Psalms 13:2

13:2 How long must I worry, ¹ 

and suffer in broad daylight? ² 

How long will my enemy gloat over me? ³ 

Psalms 40:10

40:10 I have not failed to tell about your justice; ⁴ 

I spoke about your reliability and deliverance;

I have not neglected to tell the great assembly about your loyal love and faithfulness. ⁵ 

Psalms 45:4

45:4 Appear in your majesty and be victorious! ⁶ 

Ride forth for the sake of what is right, ⁷ 

on behalf of justice! ⁸ 

Then your right hand will accomplish mighty acts! ⁹ 

Psalms 50:23

50:23 Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me. ¹⁰ 

To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.” ¹¹ 

Psalms 56:13

56:13 when you deliver ¹²  my life from death.

You keep my feet from stumbling, ¹³ 

so that I might serve ¹⁴  God as I enjoy life. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 57:3

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ¹⁶ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ¹⁷  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

Psalms 68:2

68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. ¹⁸ 

As wax melts before fire,

so the wicked are destroyed before God.

Psalms 78:20

78:20 Yes, ¹⁹  he struck a rock and water flowed out,

streams gushed forth.

But can he also give us food?

Will he provide meat for his people?”

Psalms 88:5

88:5 adrift ²⁰  among the dead,

like corpses lying in the grave,

whom you remember no more,

and who are cut off from your power. ²¹ 

Psalms 89:19

89:19 Then you ²²  spoke through a vision to your faithful followers ²³  and said:

“I have energized a warrior; ²⁴ 

I have raised up a young man ²⁵  from the people.

Psalms 98:1

Psalm 98 ²⁶ 

A psalm.

98:1 Sing to the Lord a new song, ²⁷ 

for he performs ²⁸  amazing deeds!

His right hand and his mighty arm

accomplish deliverance. ²⁹ 

Psalms 138:7

138:7 Even when I must walk in the midst of danger, ³⁰  you revive me.

You oppose my angry enemies, ³¹ 

and your right hand delivers me.

Psalms 148:14

148:14 He has made his people victorious, ³² 

and given all his loyal followers reason to praise –

the Israelites, the people who are close to him. ³³ 

Praise the Lord!

[13:2]  ¹ tn Heb “How long will I put counsel in my being?”

[13:2]  ² tn Heb “[with] grief in my heart by day.”

[13:2]  ³ tn Heb “be exalted over me.” Perhaps one could translate, “How long will my enemy defeat me?”

[40:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “your justice I have not hidden in the midst of my heart.”

[40:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “I have not hidden your loyal love and reliability.”

[45:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and your majesty, be successful.” The syntax is awkward. The phrase “and your majesty” at the beginning of the verse may be accidentally repeated (dittography); it appears at the end of v. 3.

[45:4]  ⁸ tn Or “for the sake of truth.”

[45:4]  ⁹ tc The precise meaning of the MT is uncertain. The form עַנְוָה (’anvah) occurs only here. One could emend the text to עֲנָוָה וְצֶדֶק (’anavah vÿtsedeq, “[for the sake of truth], humility, and justice”). In this case “humility” would perhaps allude to the king’s responsibility to “serve” his people by promoting justice (cf. NIV “in behalf of truth, humility and righteousness”). The present translation assumes an emendation to יַעַן (ya’an, “because; on account of”) which would form a suitable parallel to עַל־דְּבַר (’al-dÿvar, “because; for the sake of”) in the preceding line.

[45:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and your right hand will teach you mighty acts”; or “and may your right hand teach you mighty acts.” After the imperatives in the first half of the verse, the prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive likely indicates purpose (“so that your right hand might teach you mighty acts”) or result (see the present translation). The “right hand” here symbolizes the king’s military strength. His right hand will “teach” him mighty acts by performing them and thereby causing him to experience their magnificence.

[50:23]  ¹⁰ sn The reference to a thank-offering recalls the earlier statement made in v. 14. Gratitude characterizes genuine worship.

[50:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and [to one who] sets a way I will show the deliverance of God.” Elsewhere the phrase “set a way” simply means “to travel” (see Gen 30:36; cf. NRSV). The present translation assumes an emendation of וְשָׂם דֶּרֶךְ (vÿsam derekh) to וְשֹׁמֵר דְּרָכַּי (vÿshomer dÿrakhay, “and [the one who] keeps my ways” [i.e., commands, see Pss 18:21; 37:34). Another option is to read וְשֹׁמֵר דַּרְכּוֹ (vÿshomer darko, “and [the one who] guards his way,” i.e., “the one who is careful to follow a godly lifestyle”; see Ps 39:1).

[56:13]  ¹³ tn The perfect verbal form is probably future perfect; the psalmist promises to make good on his vows once God has delivered him (see Pss 13:5; 52:9). (2) Another option is to understand the final two verses as being added later, after the Lord intervened on the psalmist’s behalf. In this case one may translate, “for you have delivered.” Other options include taking the perfect as (3) generalizing (“for you deliver”) or (4) rhetorical (“for you will”).

[56:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “are not my feet [kept] from stumbling?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course they are!” The question has been translated as an affirmation for the sake of clarification of meaning.

[56:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “walk before.” For a helpful discussion of the background and meaning of this Hebrew idiom, see M. Cogan and H. Tadmor, II Kings (AB), 254; cf. the same idiom in 2 Kgs 20:3; Isa 38:3.

[56:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in the light of life.” The phrase is used here and in Job 33:30.

[57:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”

[68:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”

[78:20]  ²² tn Heb “look.”

[88:5]  ²⁵ tn Heb “set free.”

[88:5]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from your hand.”

[89:19]  ²⁸ tn The pronoun “you” refers to the Lord, who is addressed here. The quotation that follows further develops the announcement of vv. 3-4.

[89:19]  ²⁹ tc Many medieval mss read the singular here, “your faithful follower.” In this case the statement refers directly to Nathan’s oracle to David (see 2 Sam 7:17).

[89:19]  ³⁰ tn Heb “I have placed help upon a warrior.”

[89:19]  ³¹ tn Or perhaps “a chosen one.”

[98:1]  ³¹ sn Psalm 98. The psalmist summons the whole earth to praise God because he reveals his justice and delivers Israel.

[98:1]  ³² sn A new song is appropriate because the Lord is constantly intervening in the world as its just king. See Ps 96:1.

[98:1]  ³³ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 1-3 are understood here as describing characteristic divine activities. Another option is to translate them as present perfects, “has performed…has accomplished deliverance, etc.” referring to completed actions that have continuing results.

[98:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his right hand delivers for him and his holy arm.” The right hand and arm symbolize his power as a warrior-king (see Isa 52:10). His arm is “holy” in the sense that it is in a category of its own; God’s power is incomparable.

[138:7]  ³⁴ tn Or “distress.”

[138:7]  ³⁵ tn Heb “against the anger of my enemies you extend your hand.”

[148:14]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and he lifted up a horn for his people.” The horn of an ox underlies the metaphor (see Deut 33:17; 1 Kgs 22:11; Ps 92:10). The horn of the wild ox is frequently a metaphor for military strength; the idiom “exalt/lift up the horn” signifies military victory (see 1 Sam 2:10; Pss 75:10; 89:17, 24; 92:10; Lam 2:17). Another option is to take the “horn” as a symbol for the Davidic king, through whom the Lord gives his people military victory.

[148:14]  ³⁸ tn “[there is] praise for all his loyal followers, to the sons of Israel, the people near him.” Here “praise” stands by metonymy for the victory that prompts it.