Psalms 119:39

119:39 Take away the insults that I dread! ¹ 

Indeed, ²  your regulations are good.

Psalms 119:42

119:42 Then I will have a reply for the one who insults me, ³ 

for I trust in your word.

Psalms 39:8

39:8 Deliver me from all my sins of rebellion!

Do not make me the object of fools’ insults!

Psalms 42:10

42:10 My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone, ⁴ 

as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ⁵ 

Psalms 68:9-11

68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall ⁶  on your chosen people. ⁷ 

When they ⁸  are tired, you sustain them, ⁹ 

68:10 for you live among them. ¹⁰ 

You sustain the oppressed with your good blessings, O God.

68:11 The Lord speaks; ¹¹ 

many, many women spread the good news. ¹² 

Psalms 68:19-20

68:19 The Lord deserves praise! ¹³ 

Day after day ¹⁴  he carries our burden,

the God who delivers us. (Selah)

68:20 Our God is a God who delivers;

the Lord, the sovereign Lord, can rescue from death. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 123:3-4

123:3 Show us favor, O Lord, show us favor!

For we have had our fill of humiliation, and then some. ¹⁶ 

123:4 We have had our fill ¹⁷ 

of the taunts of the self-assured,

of the contempt of the proud.

Psalms 123:1

Psalm 123 ¹⁸ 

A song of ascents. ¹⁹ 

123:1 I look up ²⁰  toward you,

the one enthroned ²¹  in heaven.

Psalms 25:10

25:10 The Lord always proves faithful and reliable ²² 

to those who follow the demands of his covenant. ²³ 

Psalms 25:1-2

Psalm 25 ²⁴ 

By David.

25:1 O Lord, I come before you in prayer. ²⁵ 

25:2 My God, I trust in you.

Please do not let me be humiliated;

do not let my enemies triumphantly rejoice over me!

Psalms 16:7-8

16:7 I will praise ²⁶  the Lord who ²⁷  guides ²⁸  me;

yes, during the night I reflect and learn. ²⁹ 

16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord; ³⁰ 

because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.

Job 16:20

16:20 My intercessor is my friend ³¹ 

as my eyes pour out ³²  tears to God;

Job 19:2-3

19:2 “How long will you torment me ³³ 

and crush ³⁴  me with your words? ³⁵ 

19:3 These ten times ³⁶  you have been reproaching me; ³⁷ 

you are not ashamed to attack me! ³⁸ 

Hebrews 13:13

13:13 We must go out to him, then, outside the camp, bearing the abuse he experienced. ³⁹ 

[119:39]  ¹ tn Heb “my reproach that I fear.”

[119:39]  ² tn Or “for.”

[119:42]  ³ tn Heb “and I will answer [the] one who insults me a word.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the jussive (see v. 41).

[42:10]  ⁴ tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”

[42:10]  ⁵ sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.

[68:9]  ⁶ tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).

[68:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “[on] your inheritance.” This refers to Israel as God’s specially chosen people (see Pss 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 106:40). Some take “your inheritance” with what follows, but the vav (ו) prefixed to the following word (note וְנִלְאָה, vÿnil’ah) makes this syntactically unlikely.

[68:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:9]  ⁹ tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:10]  ¹⁰ tn The meaning of the Hebrew text is unclear; it appears to read, “your animals, they live in it,” but this makes little, if any, sense in this context. Some suggest that חָיָּה (khayah) is a rare homonym here, meaning “community” (BDB 312 s.v.) or “dwelling place” (HALOT 310 s.v. III *הַיָּה). In this case one may take “your community/dwelling place” as appositional to the third feminine singular pronominal suffix at the end of v. 9, the antecedent of which is “your inheritance.” The phrase יָשְׁבוּ־בָהּ (yashvu-vah, “they live in it”) may then be understood as an asyndetic relative clause modifying “your community/dwelling place.” A literal translation of vv. 9b-10a would be, “when it [your inheritance] is tired, you sustain it, your community/dwelling place in [which] they live.”

[68:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.

[68:11]  ¹² tn Heb “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army.” The participle translated “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural form. Apparently the good news here is the announcement that enemy kings have been defeated (see v. 12).

[68:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “blessed [be] the Lord.”

[68:19]  ¹⁴ tn It is possible to take this phrase with what precedes (“The Lord deserves praise day after day”) rather than with what follows.

[68:20]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and to the Lord, the Lord, to death, goings out.”

[123:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “for greatly we are filled [with] humiliation.”

[123:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “greatly our soul is full to it.”

[123:1]  ¹⁸ sn Psalm 123. The psalmist, speaking for God’s people, acknowledges his dependence on God in the midst of a crisis.

[123:1]  ¹⁹ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[123:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[123:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “sitting.” The Hebrew verb יָשַׁב (yashav) is here used metonymically of “sitting enthroned” (see Pss 9:7; 29:10; 55:19; 102:12).

[25:10]  ²² tn Heb “all the paths of the Lord are faithful and trustworthy.” The Lord’s “paths” refer here to his characteristic actions.

[25:10]  ²³ tn Heb “to the ones who keep his covenant and his testimonies.”

