2]  ⁴ tn Or “his law.”

[2:7]  ⁵ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ⁶ tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ⁷ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[3:4]  ⁹ tn The prefixed verbal form could be an imperfect, yielding the translation “I cry out,” but the verb form in the next line (a vav [ו] consecutive with the preterite) suggests this is a brief narrative of what has already happened. Consequently the verb form in v. 4a is better understood as a preterite, “I cried out.” (For another example of the preterite of this same verb form, see Ps 30:8.) Sometime after the crisis arose, the psalmist prayed to the Lord and received an assuring answer. Now he confidently awaits the fulfillment of the divine promise.

[3:4]  ¹⁰ sn His holy hill. That is, Zion (see Pss 2:6; 48:1-2). The psalmist recognizes that the Lord dwells in his sanctuary on Mount Zion.

[9:19]  ¹³ sn Rise up, Lord! …May the nations be judged. The psalm concludes with a petition that the Lord would continue to exercise his justice as he has done in the recent crisis.

[9:19]  ¹⁴ tn Or “prevail.”

[9:20]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “place, Lord, terror with regard to them.” The Hebrew term מוֹרָה (morah, “terror”) is an alternative form of מוֹרָא (mora’; a reading that appears in some mss and finds support in several ancient textual witnesses).

[9:20]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “let the nations know they [are] man[kind]”; i.e., mere human beings (as opposed to God).

[31:21]  ²¹ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”

[31:21]  ²² tn Heb “for he caused his faithfulness to be amazing to me in a besieged city.” The psalmist probably speaks figuratively here. He compares his crisis to being trapped in a besieged city, but the Lord answered his prayer for help. Verses 19-24 were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18.

[38:15]  ²⁵ tn Or perhaps “surely.”

[64:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “upright in heart.”

[64:10]  ³⁰ tn That is, about the Lord’s accomplishments on their behalf.

[68:20]  ³³ tn Heb “and to the Lord, the Lord, to death, goings out.”

[73:28]  ³⁷ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ³⁸ tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).

[99:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “a God of lifting up [i.e., forgiveness] you were to them, and an avenger concerning their deeds.” The present translation reflects the traditional interpretation, which understands the last line as qualifying the preceding one. God forgave Moses and Aaron, but he also disciplined them when they sinned (cf. NIV, NRSV). Another option is to take “their deeds” as referring to harmful deeds directed against Moses and Aaron. In this case the verse may be translated, “and one who avenged attacks against them.” Still another option is to emend the participial form נֹקֵם (noqem, “an avenger”) to נֹקָם (noqam), a rare Qal participial form of נָקַה (naqah, “purify”) with a suffixed pronoun. In this case one could translate, “and one who purified them from their [sinful] deeds” (cf. NEB “and held them innocent”).

[109:21]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “but you, Lord, Master, do with me for the sake of your name.” Here “name” stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[140:7]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “the strength of my deliverance.”

[140:7]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “cover.”