Psalms 132:15

132:15 I will abundantly supply what she needs; ¹ 

I will give her poor all the food they need. ² 

Psalms 35:1

Psalm 35 ³ 

By David.

35:1 O Lord, fight ⁴  those who fight with me!

Attack those who attack me!

Psalms 78:25

78:25 Man ate the food of the mighty ones. ⁵ 

He sent them more than enough to eat. ⁶ 

Psalms 80:5

80:5 You have given them tears as food; ⁷ 

you have made them drink tears by the measure. ⁸ 

Psalms 105:16

105:16 He called down a famine upon the earth;

he cut off all the food supply. ⁹ 

Psalms 136:25

136:25 to the one who gives food to all living things, ¹⁰ 

for his loyal love endures.

Psalms 14:4

14:4 All those who behave wickedly ¹¹  do not understand – ¹² 

those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,

and do not call out to the Lord.

Psalms 37:25

37:25 I was once young, now I am old.

I have never seen a godly man abandoned,

or his children ¹³  forced to search for food. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 53:4

53:4 All those who behave wickedly ¹⁵  do not understand ¹⁶  –

those who devour my people as if they were eating bread,

and do not call out to God.

Psalms 104:14

104:14 He provides grass ¹⁷  for the cattle,

and crops for people to cultivate, ¹⁸ 

so they can produce food from the ground, ¹⁹ 

Psalms 146:7

146:7 vindicates the oppressed, ²⁰ 

and gives food to the hungry.

The Lord releases the imprisoned.

Psalms 42:3

42:3 I cannot eat, I weep day and night; ²¹ 

all day long they say to me, ²²  “Where is your God?”

Psalms 78:20

78:20 Yes, ²³  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 127:2

127:2 It is vain for you to rise early, come home late,

and work so hard for your food. ²⁴ 

Yes, ²⁵  he can provide for those whom he loves even when they sleep. ²⁶ 

Psalms 56:1

Psalm 56 ²⁷ 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ²⁸  a prayer ²⁹  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ³⁰ 

56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ³¹ 

All day long hostile enemies ³²  are tormenting me. ³³ 

[132:15]  ¹ tn Heb “I will greatly bless her provision.” The infinitive absolute is used to emphasize the verb.

[132:15]  ² tn Heb “her poor I will satisfy [with] food.”

[35:1]  ³ sn Psalm 35. The author, who faces ruthless enemies who seek his life for no reason, begs the Lord to fight his battles for him and to vindicate him by annihilating his adversaries.

[35:1]  ⁴ tn Or “contend.”

[78:25]  ⁵ sn Because of the reference to “heaven” in the preceding verse, it is likely that mighty ones refers here to the angels of heaven. The LXX translates “angels” here, as do a number of modern translations (NEB, NIV, NRSV).

[78:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “provision he sent to them to satisfaction.”

[80:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “you have fed them the food of tears.”

[80:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “[by] the third part [of a measure].” The Hebrew term שָׁלִישׁ (shalish, “third part [of a measure]”) occurs only here and in Isa 40:12.

[105:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “and every staff of food he broke.” The psalmist refers to the famine that occurred in Joseph’s time (see v. 17 and Gen 41:53-57).

[136:25]  ¹¹ tn Heb “to all flesh,” which can refer to all people (see Pss 65:2; 145:21) or more broadly to mankind and animals. Elsewhere the psalms view God as the provider for all living things (see Pss 104:27-28; 145:15).

[14:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “all the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8.

[14:4]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question (rendered in the translation as a positive affirmation) expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-7).

[37:25]  ¹⁵ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:25]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “or his offspring searching for food.” The expression “search for food” also appears in Lam 1:11, where Jerusalem’s refugees are forced to search for food and to trade their valuable possessions for something to eat.

[53:4]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the workers of wickedness.” See Pss 5:5; 6:8. Ps 14:4 adds כֹּל (kol, “all of”) before “workers of wickedness.”

[53:4]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Do they not understand?” The rhetorical question expresses the psalmist’s amazement at their apparent lack of understanding. This may refer to their lack of moral understanding, but it more likely refers to their failure to anticipate God’s defense of his people (see vv. 5-6).

[104:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “causes the grass to sprout up.”

[104:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for the service of man” (see Gen 2:5).

[104:14]  ²¹ tn Heb “to cause food to come out from the earth.”

[146:7]  ²¹ tn Heb “executes justice for the oppressed.”

[42:3]  ²³ tn Heb “My tears have become my food day and night.”

[42:3]  ²⁴ tn Heb “when [they] say to me all the day.” The suffixed third masculine plural pronoun may have been accidentally omitted from the infinitive בֶּאֱמֹר (be’ÿmor, “when [they] say”). Note the term בְּאָמְרָם (bÿ’omram, “when they say”) in v. 10.

[78:20]  ²⁵ tn Heb “look.”

[127:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “[it is] vain for you, you who are early to rise, who delay sitting, who eat the food of hard work.” The three substantival participles are parallel and stand in apposition to the pronominal suffix on the preposition. See לָכֶם (lakhem, “for you”).

[127:2]  ²⁸ tn Here the Hebrew particle כֵּן (ken) is used to stress the following affirmation (see Josh 2:4; Ps 63:2).

[127:2]  ²⁹ tn Heb “he gives to his beloved, sleep.” The translation assumes that the Hebrew term שֵׁנָא (shena’, “sleep,” an alternate form of שֵׁנָה, shenah) is an adverbial accusative. The point seems to be this: Hard work by itself is not what counts, but one’s relationship to God, for God is able to bless an individual even while he sleeps. (There may even be a subtle allusion to the miracle of conception following sexual intercourse; see the reference to the gift of sons in the following verse.) The statement is not advocating laziness, but utilizing hyperbole to give perspective and to remind the addressees that God must be one’s first priority. Another option is to take “sleep” as the direct object: “yes, he gives sleep to his beloved” (cf. NIV, NRSV). In this case the point is this: Hard work by itself is futile, for only God is able to bless one with sleep, which metonymically refers to having one’s needs met. He blesses on the basis of one’s relationship to him, not on the basis of physical energy expended.

[56:1]  ²⁹ sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.

[56:1]  ³⁰ tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.

[56:1]  ³¹ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[56:1]  ³² sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).

[56:1]  ³³ tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”

[56:1]  ³⁴ tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.

[56:1]  ³⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.