Psalms 109:28

109:28 They curse, but you will bless. ¹ 

When they attack, they will be humiliated, ² 

but your servant will rejoice.

Psalms 27:12

27:12 Do not turn me over to my enemies, ³ 

for false witnesses who want to destroy me testify against me. ⁴ 

Psalms 86:14

86:14 O God, arrogant men attack me; ⁵ 

a gang ⁶  of ruthless men, who do not respect you, seek my life. ⁷ 

Psalms 54:3

54:3 For foreigners ⁸  attack me; ⁹ 

ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. ¹⁰  (Selah)

[109:28]  ¹ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).

[109:28]  ² tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.

[27:12]  ³ tn Heb “do not give me over to the desire of my enemies.”

[27:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “for they have risen up against me, lying witnesses and a testifier of violence.” The form יָפֵחַ (yafeakh) is traditionally understood as a verb meaning “snort, breathe out”: “for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty” (KJV; cf. BDB 422 s.v.). A better option is to take the form as a noun meaning “a witness” (or “testifier”). See Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3.

[86:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “rise up against me.”

[86:14]  ⁶ tn Or “assembly.”

[86:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “seek my life and do not set you before them.” See Ps 54:3.

[54:3]  ⁷ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read זֵדִים (zedim, “proud ones”) rather than זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”). (No matter which reading one chooses as original, dalet-resh confusion accounts for the existence of the variant.) The term זֵדִים (“proud ones”) occurs in parallelism with עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Ps 86:14 and Isa 13:11. However, זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) is parallel to עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Isa 25:5; 29:5; Ezek 28:7; 31:12.

[54:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “rise against me.”

[54:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”