Psalms 119:161

שׂ/שׁ (Sin/Shin)

119:161 Rulers pursue me for no reason,

yet I am more afraid of disobeying your instructions. ¹ 

Psalms 119:23

119:23 Though rulers plot and slander me, ² 

your servant meditates on your statutes.

Psalms 148:11

148:11 you kings of the earth and all you nations,

you princes and all you leaders ³  on the earth,

[119:161]  ¹ tn Heb “and because of your instructions my heart trembles.” The psalmist’s healthy “fear” of the consequences of violating God’s instructions motivates him to obey them. See v. 120.

[119:23]  ² tn Heb “though rulers sit, about me they talk together.” (For another example of the Niphal of דָּבַר (davar) used with a suffixed form of the preposition ב, see Ezek 33:30.)

[148:11]  ³ tn Or “judges.”