Psalms 119:57

ח (Khet)

119:57 The Lord is my source of security. ¹ 

I have determined ²  to follow your instructions. ³ 

Psalms 16:5

16:5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity; ⁴ 

you make my future secure. ⁵ 

Psalms 73:26

73:26 My flesh and my heart may grow weak, ⁶ 

but God always ⁷  protects my heart and gives me stability. ⁸ 

Psalms 142:5

142:5 I cry out to you, O Lord;

I say, “You are my shelter,

my security ⁹  in the land of the living.”

Psalms 11:6

11:6 May the Lord rain down ¹⁰  burning coals ¹¹  and brimstone ¹²  on the wicked!

A whirlwind is what they deserve! ¹³ 

Psalms 105:11

105:11 saying, “To you I will give the land of Canaan

as the portion of your inheritance.”

Psalms 60:6

60:6 God has spoken in his sanctuary: ¹⁴ 

“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem;

the Valley of Succoth I will measure off. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 68:23

68:23 so that your feet may stomp ¹⁶  in their blood,

and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.” ¹⁷ 

Psalms 63:10

63:10 Each one will be handed over to the sword; ¹⁸ 

their corpses will be eaten by jackals. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 108:7

108:7 God has spoken in his sanctuary: ²⁰ 

“I will triumph! I will parcel out Shechem,

the valley of Succoth I will measure off. ²¹ 

Psalms 17:14

17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, ²² 

from the murderers of this world! ²³ 

They enjoy prosperity; ²⁴ 

you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. ²⁵ 

They have many children,

and leave their wealth to their offspring. ²⁶ 

Psalms 50:18

50:18 When you see a thief, you join him; ²⁷ 

you associate with men who are unfaithful to their wives. ²⁸ 

[119:57]  ¹ tn Heb “my portion [is] the Lord.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel (see Ps 16:5).

[119:57]  ² tn Heb “I said.”

[119:57]  ³ tn Heb “to keep your words” (see v. 9).

[16:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “O Lord, the portion of my possession and my cup”; or “the Lord [is] the portion of my possession and my cup.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel, and to a cup of wine, which may symbolize a reward (in Ps 11:6 it symbolizes the judgment one deserves) or divine blessing (see Ps 23:5). The metaphor highlights the fact that God is the psalmist’s source of security and prosperity.

[16:5]  ⁵ tc Heb “you take hold of my lot.” The form תּוֹמִיךְ (tomikh) should be emended to a participle, תוֹמֵךְ (tomekh). The psalmist pictures the Lord as casting his lot (a method used to allot landed property) for him, thus assuring that he will receive a fertile piece of land (see v. 6). As in the previous line, land represents security and economic stability, thus “you make my future secure.”

[73:26]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verb כָלָה (khalah, “to fail; to grow weak”) does not refer here to physical death per se, but to the physical weakness that sometimes precedes death (see Job 33:21; Pss 71:9; 143:7; Prov 5:11).

[73:26]  ⁸ tn Or “forever.”

[73:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “is the rocky summit of my heart and my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to a rocky summit where one could go for protection and to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

[142:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my portion.” The psalmist compares the Lord to landed property, which was foundational to economic stability in ancient Israel.

[11:6]  ¹³ tn The verb form is a jussive, indicating that the statement is imprecatory (“May the Lord rain down”), not indicative (“The Lord rains down”; see also Job 20:23). The psalmist appeals to God to destroy the wicked, rather than simply stating his confidence that God will do so. In this way the psalmist seeks to activate divine judgment by appealing to God’s just character. For an example of the power of such a curse, see Judg 9:7-57.

[11:6]  ¹⁴ tc The MT reads “traps, fire, and brimstone,” but the image of God raining traps, or snares, down from the sky is bizarre and does not fit the fire and storm imagery of this verse. The noun פַּחִים (pakhim, “traps, snares”) should be emended to פַּחֲמֵי (pakhamey, “coals of [fire]”). The rare noun פֶּחָם (pekham, “coal”) occurs in Prov 26:21 and Isa 44:12; 54:16.

[11:6]  ¹⁵ sn The image of God “raining down” brimstone on the objects of his judgment also appears in Gen 19:24 and Ezek 38:22.

[11:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[may] a wind of rage [be] the portion of their cup.” The precise meaning of the rare noun זִלְעָפוֹת (zil’afot) is uncertain. It may mean “raging heat” (BDB 273 s.v. זַלְעָפָה) or simply “rage” (HALOT 272 s.v. זַלְעָפָה). If one understands the former sense, then one might translate “hot wind” (cf. NEB, NRSV). The present translation assumes the latter nuance, “a wind of rage” (the genitive is attributive) referring to a “whirlwind” symbolic of destructive judgment. In this mixed metaphor, judgment is also compared to an allotted portion of a beverage poured into one’s drinking cup (see Hab 2:15-16).

[60:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in his holy place.”

[60:6]  ¹⁷ sn Shechem stands for the territory west of the Jordan, the Valley of Succoth for the region east of the Jordan.

[68:23]  ¹⁹ tc Some (e.g. NRSV) prefer to emend מָחַץ (makhats, “smash; stomp”; see v. 21) to רָחַץ (rakhats, “bathe”; see Ps 58:10).

[68:23]  ²⁰ tn Heb “[and] the tongue of your dogs from [the] enemies [may eat] its portion.”

[63:10]  ²² tn Heb “they will deliver him over to the sword.” The third masculine plural subject must be indefinite (see GKC 460 §144.f) and the singular pronominal suffix either representative or distributive (emphasizing that each one will be so treated). Active verbs with indefinite subjects may be translated as passives with the object (in the Hebrew text) as subject (in the translation).

[63:10]  ²³ tn Heb “they will be [the] portion of jackals”; traditionally, “of foxes.”

[108:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “in his holy place.”

[108:7]  ²⁶ sn Shechem stands for the territory west of the Jordan River; the valley of Succoth represents the region east of the Jordan.

[17:14]  ²⁸ tc Heb “from men [by] your hand, Lord.” The translation assumes an emendation (both here and in the following line) of מִמְתִים (mimtim, “from men”) to מִמְמִתִים (mimmitim, “from those who kill”). For other uses of the plural form of the Hiphil participle of מוּת (mut, “die”), see 2 Kgs 17:26 (used with lions as subject), Job 33:22 (apparently referring to the agents of death), and Jer 26:15 (used of those seeking Jeremiah’s life).

[17:14]  ²⁹ tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”

[17:14]  ³⁰ tn Heb “their portion, in life.”

[17:14]  ³¹ tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”

[17:14]  ³² tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”

[50:18]  ³¹ tn Heb “you run with him.”

[50:18]  ³² tn Heb “and with adulterers [is] your portion.”