Psalms 10:14

10:14 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 39:12

39:12 Hear my prayer, O Lord!

Listen to my cry for help!

Do not ignore my sobbing! ⁸ 

For I am dependent on you, like one residing outside his native land;

I am at your mercy, just as all my ancestors were. ⁹ 

Psalms 49:14

49:14 They will travel to Sheol like sheep, ¹⁰ 

with death as their shepherd. ¹¹ 

The godly will rule ¹²  over them when the day of vindication dawns; ¹³ 

Sheol will consume their bodies and they will no longer live in impressive houses. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 52:1

Psalm 52 ¹⁵ 

For the music director; a well-written song ¹⁶  by David. It was written when Doeg the Edomite went and informed Saul: “David has arrived at the home of Ahimelech.” ¹⁷ 

52:1 Why do you boast about your evil plans, ¹⁸  O powerful man?

God’s loyal love protects me all day long! ¹⁹ 

Psalms 68:30

68:30 Sound your battle cry ²⁰  against the wild beast of the reeds, ²¹ 

and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls! ²² 

They humble themselves ²³  and offer gold and silver as tribute. ²⁴ 

God ²⁵  scatters ²⁶  the nations that like to do battle.

Psalms 71:18

71:18 Even when I am old and gray, ²⁷ 

O God, do not abandon me,

until I tell the next generation about your strength,

and those coming after me about your power. ²⁸ 

[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]  ⁶ tn Or “help.”

[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).

[39:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “do not be deaf to my tears.”

[39:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “For a resident alien [am] I with you, a sojourner like all my fathers.”

[49:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “like sheep to Sheol they are appointed.” The verb form שַׁתּוּ (shatu) is apparently derived from שָׁתַת (shatat), which appears to be a variant of the more common שִׁית (shiyt, “to place; to set”; BDB 1060 s.v. שָׁתַת and GKC 183 §67.ee). Some scholars emend the text to שָׁחוּ (shakhu; from the verbal root שׁוּח [shukh, “sink down”]) and read “they descend.” The present translation assumes an emendation to שָׁטוּ (shatu; from the verbal root שׁוּט [shut, “go; wander”]), “they travel, wander.” (The letter tet [ט] and tav [ת] sound similar; a scribe transcribing from dictation could easily confuse them.) The perfect verbal form is used in a rhetorical manner to speak of their destiny as if it were already realized (the so-called perfect of certitude or prophetic perfect).

[49:14]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “death will shepherd them,” that is, death itself (personified here as a shepherd) will lead them like a flock of helpless, unsuspecting sheep to Sheol, the underworld, the land of the dead.

[49:14]  ¹⁷ tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive carries the same force as the perfect verbal form in v. 14a. The psalmist speaks of this coming event as if it were already accomplished.

[49:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “will rule over them in the morning.” “Morning” here is a metaphor for a time of deliverance and vindication after the dark “night” of trouble (see Pss 30:5; 46:5; 59:16; 90:14; 143:8; Isa 17:14). In this context the psalmist confidently anticipates a day of vindication when the Lord will deliver the oppressed from the rich (see v. 15) and send the oppressors to Sheol.

[49:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “their form [will become an object] for the consuming of Sheol, from a lofty residence, to him.” The meaning of this syntactically difficult text is uncertain. The translation assumes that צוּר (tsur, “form”; this is the Qere [marginal] reading; the Kethib has צִירָם [tsiram, “their image”]) refers to their physical form or bodies. “Sheol” is taken as the subject of “consume” (on the implied “become” before the infinitive “to consume” see GKC 349 §114.k). The preposition מִן (min) prefixed to “lofty residence” is understood as privative, “away from; so as not.” The preposition -ל (lamed) is possessive, while the third person pronominal suffix is understood as a representative singular.

[52:1]  ²² sn Psalm 52. The psalmist confidently confronts his enemy and affirms that God will destroy evildoers and vindicate the godly.

[52:1]  ²³ 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.

[52:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “when Doeg the Edomite came and told Saul and said to him, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’”

[52:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Why do you boast in evil?”

[52:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “the loyal love of God [is] all the day.” In this context, where the psalmist is threatened by his enemy, the point seems to be that the psalmist is protected by God’s loyal love at all times.

[68:30]  ²⁹ tn The Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar) is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts such as Ps 68 this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Ps 106:9 and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 18:15; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[68:30]  ³⁰ sn The wild beast of the reeds probably refers to a hippopotamus, which in turn symbolizes the nation of Egypt.

[68:30]  ³¹ tn Heb “an assembly of bulls, with calves of the nations.”

[68:30]  ³² tn Heb “humbling himself.” The verb form is a Hitpael participle from the root רָפַס (rafas, “to trample”). The Hitpael of this verb appears only here and in Prov 6:3, where it seems to mean, “humble oneself,” a nuance that fits nicely in this context. The apparent subject is “wild beast” or “assembly,” though both of these nouns are grammatically feminine, while the participle is a masculine form. Perhaps one should emend the participial form to a masculine plural (מִתְרַפִּם, mitrapim) and understand “bulls” or “calves” as the subject.

[68:30]  ³³ tc Heb “with pieces [?] of silver.” The meaning of the Hebrew term רַצֵּי (ratsey) is unclear. It is probably best to emend the text to בֶּצֶר וְכָסֶף (betser vÿkhasef, “[with] gold and silver”).

[68:30]  ³⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[68:30]  ³⁵ tn The verb בָּזַר (bazar) is an alternative form of פָּזַר (pazar, “scatter”).

[71:18]  ³⁶ tn Heb “and even unto old age and gray hair.”

[71:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “until I declare your arm to a generation, to everyone who comes your power.” God’s “arm” here is an anthropomorphism that symbolizes his great strength.