Psalms 14:3

14:3 Everyone rejects God; ¹ 

they are all morally corrupt. ² 

None of them does what is right, ³ 

not even one!

Psalms 37:25

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

I have never seen a godly man abandoned,

or his children ⁴  forced to search for food. ⁵ 

Psalms 38:10

38:10 My heart beats quickly;

my strength leaves me;

I can hardly see. ⁶ 

Psalms 41:9

41:9 Even my close friend ⁷  whom I trusted,

he who shared meals with me, has turned against me. ⁸ 

Psalms 52:5

52:5 Yet ⁹  God will make you a permanent heap of ruins. ¹⁰ 

He will scoop you up ¹¹  and remove you from your home; ¹² 

he will uproot you from the land of the living. (Selah)

Psalms 53:3

53:3 Everyone rejects God; ¹³ 

they are all morally corrupt. ¹⁴ 

None of them does what is right, ¹⁵ 

not even one!

Psalms 71:22

71:22 I will express my thanks to you with a stringed instrument,

praising ¹⁶  your faithfulness, O my God!

I will sing praises to you accompanied by a harp,

O Holy One of Israel! ¹⁷ 

Psalms 71:24

71:24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,

for those who want to harm me ¹⁸  will be embarrassed and ashamed. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 78:21

78:21 When ²⁰  the Lord heard this, he was furious.

A fire broke out against Jacob,

and his anger flared up ²¹  against Israel,

Psalms 83:8

83:8 Even Assyria has allied with them,

lending its strength to the descendants of Lot. ²²  (Selah)

Psalms 84:6

84:6 As they pass through the Baca Valley, ²³ 

he provides a spring for them. ²⁴ 

The rain ²⁵  even covers it with pools of water. ²⁶ 

Psalms 133:1

Psalm 133 ²⁷ 

A song of ascents, ²⁸  by David.

133:1 Look! How good and how pleasant it is

when brothers live together! ²⁹ 

Psalms 137:1

Psalm 137 ³⁰ 

137:1 By the rivers of Babylon

we sit down and weep ³¹ 

when we remember Zion.

Psalms 139:12

139:12 even the darkness is not too dark for you to see, ³² 

and the night is as bright as ³³  day;

darkness and light are the same to you. ³⁴ 

[14:3]  ¹ tn Heb “everyone turns aside.”

[14:3]  ² tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[14:3]  ³ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[37:25]  ⁴ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:25]  ⁵ 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.

[38:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “and the light of my eyes, even they, there is not with me.” The “light of the eyes” may refer to physical energy (see 1 Sam 14:27, 29), life itself (Ps 13:3), or the ability to see (Prov 29:23).

[41:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “man of my peace.” The phrase here refers to one’s trusted friend (see Jer 38:22; Obad 7).

[41:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “has made a heel great against me.” The precise meaning of this phrase, which appears only here, is uncertain.

[52:5]  ¹³ tn The adverb גַּם (gam, “also; even”) is translated here in an adversative sense (“yet”). It highlights the contrastive correspondence between the evildoer’s behavior and God’s response.

[52:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “will tear you down forever.”

[52:5]  ¹⁵ tn This rare verb (חָתָה, khatah) occurs only here and in Prov 6:27; 25:22; Isa 30:14.

[52:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from [your] tent.”

[53:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “all of it turns away.” Ps 14:1 has הָכֹּל (hakkol) instead of כֻּלּוֹ, and סָר (sar, “turn aside”) instead of סָג (sag, “turn away”).

[53:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[53:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[71:22]  ¹⁹ tn The word “praising” is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[71:22]  ²⁰ sn The basic sense of the word “holy” is “set apart from that which is commonplace, special, unique.” The Lord’s holiness is first and foremost his transcendent sovereignty as the ruler of the world. He is “set apart” from the world over which he rules. At the same time his holiness encompasses his moral authority, which derives from his royal position. As king he has the right to dictate to his subjects how they are to live; indeed his very own character sets the standard for proper behavior.

[71:24]  ²² tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”

[71:24]  ²³ tn Heb “will have become embarrassed and ashamed.” The perfect verbal forms function here as future perfects, indicating future actions which will precede chronologically the action expressed by the main verb in the preceding line.

[78:21]  ²⁵ tn Heb “therefore.”

[78:21]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and also anger went up.”

[83:8]  ²⁸ tn Heb “they are an arm for the sons of Lot.” The “arm” is here a symbol of military might.

[84:6]  ³¹ tn The translation assumes that the Hebrew phrase עֵמֶק הַבָּכָא (’emeq habbakha’) is the name of an otherwise unknown arid valley through which pilgrims to Jerusalem passed. The term בָּכָא (bakha’) may be the name of a particular type of plant or shrub that grew in this valley. O. Borowski (Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 130) suggests it is the black mulberry. Some take the phrase as purely metaphorical and relate בָּכָא to the root בָּכָה (bakhah, “to weep”). In this case one might translate, “the valley of weeping” or “the valley of affliction.”

[84:6]  ³² tc The MT reads “a spring they make it,” but this makes little sense. Many medieval Hebrew mss, as well as the LXX, understand God to be the subject and the valley to be the object, “he [God] makes it [the valley] [into] a spring.”

[84:6]  ³³ tn This rare word may refer to the early (or autumn) rains (see Joel 2:23).

[84:6]  ³⁴ tc The MT reads בְּרָכוֹת (bÿrakhot, “blessings”) but the preceding reference to a “spring” favors an emendation to בְּרֵכוֹת (bÿrekhot, “pools”).

[133:1]  ³⁴ sn Psalm 133. The psalmist affirms the benefits of family unity.

[133:1]  ³⁵ sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[133:1]  ³⁶ sn This statement refers to the extended family structure of ancient Israel, where brothers would often live in proximity to one another (Deut 25:5), giving the family greater social prominence and security. However, in its later application in the Israelite cult it probably envisions unity within the covenant community. See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 212-15.

[137:1]  ³⁷ sn Psalm 137. The Babylonian exiles lament their condition, vow to remain loyal to Jerusalem, and appeal to God for revenge on their enemies.

[137:1]  ³⁸ tn Heb “there we sit down, also we weep.”

[139:12]  ⁴⁰ tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[139:12]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “shines like.”

[139:12]  ⁴² tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”