Psalms 10:9-10

10:9 He lies in ambush in a hidden place, like a lion in a thicket; ¹ 

he lies in ambush, waiting to catch ²  the oppressed;

he catches the oppressed ³  by pulling in his net. ⁴ 

10:10 His victims are crushed and beaten down;

they are trapped in his sturdy nets. ⁵ 

Psalms 37:32-33

37:32 Evil men set an ambush for the godly

and try to kill them. ⁶ 

37:33 But the Lord does not surrender the godly,

or allow them to be condemned in a court of law. ⁷ 

Psalms 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ⁸ 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Psalms 56:6

56:6 They stalk ⁹  and lurk; ¹⁰ 

they watch my every step, ¹¹ 

as ¹²  they prepare to take my life. ¹³ 

Psalms 56:1

Psalm 56 ¹⁴ 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ¹⁵  a prayer ¹⁶  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ¹⁷ 

56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ¹⁸ 

All day long hostile enemies ¹⁹  are tormenting me. ²⁰ 

Psalms 19:1

Psalm 19 ²¹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; ²² 

the sky displays his handiwork. ²³ 

Proverbs 12:6

12:6 The words of the wicked lie in wait ²⁴  to shed innocent blood, ²⁵ 

but the words ²⁶  of the upright will deliver them.

Micah 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ²⁷  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ²⁸ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ²⁹ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ³⁰ 

Acts 23:21

23:21 So do not let them persuade you to do this, ³¹  because more than forty of them ³²  are lying in ambush ³³  for him. They ³⁴  have bound themselves with an oath ³⁵  not to eat or drink anything ³⁶  until they have killed him, and now they are ready, waiting for you to agree to their request.” ³⁷ 

[10:9]  ¹ tn Or “in its den.”

[10:9]  ² tn The verb, which also appears in the next line, occurs only here and in Judg 21:21.

[10:9]  ³ tn The singular form is collective (see v. 10) or refers to the typical or representative oppressed individual.

[10:9]  ⁴ tn Or “when he [i.e., the wicked man] pulls in his net.”

[10:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “he crushes, he is bowed down, and he falls into his strong [ones], [the] unfortunate [ones].” This verse presents several lexical and syntactical difficulties. The first word (יִדְכֶּה, yidekeh) is an otherwise unattested Qal form of the verb דָּכָה (dakhah, “crush”). (The Qere [marginal] form is imperfect; the consonantal text [Kethib] has the perfect with a prefixed conjunction vav [ו].) If the wicked man’s victim is the subject, which seems to be the case (note the two verbs which follow), then the form should be emended to a Niphal (יִדָּכֶה, yiddakheh). The phrase בַּעֲצוּמָיו (ba’atsumayv, “into his strong [ones]”), poses interpretive problems. The preposition -בְּ (bet) follows the verb נָפַל (nafal, “fall”), so it may very well carry the nuance “into” here, with “his strong [ones]” then referring to something into which the oppressed individual falls. Since a net is mentioned in the preceding verse as the instrument used to entrap the victim, it is possible that “strong [ones]” here refers metonymically to the wicked man’s nets or traps. Ps 35:8 refers to a man falling into a net (רֶשֶׁת, reshet), as does Ps 141:10 (where the plural of מִכְמָר [mikhmar, “net”] is used). A hunter’s net (רֶשֶׁת), is associated with snares (פַּח [pakh], מֹקְשִׁים, [moqÿshim]) and ropes (חֲבָלִים, khavalim) in Ps 140:5. The final word in the verse (חֶלְכָּאִים (khelka’im, “unfortunate [ones]”) may be an alternate form of חֵלְכָח (khelkhakh, “unfortunate [one]”; see vv. 8, 14). The Qere (marginal reading) divides the form into two words, חֵיל כָּאִים (khel ka’im, “army/host of disheartened [ones]”). The three verb forms in v. 10 are singular because the representative “oppressed” individual is the grammatical subject (see the singular עָנִי [’aniy] in v. 9).

[37:32]  ⁶ tn Heb “an evil [one] watches the godly [one] and seeks to kill him.” The singular forms are used in a representative sense; the typical evildoer and godly individual are in view. The active participles describe characteristic behavior.

[37:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “the Lord does not abandon him into his hand or condemn him when he is judged.” The imperfects draw attention to the Lord’s characteristic behavior in this regard.

[38:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[56:6]  ⁹ tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.

[56:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “hide.”

[56:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my heels.”

[56:6]  ¹² tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”

[56:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”

[56:1]  ¹⁴ sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.

[56:1]  ¹⁵ tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.

[56:1]  ¹⁶ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[56:1]  ¹⁷ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).

[56:1]  ¹⁸ tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”

[56:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.

[56:1]  ²⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.

[19:1]  ²¹ sn Psalm 19. The psalmist praises God for his self-revelation in the heavens and in the Mosaic law. The psalmist concludes with a prayer, asking the Lord to keep him from sinning and to approve of his thoughts and words.

[19:1]  ²² sn God’s glory refers here to his royal majesty and power.

[19:1]  ²³ tn Heb “and the work of his hands the sky declares.” The participles emphasize the ongoing testimony of the heavens/sky.

[12:6]  ²⁴ tn The infinitive construct אֱרָב (’erav, “to lie in wait”) expresses the purpose of their conversations. The idea of “lying in wait for blood” is an implied comparison (hypocatastasis): Their words are like an ambush intended to destroy (cf. NAB, NRSV “are a deadly ambush”). The words of the wicked are here personified.

[12:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for blood.” The term “blood” is a metonymy of effect, the cause being the person that they will attack and whose blood they will shed. After the construct “blood” is also an objective genitive.

[12:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “mouth.” The term פֶּה (peh, “mouth”) is a metonymy of cause, signifying what the righteous say. The righteous can make a skillful defense against false accusations that are intended to destroy. The righteous, who have gained wisdom, can escape the traps set by the words of the wicked.

[7:2]  ²⁷ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ³⁰ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.

[23:21]  ³¹ tn Grk “do not be persuaded by them.” The passive construction μὴ πεισθῇς αὐτοῖς (mh peisqh" autoi") has been converted to an active construction in the translation, and the phrase “to do this” supplied to indicate more clearly the object of their persuasion.

[23:21]  ³² tn Grk “forty men of them.” In the expression ἐξ αὐτῶν ἄνδρες (ex autwn andre") “men” is somewhat redundant and has not been included in the English translation.

[23:21]  ³³ tn Grk “are lying in wait for him” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἐνεδρεύω); see also v. 16.

[23:21]  ³⁴ tn Grk “for him, who.” Because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, the relative pronoun (“who”) was translated by the third person plural pronoun (“they”) and a new sentence begun in the translation.

[23:21]  ³⁵ tn Or “bound themselves under a curse.” BDAG 63 s.v. ἀναθεματίζω 1 has “trans. put under a curse τινά someone… ἀ. ἑαυτόν vss. 12, 21, 13 v.l.”

[23:21]  ³⁶ tn The word “anything” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Direct objects were often omitted in Greek when clear from the context, but must be supplied for the modern English reader.

[23:21]  ³⁷ tn Grk “waiting for your approval,” “waiting for your agreement.” Since it would be possible to misunderstand the literal translation “waiting for your approval” to mean that the Jews were waiting for the commander’s approval to carry out their plot or to kill Paul (as if he were to be an accomplice to their plot), the object of the commander’s approval (their request to bring Paul to the council) has been specified in the translation as “their request.”