Psalms 119:52

119:52 I remember your ancient regulations, ¹ 

O Lord, and console myself. ² 

Psalms 119:120

119:120 My body ³  trembles ⁴  because I fear you; ⁵ 

I am afraid of your judgments.

Psalms 119:175

119:175 May I ⁶  live and praise you!

May your regulations help me! ⁷ 

Psalms 7:6-9

7:6 Stand up angrily, ⁸  Lord!

Rise up with raging fury against my enemies! ⁹ 

Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! ¹⁰ 

7:7 The countries are assembled all around you; ¹¹ 

take once more your rightful place over them! ¹² 

7:8 The Lord judges the nations. ¹³ 

Vindicate me, Lord, because I am innocent, ¹⁴ 

because I am blameless, ¹⁵  O Exalted One! ¹⁶ 

7:9 May the evil deeds of the wicked ¹⁷  come to an end! ¹⁸ 

But make the innocent ¹⁹  secure, ²⁰ 

O righteous God,

you who examine ²¹  inner thoughts and motives! ²² 

Psalms 9:4

9:4 For you defended my just cause; ²³ 

from your throne you pronounced a just decision. ²⁴ 

Psalms 9:16

9:16 The Lord revealed himself;

he accomplished justice;

the wicked were ensnared by their own actions. ²⁵  (Higgaion. ²⁶  Selah)

Psalms 43:1

Psalm 43 ²⁷ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ²⁸  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ²⁹  from deceitful and evil men! ³⁰ 

Psalms 43:1

Psalm 43 ³¹ 

43:1 Vindicate me, O God!

Fight for me ³²  against an ungodly nation!

Deliver me ³³  from deceitful and evil men! ³⁴ 

Psalms 2:1

Psalm 2 ³⁵ 

2:1 Why ³⁶  do the nations rebel? ³⁷ 

Why ³⁸  are the countries ³⁹  devising ⁴⁰  plots that will fail? ⁴¹ 

[119:52]  ¹ tn Heb “I remember your regulations from of old.” The prepositional phrase “from of old” apparently modifies “your regulations,” alluding to the fact that God revealed them to Israel in the distant past. Another option is to understand the prepositional phrase as modifying the verb, in which case one might translate, “I have long remembered your regulations.”

[119:52]  ² tn Or “find comfort.”

[119:120]  ³ tn Heb “my flesh.”

[119:120]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verb סָמַר (samar, “to tremble”) occurs only here and in Job 4:15.

[119:120]  ⁵ tn Heb “from fear of you.” The pronominal suffix on the noun is an objective genitive.

[119:175]  ⁶ tn Heb “my life.”

[119:175]  ⁷ tn God’s regulations will “help” the psalmist by giving him moral and ethical guidance.

[7:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “in your anger.”

[7:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “Lift yourself up in the angry outbursts of my enemies.” Many understand the preposition prefixed to עַבְרוֹת (’avrot, “angry outbursts”) as adversative, “against,” and the following genitive “enemies” as subjective. In this case one could translate, “rise up against my furious enemies” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The present translation, however, takes the preposition as indicating manner (cf. “in your anger” in the previous line) and understands the plural form of the noun as indicating an abstract quality (“fury”) or excessive degree (“raging fury”). Cf. Job 21:30.

[7:6]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “Wake up to me [with the] judgment [which] you have commanded.” The LXX understands אֵלִי (’eliy, “my God”) instead of אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”; the LXX reading is followed by NEB, NIV, NRSV.) If the reading of the MT is retained, the preposition probably has the sense of “on account of, for the sake of.” The noun מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “judgment”) is probably an adverbial accusative, modifying the initial imperative, “wake up.” In this case צִוִּיתָ (tsivvita, “[which] you have commanded”) is an asyndetic relative clause. Some take the perfect as precative. In this case one could translate the final line, “Wake up for my sake! Decree judgment!” (cf. NIV). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[7:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and the assembly of the peoples surrounds you.” Some understand the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may the assembly of the peoples surround you.”

[7:7]  ¹² tn Heb “over it (the feminine suffix refers back to the feminine noun “assembly” in the preceding line) on high return.” Some emend שׁוּבָה (shuvah, “return”) to שֵׁבָה (shevah, “sit [in judgment]”) because they find the implication of “return” problematic. But the psalmist does not mean to imply that God has abandoned his royal throne and needs to regain it. Rather he simply urges God, as sovereign king of the world, to once more occupy his royal seat of judgment and execute judgment, as the OT pictures God doing periodically.

[7:8]  ¹³ sn The Lord judges the nations. In hyperbolic fashion the psalmist pictures the nations assembled around the divine throne (v. 7a). He urges God to take his rightful place on the throne (v. 7b) and then pictures him making judicial decisions that vindicate the innocent (see vv. 8-16).

[7:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “judge me, O Lord, according to my innocence.”

[7:8]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “according to my blamelessness.” The imperative verb translated “vindicate” governs the second line as well.

[7:8]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew form עָלָי (’alay) has been traditionally understood as the preposition עַל (’al, “over”) with a first person suffix. But this is syntactically awkward and meaningless. The form is probably a divine title derived from the verbal root עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”). This relatively rare title appears elsewhere in the OT (see HALOT 824-25 s.v. I עַל, though this text is not listed) and in Ugaritic as an epithet for Baal (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 98). See M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:44-45, and P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 98.

[7:9]  ¹⁷ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.

[7:9]  ¹⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation here.

[7:9]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the godly” (see Ps 5:12). The singular form is collective (see the plural “upright in heart” in v. 10), though it may reflect the personal focus of the psalmist in this context.

[7:9]  ²⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form expresses the psalmist’s prayer or wish.

[7:9]  ²¹ tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.

[7:9]  ²² tn Heb “and [the one who] tests hearts and kidneys, just God.” The translation inverts the word order to improve the English style. The heart and kidneys were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.

[9:4]  ²³ tn Heb “for you accomplished my justice and my legal claim.”

[9:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “you sat on a throne [as] one who judges [with] righteousness.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 4 probably allude to a recent victory (see vv. 5-7). Another option is to understand the verbs as describing what is typical (“you defend…you sit on a throne”).

[9:16]  ²⁵ tn Heb “by the work of his hands [the] wicked [one] was ensnared. The singular form רָשָׁע (rasha’, “wicked”) is collective or representative here (see vv. 15, 17). The form נוֹקֵשׁ (noqesh) appears to be an otherwise unattested Qal form (active participle) from נָקַשׁ (naqash), but the form should be emended to נוֹקַשׁ (noqash), a Niphal perfect from יָקַשׁ (yaqash).

[9:16]  ²⁶ tn This is probably a technical musical term.

[43:1]  ²⁷ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

[43:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “argue my case.”

[43:1]  ²⁹ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

[43:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

[43:1]  ³¹ sn Psalm 43. Many medieval Hebrew mss combine Psalm 43 and Psalm 42 into one psalm. Psalm 43 is the only psalm in Book 2 of the Psalter (Psalms 42-72) that does not have a heading, suggesting that it was originally the third and concluding section of Psalm 42. Ps 43:5 is identical to the refrain in Ps 42:11 and almost identical to the refrain in Ps 42:5.

[43:1]  ³² tn Or “argue my case.”

[43:1]  ³³ tn The imperfect here expresses a request or wish. Note the imperatives in the first half of the verse. See also v. 3.

[43:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “from the deceitful and evil man.” The Hebrew text uses the singular form “man” in a collective sense, as the reference to a “nation” in the parallel line indicates.

[2:1]  ³⁵ sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ³⁶ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ³⁷ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ³⁸ tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ³⁹ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.