Psalms 10:13

10:13 Why does the wicked man reject God? ¹ 

He says to himself, ²  “You ³  will not hold me accountable.” ⁴ 

Psalms 14:5

14:5 They are absolutely terrified, ⁵ 

for God defends the godly. ⁶ 

Psalms 18:29

18:29 Indeed, ⁷  with your help ⁸  I can charge against ⁹  an army; ¹⁰ 

by my God’s power ¹¹  I can jump over a wall. ¹² 

Psalms 50:1

Psalm 50 ¹³ 

A psalm by Asaph.

50:1 El, God, the Lord ¹⁴  speaks,

and summons the earth to come from the east and west. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 55:14

55:14 We would share personal thoughts with each other; ¹⁶ 

in God’s temple we would walk together among the crowd.

Psalms 66:5

66:5 Come and witness ¹⁷  God’s exploits! ¹⁸ 

His acts on behalf of people are awesome! ¹⁹ 

Psalms 68:1

Psalm 68 ²⁰ 

For the music director; by David, a psalm, a song.

68:1 God springs into action! ²¹ 

His enemies scatter;

his adversaries ²²  run from him. ²³ 

Psalms 68:3

68:3 But the godly ²⁴  are happy;

they rejoice before God

and are overcome with joy. ²⁵ 

Psalms 75:9

75:9 As for me, I will continually tell what you have done; ²⁶ 

I will sing praises to the God of Jacob!

Psalms 84:7

84:7 They are sustained as they travel along; ²⁷ 

each one appears ²⁸  before God in Zion.

Psalms 86:8

86:8 None can compare to you among the gods, O Lord!

Your exploits are incomparable! ²⁹ 

Psalms 94:23

94:23 He will pay them back for their sin. ³⁰ 

He will destroy them because of ³¹  their evil;

the Lord our God will destroy them.

Psalms 96:5

96:5 For all the gods of the nations are worthless, ³² 

but the Lord made the sky.

Psalms 97:7

97:7 All who worship idols are ashamed,

those who boast about worthless idols.

All the gods bow down before him. ³³ 

Psalms 107:11

107:11 because they had rebelled against God’s commands, ³⁴ 

and rejected the instructions of the sovereign king. ³⁵ 

[10:13]  ¹ tn The rhetorical question expresses the psalmist’s outrage that the wicked would have the audacity to disdain God.

[10:13]  ² tn Heb “he says in his heart” (see vv. 6, 11). Another option is to understand an ellipsis of the interrogative particle here (cf. the preceding line), “Why does he say in his heart?”

[10:13]  ³ tn Here the wicked man addresses God directly.

[10:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “you will not seek.” The verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as generalizing about what is typical and translate, “you do not hold [people] accountable.”

[14:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “there they are afraid [with] fear.” The perfect verbal form is probably used in a rhetorical manner; the psalmist describes the future demise of the oppressors as if it were already occurring. The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is also used here for dramatic effect, as the psalmist envisions the wicked standing in fear at a spot that is this vivid in his imagination (BDB 1027 s.v.). The cognate accusative following the verb emphasizes the degree of their terror.

[14:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “for God is with a godly generation.” The Hebrew noun דּוֹר (dor, “generation”) refers here to the general class of people who are characterized by godliness. See BDB 190 s.v. for other examples where “generation” refers to a class of people.

[18:29]  ⁹ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki) is asseverative here.

[18:29]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “by you.”

[18:29]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will run.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 29 indicate the subject’s potential or capacity to perform an action. Though one might expect a preposition to follow the verb here, this need not be the case with the verb רוּץ (ruts; see 1 Sam 17:22). Some emend the Qal to a Hiphil form of the verb and translate, “I put to flight [Heb “cause to run”] an army.”

[18:29]  ¹² tn More specifically, the noun גְּדוּד (gÿdud) refers to a raiding party or to a contingent of troops.

[18:29]  ¹³ tn Heb “and by my God.”

[18:29]  ¹⁴ sn I can jump over a wall. The psalmist uses hyperbole to emphasize his God-given military superiority.

[50:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 50. This psalm takes the form of a covenant lawsuit in which the Lord comes to confront his people in a formal manner (as in Isa 1:2-20). The Lord emphasizes that he places priority on obedience and genuine worship, not empty ritual.

