Psalms 105:37

105:37 He brought his people ¹  out enriched ²  with silver and gold;

none of his tribes stumbled.

Psalms 107:12

107:12 So he used suffering to humble them; ³ 

they stumbled and no one helped them up.

Psalms 109:24

109:24 I am so starved my knees shake; ⁴ 

I have turned into skin and bones. ⁵ 

Psalms 9:3

9:3 When my enemies turn back,

they trip and are defeated ⁶  before you.

Psalms 64:8

64:8 Their slander will bring about their demise. ⁷ 

All who see them will shudder, ⁸ 

Psalms 27:2

27:2 When evil men attack me ⁹ 

to devour my flesh, ¹⁰ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ¹¹ 

they stumble and fall. ¹² 

Psalms 31:10

31:10 For my life nears its end in pain;

my years draw to a close as I groan. ¹³ 

My strength fails me because of ¹⁴  my sin,

and my bones become brittle. ¹⁵ 

[105:37]  ¹ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the Lord’s people) has been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[105:37]  ² tn The word “enriched” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[107:12]  ³ tn Heb “and he subdued with suffering their heart.”

[109:24]  ⁵ tn Heb “my knees stagger from fasting.”

[109:24]  ⁶ tn Heb “and my flesh is lean away from fatness [i.e., “lean so as not to be fat”].”

[9:3]  ⁷ tn Or “perish”; or “die.” The imperfect verbal forms in this line either emphasize what typically happens or describe vividly the aftermath of a recent battle in which the Lord defeated the psalmist’s enemies.

[64:8]  ⁹ tc The MT reads literally, “and they caused him to stumble, upon them, their tongue.” Perhaps the third plural subject of the verb is indefinite with the third singular pronominal suffix on the verb being distributive (see Ps 63:10). In this case one may translate, “each one will be made to stumble.” The preposition עַל (’al) might then be taken as adversative, “against them [is] their tongue.” Many prefer to emend the text to וַיַּכְשִׁילֵמוֹ עֲלֵי לְשׁוֹנָם (vayyakhshilemo ’aley lÿshonam, “and he caused them to stumble over their tongue”). However, if this reading is original, it is difficult to see how the present reading of the MT arose. Furthermore, the preposition is not collocated with the verb כָּשַׁל (kashal) elsewhere. It is likely that the MT is corrupt, but a satisfying emendation has not yet been proposed.

[64:8]  ¹⁰ tn The Hitpolel verbal form is probably from the root נוּד (nud; see HALOT 678 s.v. נוד), which is attested elsewhere in the Hitpolel stem, not the root נָדַד (nadad, as proposed by BDB 622 s.v. I נָדַד), which does not occur elsewhere in this stem.

[27:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ¹² sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[31:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”

[31:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “stumbles in.”

[31:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “grow weak.”