Discovery BoxPsalms 10:14
Context10:14 You have taken notice, 1
for 2 you always see 3 one who inflicts pain and suffering. 4
The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; 5
you deliver 6 the fatherless. 7
Psalms 35:10
Context35:10 With all my strength I will say, 8
“O Lord, who can compare to you?
You rescue 9 the oppressed from those who try to overpower them; 10
the oppressed and needy from those who try to rob them.” 11
Psalms 39:1
ContextFor the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.
39:1 I decided, 13 “I will watch what I say
and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. 14
I will put a muzzle over my mouth
while in the presence of an evil man.” 15
Psalms 53:1
ContextFor the music director; according to the machalath style; 17 a well-written song 18 by David.
53:1 Fools say to themselves, 19 “There is no God.” 20
They sin and commit evil deeds; 21
none of them does what is right. 22
Psalms 68:18
Contextyou have taken many captives. 24
You receive tribute 25 from 26 men,
including even sinful rebels.
Indeed the Lord God lives there! 27
[10:14] 1 tn Heb “you see.” One could translate the perfect as generalizing, “you do take notice.”
[10:14] 2 tn If the preceding perfect is taken as generalizing, then one might understand כִּי (ki) as asseverative: “indeed, certainly.”
[10:14] 3 tn Here the imperfect emphasizes God’s typical behavior.
[10:14] 4 tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.
[10:14] 5 tn Heb “to give into your hand, upon you, he abandons, [the] unfortunate [one].” The syntax is awkward and the meaning unclear. It is uncertain who or what is being given into God’s hand. Elsewhere the idiom “give into the hand” means to deliver into one’s possession. If “to give” goes with what precedes (as the accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests), then this may refer to the wicked man being delivered over to God for judgment. The present translation assumes that “to give” goes with what follows (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The verb יַעֲזֹב (ya’azov) here has the nuance “entrust” (see Gen 39:6; Job 39:11); the direct object (“[his] cause”) is implied.
[10:14] 7 tn Heb “[for] one who is fatherless, you are a deliverer.” The noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9).
[35:10] 8 tn Heb “all my bones will say.”
[35:10] 9 tn Heb “[the one who] rescues.” The substantival participle in the Hebrew text characterizes God as one who typically rescues the oppressed.
[35:10] 10 tn Heb “from [the one who is] too strong for him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense. The typical oppressed individual and typical oppressor are in view.
[35:10] 11 tn Heb “the oppressed [one] and needy [one] from [the one who] robs him.” As in the previous line, the singular forms are used in a representative sense.
[39:1] 15 sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.
[39:1] 17 tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”
[39:1] 18 sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the
[53:1] 22 sn Psalm 53. This psalm is very similar to Ps 14. The major difference comes in v. 5, which corresponds to, but differs quite a bit from, Ps 14:5-6, and in the use of the divine name. Ps 14 uses “the
[53:1] 23 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מָחֲלַת (makhalat, “machalath”) is uncertain; perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a musical instrument. The term also appears in the heading of Ps 88.
[53:1] 24 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 52.
[53:1] 25 tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.
[53:1] 26 sn There is no God. This statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that he is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).
[53:1] 27 tn Heb “they act corruptly, they do evil [with] injustice.” Ps 14:1 has עֲלִילָה (’alilah, “a deed”) instead of עָוֶל (’aval, “injustice”). The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.
[53:1] 28 tn Heb “there is none that does good.”
[68:18] 29 tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.
[68:18] 30 tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”
[68:18] 33 tn Heb “so that the
