Psalms 10:12

10:12 Rise up, Lord! ¹ 

O God, strike him down! ² 

Do not forget the oppressed!

Psalms 12:5

12:5 “Because of the violence done to the oppressed, ³ 

because of the painful cries ⁴  of the needy,

I will spring into action,” ⁵  says the Lord.

“I will provide the safety they so desperately desire.” ⁶ 

Psalms 35:23

35:23 Rouse yourself, wake up ⁷  and vindicate me! ⁸ 

My God and Lord, defend my just cause! ⁹ 

Psalms 44:23

44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?

Wake up! ¹⁰  Do not reject us forever!

Psalms 59:5

59:5 You, O Lord God, the invincible warrior, ¹¹  the God of Israel,

rouse yourself and punish ¹²  all the nations!

Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers! (Selah)

Psalms 74:11

74:11 Why do you remain inactive?

Intervene and destroy him! ¹³ 

Psalms 76:9

76:9 when God arose to execute judgment,

and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)

Isaiah 51:9

51:9 Wake up! Wake up!

Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! ¹⁴ 

Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!

Did you not smash ¹⁵  the Proud One? ¹⁶ 

Did you not ¹⁷  wound the sea monster? ¹⁸ 

Habakkuk 2:19

2:19 The one who says to wood, ‘Wake up!’ is as good as dead ¹⁹  –

he who says ²⁰  to speechless stone, ‘Awake!’

Can it give reliable guidance? ²¹ 

It is overlaid with gold and silver;

it has no life’s breath inside it.

[10:12]  ¹ sn Rise up, O Lord! The psalmist’s mood changes from lament to petition and confidence.

[10:12]  ² tn Heb “lift up your hand.” Usually the expression “lifting the hand” refers to praying (Pss 28:2; 134:2) or making an oath (Ps 106:26), but here it probably refers to “striking a blow” (see 2 Sam 18:28; 20:21). Note v. 15, where the psalmist asks the Lord to “break the arm of the wicked.” A less likely option is that the psalmist is requesting that the Lord declare by oath his intention to intervene.

[12:5]  ³ tn The term translated “oppressed” is an objective genitive; the oppressed are the recipients/victims of violence.

[12:5]  ⁴ tn Elsewhere in the psalms this noun is used of the painful groans of prisoners awaiting death (79:11; 102:20). The related verb is used of the painful groaning of those wounded in combat (Jer 51:52; Ezek 26:15) and of the mournful sighing of those in grief (Ezek 9:4; 24:17).

[12:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will rise up.”

[12:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will place in deliverance, he pants for it.” The final two words in Hebrew (יָפִיחַ לוֹ, yafiakh lo) comprise an asyndetic relative clause, “the one who pants for it.” “The one who pants” is the object of the verb “place” and the antecedent of the pronominal suffix (in the phrase “for it”) is “deliverance.” Another option is to translate, “I will place in deliverance the witness for him,” repointing יָפִיחַ (a Hiphil imperfect from פּוּחַ, puakh, “pant”) as יָפֵחַ (yafeakh), a noun meaning “witness.” In this case the Lord would be promising protection to those who have the courage to support the oppressed in the court of law. However, the first part of the verse focuses on the oppressed, not their advocates.

[35:23]  ⁷ sn Though he is confident that the Lord is aware of his situation (see v. 22a), the psalmist compares the Lord’s inactivity to sleep and urges him to wake up.

[35:23]  ⁸ tn Heb “for my justice.”

[35:23]  ⁹ tn Heb “for my cause.”

[44:23]  ¹⁰ sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.

[59:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Lord, God, Hosts.” One expects the construct form אֱלֹהֵי (’elohey) before צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot, “hosts”). See Ps 89:9, but יְהוָה אֱלֹהִים (yÿhvah ’elohim) precedes צְבָאוֹת (tsÿva’ot) in Pss 80:4, 19; 84:8 as well.

[59:5]  ¹² tn Heb “wake up to punish” (see Pss 35:23; 44:23).

[74:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? From the midst of your chest, destroy!” The psalmist pictures God as having placed his right hand (symbolic of activity and strength) inside his robe against his chest. He prays that God would pull his hand out from under his robe and use it to destroy the enemy.

[51:9]  ¹⁴ tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.

[51:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsa^a has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”

[51:9]  ¹⁶ tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).

[51:9]  ¹⁷ tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”

[51:9]  ¹⁸ tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.

[2:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Woe [to] the one who says.” On the term הוֹי (hoy) see the note on the word “dead” in v. 6.

[2:19]  ²⁰ tn The words “he who says” in the translation are supplied from the previous parallel line.

[2:19]  ²¹ tn Though the Hebrew text has no formal interrogative marker here, the context indicates that the statement should be taken as a rhetorical question anticipating the answer, “Of course not!” (so also NIV, NRSV).