[50:1]  ¹⁴ sn Israel’s God is here identified with three names: El (אֵל [’el], or “God”), Elohim (אֱלֹהִים [’elohim], or “God”), and Yahweh (יְהוָה [yÿhvah] or “the Lord”). There is an obvious allusion here to Josh 22:22, the only other passage where these three names appear in succession. In that passage the Reubenites, Gadites, and half-tribe of Manasseh declare, “El, God, the Lord! El, God, the Lord! He knows the truth! Israel must also know! If we have rebelled or disobeyed the Lord, don’t spare us today!” In that context the other tribes had accused the trans-Jordanian tribes of breaking God’s covenant by worshiping idols. The trans-Jordanian tribes appealed to “El, God, the Lord” as their witness that they were innocent of the charges brought against them. Ironically here in Ps 50 “El, God, the Lord” accuses his sinful covenant people of violating the covenant and warns that he will not spare them if they persist in their rebellion.

[50:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and calls [the] earth from the sunrise to its going.”

[55:14]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “who together we would make counsel sweet.” The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the ongoing nature of the actions (the so-called customary use of the imperfect). Their relationship was characterized by such intimacy and friendship. See IBHS 502-3 §31.2b.

[66:5]  ²¹ tn Or “see.”

[66:5]  ²² tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).

[66:5]  ²³ tn Heb “awesome [is] an act toward the sons of man.” It is unclear how the prepositional phrase relates to what precedes. If collocated with “act,” it may mean “on behalf of” or “toward.” If taken with “awesome” (see 1 Chr 16:25; Pss 89:7; 96:4; Zeph 2:11), one might translate “his awesome acts are beyond human comprehension” or “his awesome acts are superior to anything men can do.”

[68:1]  ²⁵ sn Psalm 68. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior and celebrates the fact that God exerts his power on behalf of his people.

[68:1]  ²⁶ tn Or “rises up.” The verb form is an imperfect, not a jussive. The psalmist is describing God’s appearance in battle in a dramatic fashion.

[68:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “those who hate him.”

[68:1]  ²⁸ sn The wording of v. 1 echoes the prayer in Num 10:35: “Spring into action, Lord! Then your enemies will be scattered and your adversaries will run from you.”

[68:3]  ²⁹ tn By placing the subject first the psalmist highlights the contrast between God’s ecstatic people and his defeated enemies (vv. 1-2).

[68:3]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and they are happy with joy” (cf. NEB). Some translate the prefixed verbal forms of v. 3 as jussives, “Let the godly be happy, let them rejoice before God, and let them be happy with joy!” (Cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV; note the call to praise in v. 4.)

[75:9]  ³³ tn Heb “I will declare forever.” The object needs to be supplied; God’s just judgment is in view.

[84:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “they go from strength to strength.” The phrase “from strength to strength” occurs only here in the OT. With a verb of motion, the expression “from [common noun] to [same common noun]” normally suggests movement from one point to another or through successive points (see Num 36:7; 1 Chr 16:20; 17:5; Ps 105:13; Jer 25:32). Ps 84:7 may be emphasizing that the pilgrims move successively from one “place of strength” to another as they travel toward Jerusalem. All along the way they find adequate provisions and renewed energy for the trip.

[84:7]  ³⁸ tn The psalmist returns to the singular (see v. 5a), which he uses in either a representative or distributive (“each one” ) sense.

[86:8]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and there are none like your acts.”

[94:23]  ⁴⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.

[94:23]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “in.”

[96:5]  ⁴⁹ tn The Hebrew term אֱלִילִים (’elilim, “worthless”) sounds like אֱלֹהִים (’elohim, “gods”). The sound play draws attention to the statement.

[97:7]  ⁵³ tn The translation assumes that the prefixed verbal form in the first line is an imperfect (“are ashamed”) and that the ambiguous form in the third line is a perfect (“bow down”) because the psalmist appears to be describing the effect of the Lord’s mighty theophany on those who witness it (see vv. 5, 8). Another option is to take the prefixed form in the first line as a jussive (“let all who worship idols be ashamed”) and the ambiguous form in the third line as an imperative (“All you gods, bow down before him!”; cf. NIV).

[107:11]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “the words of God.”

[107:11]  ⁵⁸ tn Heb “the counsel of the Most High.”