Psalms 10:12

10:12 Rise up, Lord! ¹ 

O God, strike him down! ² 

Do not forget the oppressed!

Psalms 24:5

24:5 Such godly people are rewarded by the Lord, ³ 

and vindicated by the God who delivers them. ⁴ 

Psalms 32:1

Psalm 32 ⁵ 

By David; a well-written song. ⁶ 

32:1 How blessed ⁷  is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven, ⁸ 

whose sin is pardoned! ⁹ 

Psalms 63:4

63:4 For this reason ¹⁰  I will praise you while I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands. ¹¹ 

Psalms 69:7

69:7 For I suffer ¹²  humiliation for your sake ¹³ 

and am thoroughly disgraced. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 82:2

82:2 He says, ¹⁵  “How long will you make unjust legal decisions

and show favoritism to the wicked? ¹⁶  (Selah)

Psalms 83:2

83:2 For look, your enemies are making a commotion;

those who hate you are hostile. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 85:2

85:2 You pardoned ¹⁸  the wrongdoing of your people;

you forgave ¹⁹  all their sin. (Selah)

Psalms 86:4

86:4 Make your servant ²⁰  glad,

for to you, O Lord, I pray! ²¹ 

Psalms 88:15

88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. ²² 

I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. ²³ 

Psalms 91:12

91:12 They will lift you up in their hands,

so you will not slip and fall on a stone. ²⁴ 

Psalms 94:2

94:2 Rise up, O judge of the earth!

Pay back the proud!

Psalms 96:8

96:8 Ascribe to the Lord the splendor he deserves! ²⁵ 

Bring an offering and enter his courts!

Psalms 102:10

102:10 because of your anger and raging fury.

Indeed, ²⁶  you pick me up and throw me away.

Psalms 119:48

119:48 I will lift my hands to ²⁷  your commands,

which I love,

and I will meditate on your statutes.

Psalms 123:1

Psalm 123 ²⁸ 

A song of ascents. ²⁹ 

123:1 I look up ³⁰  toward you,

the one enthroned ³¹  in heaven.

[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.

[24:5]  ³ tn Heb “he (the righteous individual described in v. 4) lifts up a blessing from the Lord.” The singular subject is representative here, as v. 6 makes clear. The referent (godly people like the individual in v. 4) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The imperfect verbal form is generalizing; such people are typically rewarded for their deeds.

[24:5]  ⁴ tn “and vindication from the God of his deliverance.”

[32:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 32. The psalmist recalls the agony he experienced prior to confessing his sins and affirms that true happiness comes when one’s sins are forgiven. He then urges others not to be stubborn, but to turn to God while forgiveness is available, for God extends his mercy to the repentant, while the wicked experience nothing but sorrow.

[32:1]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[32:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15). Here it refers to the relief that one experiences when one’s sins are forgiven.

[32:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[32:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “covered over.”

[63:4]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “then.”

[63:4]  ⁸ sn I will lift up my hands. Lifting up one’s hands toward God was a gesture of prayer (see Ps 28:2; Lam 2:19) or respect (Ps 119:48).

[69:7]  ⁹ tn Heb “carry, bear.”

[69:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “on account of you.”

[69:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and shame covers my face.”

[82:2]  ¹¹ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to indicate that the following speech is God’s judicial decision (see v. 1).

[82:2]  ¹² tn Heb “and the face of the wicked lift up.”

[83:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “lift up [their] head[s].” The phrase “lift up [the] head” here means “to threaten; to be hostile,” as in Judg 8:28.

[85:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[85:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “covered over.”

[86:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the soul of your servant.”

[86:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I lift up my soul.”

[88:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”

[88:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I carry your horrors [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew form אָפוּנָה (’afunah), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. It may be an adverb meaning “very much” (BDB 67 s.v.), though some prefer to emend the text to אָפוּגָה (’afugah, “I am numb”) from the verb פוּג (pug; see Pss 38:8; 77:2).

[91:12]  ²¹ tn Heb “so your foot will not strike a stone.”

[96:8]  ²³ tn Heb “the splendor of [i.e., “due”] his name.”

[102:10]  ²⁵ tn Or “for.”

[119:48]  ²⁷ tn Lifting the hands is often associated with prayer (Pss 28:2; 63:4; Lam 2:19). (1) Because praying to God’s law borders on the extreme, some prefer to emend the text to “I lift up my hands to you,” eliminating “your commands, which I love” as dittographic. In this view these words were accidentally repeated from the previous verse. (2) However, it is possible that the psalmist closely associates the law with God himself because he views the law as the expression of the divine will. (3) Another option is that “lifting the hands” does not refer to prayer here, but to the psalmist’s desire to receive and appropriate the law. (4) Still others understand this to be an action praising God’s commands (so NCV; cf. TEV, CEV, NLT).

[123:1]  ²⁹ sn Psalm 123. The psalmist, speaking for God’s people, acknowledges his dependence on God in the midst of a crisis.

[123:1]  ³⁰ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[123:1]  ³¹ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[123:1]  ³² tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12).