Psalms 10:18

10:18 You defend ¹  the fatherless and oppressed, ² 

so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them. ³ 

Psalms 34:6

34:6 This oppressed man cried out and the Lord heard;

he saved him ⁴  from all his troubles.

Psalms 38:11

38:11 Because of my condition, ⁵  even my friends and acquaintances keep their distance; ⁶ 

my neighbors stand far away. ⁷ 

Psalms 48:5

48:5 As soon as they see, ⁸  they are shocked; ⁹ 

they are terrified, they quickly retreat. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 49:16

49:16 Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich ¹¹ 

and his wealth multiplies! 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 50:22

50:22 Carefully consider this, you who reject God! ¹⁶ 

Otherwise I will rip you to shreds ¹⁷ 

and no one will be able to rescue you.

Psalms 56:11

56:11 in God I trust, I am not afraid.

What can mere men ¹⁸  do to me? ¹⁹ 

Psalms 66:5

66:5 Come and witness ²⁰  God’s exploits! ²¹ 

His acts on behalf of people are awesome! ²² 

Psalms 75:3

75:3 When the earth and all its inhabitants dissolve in fear, ²³ 

I make its pillars secure.” ²⁴  (Selah)

Psalms 81:15

81:15 (May those who hate the Lord ²⁵  cower in fear ²⁶  before him!

May they be permanently humiliated!) ²⁷ 

Psalms 86:2

86:2 Protect me, ²⁸  for I am loyal!

O my God, deliver your servant, who trusts in you!

Psalms 88:15

88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. ²⁹ 

I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. ³⁰ 

Psalms 104:7

104:7 Your shout made the waters retreat;

at the sound of your thunderous voice they hurried off –

Psalms 119:161

שׂ/שׁ (Sin/Shin)

119:161 Rulers pursue me for no reason,

yet I am more afraid of disobeying your instructions. ³¹ 

Psalms 145:6

145:6 They will proclaim ³²  the power of your awesome acts!

I will declare your great deeds!

[10:18]  ¹ tn Heb “to judge (on behalf of),” or “by judging (on behalf of).”

[10:18]  ² tn Heb “crushed.” See v. 10.

[10:18]  ³ tn Heb “he will not add again [i.e., “he will no longer”] to terrify, man from the earth.” The Hebrew term אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh, “man”) refers here to the wicked nations (v. 16). By describing them as “from the earth,” the psalmist emphasizes their weakness before the sovereign, eternal king.

[34:6]  ⁴ tn The pronoun refers back to “this oppressed man,” namely, the psalmist.

[38:11]  ⁷ tn Or “wound,” or “illness.”

[38:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “stand [aloof].”

[38:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “and the ones near me off at a distance stand.”

[48:5]  ¹⁰ tn The object of “see” is omitted, but v. 3b suggests that the Lord’s self-revelation as the city’s defender is what they see.

[48:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they look, so they are shocked.” Here כֵּן (ken, “so”) has the force of “in the same measure.”

[48:5]  ¹² tn The translation attempts to reflect the staccato style of the Hebrew text, where the main clauses of vv. 4-6 are simply juxtaposed without connectives.

[49:16]  ¹³ sn When a man becomes rich. Why would people fear such a development? The acquisition of wealth makes individuals powerful and enables them to oppress others (see vv. 5-6).

[49:16]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “when the glory of his house grows great.”

[50:1]  ¹⁶ 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]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “and calls [the] earth from the sunrise to its going.”

[50:22]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “[you who] forget God.” “Forgetting God” here means forgetting about his commandments and not respecting his moral authority.

[50:22]  ²⁰ sn Elsewhere in the psalms this verb is used (within a metaphorical framework) of a lion tearing its prey (see Pss 7:2; 17:12; 22:13).

[56:11]  ²² tn The statement is similar to that of v. 4, except “flesh” is used there instead of “man.”

[56:11]  ²³ tn The rhetorical question assumes the answer, “Nothing!” The imperfect is used in a modal sense here, indicating capability or potential.

[66:5]  ²⁵ tn Or “see.”

[66:5]  ²⁶ tn Or “acts” (see Ps 46:8).

[66:5]  ²⁷ 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.”

[75:3]  ²⁸ tn Heb “melt.”

[75:3]  ²⁹ tn The statement is understood in a generalizing sense; God typically prevents the world from being overrun by chaos. One could take this as referring to an anticipated event, “I will make its pillars secure.”

[81:15]  ³¹ tn “Those who hate the Lord” are also mentioned in 2 Chr 19:2 and Ps 139:21.

[81:15]  ³² tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 66:3 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “to be weak; to be powerless” (see also Ps 109:24). The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, parallel to the jussive form in the next line.

[81:15]  ³³ tc Heb “and may their time be forever.” The Hebrew term עִתָּם (’ittam, “their time”) must refer here to the “time” of the demise and humiliation of those who hate the Lord. Some propose an emendation to בַּעֲתָתָם (ba’atatam) or בִּעֻתָם (bi’utam; “their terror”; i.e., “may their terror last forever”), but the omission of bet (ב) in the present Hebrew text is difficult to explain, making the proposed emendation unlikely.

[86:2]  ³⁴ tn Heb “my life.”

[88:15]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”

[88:15]  ³⁸ 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).

[119:161]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “and because of your instructions my heart trembles.” The psalmist’s healthy “fear” of the consequences of violating God’s instructions motivates him to obey them. See v. 120.

[145:6]  ⁴³ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as an imperfect, indicating how the psalmist expects his audience to respond to his praise. Another option is to take the forms as a jussive, indicating the psalmist’s wish, “may they proclaim.”