Psalms 13:3-4

13:3 Look at me! ¹  Answer me, O Lord my God!

Revive me, ²  or else I will die! ³ 

13:4 Then ⁴  my enemy will say, “I have defeated him!”

Then ⁵  my foes will rejoice because I am upended.

Psalms 38:16

38:16 I have prayed for deliverance, because otherwise they will gloat over me; ⁶ 

when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me. ⁷ 

Psalms 50:22

50:22 Carefully consider this, you who reject God! ⁸ 

Otherwise I will rip you to shreds ⁹ 

and no one will be able to rescue you.

Psalms 59:11

59:11 Do not strike them dead suddenly,

because then my people might forget the lesson. ¹⁰ 

Use your power to make them homeless vagabonds and then bring them down,

O Lord who shields us! ¹¹ 

[13:3]  ¹ tn Heb “see.”

[13:3]  ² tn Heb “Give light [to] my eyes.” The Hiphil of אוּר (’ur), when used elsewhere with “eyes” as object, refers to the law of God giving moral enlightenment (Ps 19:8), to God the creator giving literal eyesight to all people (Prov 29:13), and to God giving encouragement to his people (Ezra 9:8). Here the psalmist pictures himself as being on the verge of death. His eyes are falling shut and, if God does not intervene soon, he will “fall asleep” for good.

[13:3]  ³ tn Heb “or else I will sleep [in?] the death.” Perhaps the statement is elliptical, “I will sleep [the sleep] of death,” or “I will sleep [with the sleepers in] death.”

[13:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “or else.”

[13:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “or else.”

[38:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “For I said, ‘Lest they rejoice over me.’” The psalmist recalls the motivating argument of his petition. He probably prefaced this statement with a prayer for deliverance (see Pss 7:1-2; 13:3-4; 28:1).

[38:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “they will magnify against me.” See Pss 35:26; 55:13.

[50:22]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[you who] forget God.” “Forgetting God” here means forgetting about his commandments and not respecting his moral authority.

[50:22]  ¹¹ sn Elsewhere in the psalms this verb is used (within a metaphorical framework) of a lion tearing its prey (see Pss 7:2; 17:12; 22:13).

[59:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “do not kill them, lest my people forget.”

[59:11]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “make them roam around by your strength and bring them down, O our shield, the Lord.”