Psalms 10:15

10:15 Break the arm ¹  of the wicked and evil man!

Hold him accountable for his wicked deeds, ² 

which he thought you would not discover. ³ 

Psalms 16:2

16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord,

my only source of well-being.” ⁴ 

Psalms 16:8

16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord; ⁵ 

because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.

Psalms 30:6

30:6 In my self-confidence I said,

“I will never be upended.” ⁶ 

Psalms 44:14

44:14 You made us ⁷  an object of ridicule ⁸  among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt. ⁹ 

Psalms 49:12

49:12 but, despite their wealth, people do not last, ¹⁰ 

they are like animals ¹¹  that perish. ¹² 

Psalms 57:9

57:9 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Master!

I will sing praises to you before foreigners! ¹³ 

Psalms 104:5

104:5 He established the earth on its foundations;

it will never be upended.

Psalms 108:3

108:3 I will give you thanks before the nations, O Lord!

I will sing praises to you before foreigners! ¹⁴ 

[10:15]  ¹ sn The arm symbolizes the strength of the wicked, which they use to oppress and exploit the weak.

[10:15]  ² tn Heb “you seek his wickedness.” As in v. 13, the verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as describing a fact, “you hold him accountable,” or as anticipating divine judgment, “you will hold him accountable.” However, since the verb is in apparent parallelism with the preceding imperative (“break”), it is better to understand the imperfect as expressing the psalmist’s desire or request.

[10:15]  ³ tn Heb “you will not find.” It is uncertain how this statement relates to what precedes. Some take בַל (bal), which is used as a negative particle in vv. 4, 6, 11, 18, as asseverative here, “Indeed find (i.e., judge his wickedness).” The translation assumes that the final words are an asyndetic relative clause which refers back to what the wicked man boasted in God’s face (“you will not find [i.e., my wickedness]”). See v. 13.

[16:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “my good [is] not beyond you.” For the use of the preposition עַל (’al) in the sense of “beyond,” see BDB 755 s.v. 2.

[16:8]  ⁷ tn Heb “I set the Lord before me continually.” This may mean that the psalmist is aware of the Lord’s presence and sensitive to his moral guidance (see v. 7), or that he trusts in the Lord’s protection (see the following line).

[30:6]  ¹⁰ sn In my self-confidence I said… Here the psalmist begins to fill in the background of the crisis referred to in the earlier verses. He had been arrogant and self-confident, so the Lord withdrew his protection and allowed trouble to invade his life (vv. 8-11).

[44:14]  ¹³ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:14]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”

[44:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).

[49:12]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “but mankind in honor does not remain.” The construction vav (ו) + noun at the beginning of the verse can be taken as contrastive in relation to what precedes. The Hebrew term יְקָר (yÿqar, “honor”) probably refers here to the wealth mentioned in the preceding context. The imperfect verbal form draws attention to what is characteristically true. Some scholars emend יָלִין (yalin, “remains”) to יָבִין (yavin, “understands”) but this is an unnecessary accommodation to the wording of v. 20.

[49:12]  ¹⁷ tn Or “cattle.”

[49:12]  ¹⁸ tn The verb is derived from דָּמָה (damah, “cease; destroy”; BDB 198 s.v.). Another option is to derive the verb from דָּמָה (“be silent”; see HALOT 225 s.v. II דמה, which sees two homonymic roots [דָּמָה, “be silent,” and דָּמָה, “destroy”] rather than a single root) and translate, “they are like dumb beasts.” This makes particularly good sense in v. 20, where the preceding line focuses on mankind’s lack of understanding.

[57:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the peoples.”

[108:3]  ²² tn Or “the peoples.”