[25:1]  ²⁴ sn Psalm 25. The psalmist asks for divine protection, guidance and forgiveness as he affirms his loyalty to and trust in the Lord. This psalm is an acrostic; every verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet, except for v. 18, which, like v. 19, begins with ר (resh) instead of the expected ק (qof). The final verse, which begins with פ (pe), stands outside the acrostic scheme.

[25:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “to you, O Lord, my life I lift up.” To “lift up” one’s “life” to the Lord means to express one’s trust in him through prayer. See Pss 86:4; 143:8.

[16:7]  ²⁶ tn Heb “bless,” that is, “proclaim as worthy of praise.”

[16:7]  ²⁷ tn Or “because.”

[16:7]  ²⁸ tn Or “counsels, advises.”

[16:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “yes, [during] nights my kidneys instruct [or “correct”] me.” The “kidneys” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s moral character (see Ps 26:2). In the quiet darkness the Lord speaks to his inner being, as it were, and enables him to grow in moral understanding.

[16:8]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I set the Lord before me continually.” This may mean that the psalmist is aware of the Lord’s presence and sensitive to his moral guidance (see v. 7), or that he trusts in the Lord’s protection (see the following line).

[16:20]  ³¹ tn The first two words of this verse are problematic: מְלִיצַי רֵעָי (mÿlitsay re’ay, “my scorners are my friends”). The word מֵלִיץ (melits), from or related to the word for “scorner” (לִיץ, lits) in wisdom literature especially, can also mean “mediator” (Job 33:23), “interpreter” (Gen 42:23). This gives the idea that “scorn” has to do with the way words are used. It may be that the word here should have the singular suffix and be taken as “my spokesman.” This may not be from the same root as “scorn” (see N. H. Richardson, “Some Notes on lis and Its Derivatives,” VT 5 [1955]: 434-36). This is the view of the NIV, NJPS, JB, NAB, as well as a number of commentators. The idea of “my friends are scorners” is out of place in this section, unless taken as a parenthesis. Other suggestions are not convincing. The LXX has “May my prayer come to the Lord, and before him may my eye shed tears.” Some have tried to change the Hebrew to fit this. The word “my friends” also calls for some attention. Instead of a plural noun suffix, most would see it as a singular, a slight vocalic change. But others think it is not the word “friend.” D. J. A. Clines accepts the view that it is not “friends” but “thoughts” (רֵעַ, rea’). E. Dhorme takes it as “clamor,” from רוּעַ (rua’) and so interprets “my claimant word has reached God.” J. B. Curtis tries “My intercessor is my shepherd,” from רֹעִי (ro’i). See “On Job’s Witness in Heaven,” JBL 102 [1983]: 549-62.

[16:20]  ³² tn The Hebrew verb means “to drip; to stream; to flow”; the expression is cryptic, but understandable: “my eye flows [with tears as I cry out] to God.” But many suggestions have been made for this line too. Driver suggested in connection with cognate words that it be given the meaning “sleepless” (JTS 34 [1933]: 375-85), but this would also require additional words for a smooth reading. See also E. A. Speiser, “The Semantic Range of dalapu,” JCS 5 (1951): 64-66, for the Akkadian connection. But for the retention of “dripping eyes” based on the Talmudic use, see J. C. Greenfield, “Lexicographical Notes I,” HUCA 29 (1958): 203-28.

[19:2]  ³³ tn Heb “torment my soul,” with “soul” representing the self or individual. The MT has a verb from יָגָה (yagah, “to afflict; to torment”). This is supported by the versions. But the LXX has “to tire” which is apparently from יָגַע (yaga’). The form in the MT is unusual because it preserves the final (original) yod in the Hiphil (see GKC 214 §75.gg). So this unusual form has been preserved, and is the correct reading. A modal nuance for the imperfect fits best here: “How long do you intend to do this?”

[19:2]  ³⁴ tn The MT has דָּכָא (dakha’), “to crush” in the Piel. The LXX, however, has a more general word which means “to destroy.”

[19:2]  ³⁵ tn The LXX adds to the verse: “only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus.”

[19:3]  ³⁶ sn The number “ten” is a general expression to convey that this has been done often (see Gen 31:7; Num 14:22).

[19:3]  ³⁷ tn The Hiphil of the verb כָּלַם (kalam) means “outrage; insult; shame.” The verbs in this verse are prefixed conjugations, and may be interpreted as preterites if the reference is to the past time. But since the action is still going on, progressive imperfects work well.

[19:3]  ³⁸ tn The second half of the verse uses two verbs, the one dependent on the other. It could be translated “you are not ashamed to attack me” (see GKC 385-86 §120.c), or “you attack me shamelessly.” The verb חָכַר (hakhar) poses some difficulties for both the ancient versions and the modern commentators. The verb seems to be cognate to Arabic hakara, “to oppress; to ill-treat.” This would mean that there has been a transformation of ח (khet) to ה (he). Three Hebrew mss actually have the ח (khet). This has been widely accepted; other suggestions are irrelevant.

[13:13]  ³⁹ tn Grk “his abuse.”