Psalms 118:13

118:13 “You aggressively attacked me ¹  and tried to knock me down, ² 

but the Lord helped me.

Psalms 147:2

147:2 The Lord rebuilds Jerusalem, ³ 

and gathers the exiles of Israel.

Psalms 35:5

35:5 May they be ⁴  like wind-driven chaff,

as the Lord’s angel ⁵  attacks them! ⁶ 

Psalms 36:12

36:12 I can see the evildoers! They have fallen! ⁷ 

They have been knocked down and are unable to get up! ⁸ 

Psalms 62:3

62:3 How long will you threaten ⁹  a man?

All of you are murderers, ¹⁰ 

as dangerous as a leaning wall or an unstable fence. ¹¹ 

Psalms 140:4

140:4 O Lord, shelter me from the power ¹²  of the wicked!

Protect me from violent men,

who plan to knock me over. ¹³ 

[118:13]  ¹ tn Heb “pushing, you pushed me.” The infinitive absolute emphasizes the following verbal idea. The psalmist appears to address the nations as if they were an individual enemy. Some find this problematic and emend the verb form (which is a Qal perfect second masculine singular with a first person singular suffix) to נִדְחֵיתִי (nidkheti), a Niphal perfect first common singular, “I was pushed.”

[118:13]  ² tn Heb “to fall,” i.e., “that [I] might fall.”

[147:2]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[35:5]  ⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive. See v. 4.

[35:5]  ⁶ sn See the mention of the Lord’s angel in Ps 34:7.

[35:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “as the Lord’s angel pushes [them].”

[36:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “there the workers of wickedness have fallen.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here for dramatic effect, as the psalmist envisions the evildoers lying fallen at a spot that is vivid in his imagination (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[36:12]  ⁸ tn The psalmist uses perfect verbal forms in v. 12 to describe the demise of the wicked as if it has already taken place.

[62:3]  ⁹ tn The verb form is plural; the psalmist addresses his enemies. The verb הוּת occurs only here in the OT. An Arabic cognate means “shout at.”

[62:3]  ¹⁰ tn The Hebrew text has a Pual (passive) form, but the verb form should be vocalized as a Piel (active) form. See BDB 953-54 s.v. רָצַח.

[62:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “like a bent wall and a broken fence.” The point of the comparison is not entirely clear. Perhaps the enemies are depicted as dangerous, like a leaning wall or broken fence that is in danger of falling on someone (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:69).

[140:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hands.”

[140:4]  ¹² tn Heb “to push down my steps.”