Psalms 115:14

115:14 May he increase your numbers,

yours and your children’s! ¹ 

Psalms 7:16

7:16 He becomes the victim of his own destructive plans ² 

and the violence he intended for others falls on his own head. ³ 

Psalms 18:33

18:33 He gives me the agility of a deer; ⁴ 

he enables me to negotiate the rugged terrain. ⁵ 

Psalms 22:18

22:18 They are dividing up my clothes among themselves;

they are rolling dice ⁶  for my garments.

Psalms 24:2

24:2 For he set its foundation upon the seas,

and established ⁷  it upon the ocean currents. ⁸ 

Psalms 81:14

81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,

and attack ⁹  their adversaries.”

Psalms 135:14

135:14 For the Lord vindicates ¹⁰  his people,

and has compassion on his servants. ¹¹ 

Psalms 2:2

2:2 The kings of the earth ¹²  form a united front; ¹³ 

the rulers collaborate ¹⁴ 

against the Lord and his anointed king. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 35:20

35:20 For they do not try to make peace with others, ¹⁶ 

but plan ways to deceive those who are unsuspecting. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 80:15

80:15 the root ¹⁸  your right hand planted,

the shoot you made to grow! ¹⁹ 

Psalms 108:5

108:5 Rise up ²⁰  above the sky, O God!

May your splendor cover the whole earth! ²¹ 

Psalms 139:16

139:16 Your eyes saw me when I was inside the womb. ²² 

All the days ordained for me

were recorded in your scroll

before one of them came into existence. ²³ 

Psalms 79:6

79:6 Pour out your anger on the nations that do not acknowledge you, ²⁴ 

on the kingdoms that do not pray to you! ²⁵ 

Psalms 138:2

138:2 I will bow down toward your holy temple,

and give thanks to your name,

because of your loyal love and faithfulness,

for you have exalted your promise above the entire sky. ²⁶ 

[115:14]  ¹ tn Heb “may he add to you, to you and your sons.” The prefixed verbal form is jussive, indicating this is a prayer.

[7:16]  ² tn Heb “his harm [i.e., the harm he conceived for others, see v. 14] returns on his head.”

[7:16]  ³ tn Heb “and on his forehead his violence [i.e., the violence he intended to do to others] comes down.”

[18:33]  ³ tn Heb “[the one who] makes my feet like [those of ] a deer.”

[18:33]  ⁴ tn Heb “and on my high places he makes me walk.” The imperfect verbal form emphasizes God’s characteristic provision. The psalmist compares his agility in battle to the ability of a deer to negotiate rugged, high terrain without falling or being injured.

[22:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “casting lots.” The precise way in which this would have been done is not certain.

[24:2]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a preterite, referring to the creation of the world.

[24:2]  ⁶ sn He…established it upon the ocean currents. The description reflects ancient Israelite prescientific cosmology, which is based on outward appearances. The language also suggests that God’s creative work involved the subjugation of chaos, symbolized by the sea.

[81:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).

[135:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “judges,” but here the idea is that the Lord “judges on behalf of” his people. The imperfect verbal forms here and in the next line draw attention to the Lord’s characteristic actions.

[135:14]  ⁸ sn Verse 14 echoes Deut 32:36, where Moses affirms that God mercifully relents from fully judging his wayward people.

[2:2]  ⁸ sn The expression kings of the earth refers somewhat hyperbolically to the kings who had been conquered by and were subject to the Davidic king.

[2:2]  ⁹ tn Or “take their stand.” The Hebrew imperfect verbal form describes their action as underway.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “conspire together.” The verbal form is a Niphal from יָסַד (yasad). BDB 413-14 s.v. יָסַד defines the verb as “establish, found,” but HALOT 417 s.v. II יסד proposes a homonym meaning “get together, conspire” (an alternate form of סוּד, sud).

[2:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and against his anointed one.” The Davidic king is the referent (see vv. 6-7).

[35:20]  ⁹ tn Heb “for they do not speak peace.”

[35:20]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “but against the quiet ones of the land words of deceit they plan.” The imperfect verbal forms in v. 20 highlight their characteristic behavior.

[80:15]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here in the OT. HALOT 483 s.v. III כֵּן emends the form to כַּנָּהּ (kannah, “its shoot”).

[80:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and upon a son you strengthened for yourself.” In this context, where the extended metaphor of the vine dominates, בֵּן (ben, “son”) probably refers to the shoots that grow from the vine. Cf. Gen 49:22.

[108:5]  ¹¹ tn Or “be exalted.”

[108:5]  ¹² tn Heb “over all the earth [be] your splendor.” Though no verb appears, the tone of the statement is a prayer or wish. (Note the imperative form in the preceding line.)

[139:16]  ¹² tn Heb “Your eyes saw my shapeless form.” The Hebrew noun גֹּלֶם (golem) occurs only here in the OT. In later Hebrew the word refers to “a lump, a shapeless or lifeless substance,” and to “unfinished matter, a vessel wanting finishing” (Jastrow 222 s.v. גּוֹלֶם). The translation employs the dynamic rendering “when I was inside the womb” to clarify that the speaker was still in his mother’s womb at the time he was “seen” by God.

[139:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “and on your scroll all of them were written, [the] days [which] were formed, and [there was] not one among them.” This “scroll” may be the “scroll of life” mentioned in Ps 69:28 (see the note on the word “living” there).

[79:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “which do not know you.” Here the Hebrew term “know” means “acknowledge the authority of.”

[79:6]  ¹⁴ sn The kingdoms that do not pray to you. The people of these kingdoms pray to other gods, not the Lord, because they do not recognize his authority over them.

[138:2]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads, “for you have made great over all your name your word.” If retained, this must mean that God's mighty intervention, in fulfillment of his word of promise, surpassed anything he had done prior to this. However, the statement is odd and several emendations have been proposed. Some read, “for you have exalted over everything your name and your word,” while others suggest, “for you have exalted over all the heavens your name and your word.” The translation assumes an emendation of “your name” to “your heavens” (a construction that appears in Pss 8:3 and 144:5). The point is that God has been faithful to his promise and the reliability of that promise is apparent to all. For a fuller discussion of these options, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 244.