Psalms 17:13

17:13 Rise up, Lord!

Confront him! ¹  Knock him down! ² 

Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man! ³ 

Psalms 27:2

27:2 When evil men attack me ⁴ 

to devour my flesh, ⁵ 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ⁶ 

they stumble and fall. ⁷ 

Psalms 27:1

Psalm 27 ⁸ 

By David.

27:1 The Lord delivers and vindicates me! ⁹ 

I fear no one! ¹⁰ 

The Lord protects my life!

I am afraid of no one! ¹¹ 

Psalms 2:1

Psalm 2 ¹² 

2:1 Why ¹³  do the nations rebel? ¹⁴ 

Why ¹⁵  are the countries ¹⁶  devising ¹⁷  plots that will fail? ¹⁸ 

Psalms 2:1

Psalm 2 ¹⁹ 

2:1 Why ²⁰  do the nations rebel? ²¹ 

Why ²²  are the countries ²³  devising ²⁴  plots that will fail? ²⁵ 

Psalms 5:1

Psalm 5 ²⁶ 

For the music director, to be accompanied by wind instruments; ²⁷  a psalm of David.

5:1 Listen to what I say, ²⁸  Lord!

Carefully consider my complaint! ²⁹ 

[17:13]  ¹ tn Heb “Be in front of his face.”

[17:13]  ² tn Or “bring him to his knees.”

[17:13]  ³ tn Heb “rescue my life from the wicked [one] [by] your sword.”

[27:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ⁵ sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[27:1]  ⁸ sn Psalm 27. The author is confident of the Lord’s protection and asks the Lord to vindicate him.

[27:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord [is] my light and my deliverance.” “Light” is often used as a metaphor for deliverance and the life/blessings it brings. See Pss 37:6; 97:11; 112:4; Isa 49:6; 51:4; Mic 7:8. Another option is that “light” refers here to divine guidance (see Ps 43:3).

[27:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Whom shall I fear?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[27:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Of whom shall I be afraid?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

[2:1]  ¹² sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ¹³ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ¹⁵ tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ¹⁶ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ¹⁷ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.

[2:1]  ¹⁹ sn Psalm 2. In this royal psalm the author asserts the special status of the divinely chosen Davidic king and warns the nations and their rulers to submit to the authority of God and his chosen vice-regent.

[2:1]  ²⁰ tn The question is rhetorical. Rather than seeking information, the psalmist expresses his outrage that the nations would have the audacity to rebel against God and his chosen king.

[2:1]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew verb רָגַשׁ (ragash) occurs only here. In Dan 6:6, 11, 15 the Aramaic cognate verb describes several officials acting as a group. A Hebrew nominal derivative is used in Ps 55:14 of a crowd of people in the temple.

[2:1]  ²² tn The interrogative לָמָּה (lamah, “why?”) is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[2:1]  ²³ tn Or “peoples” (so many English versions).

[2:1]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew imperfect form describes the rebellion as underway. The verb הָגָה (hagah), which means “to recite quietly, meditate,” here has the metonymic nuance “devise, plan, plot” (see Ps 38:12; Prov 24:2).

[2:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “devising emptiness.” The noun רִיק (riq, “emptiness”) may characterize their behavior as “worthless, morally bankrupt” but more likely refers to the outcome of their plots (i.e., failure). As the rest of the psalm emphasizes, their rebellion will fail.

[5:1]  ²⁶ sn Psalm 5. Appealing to God’s justice and commitment to the godly, the psalmist asks the Lord to intervene and deliver him from evildoers.

[5:1]  ²⁷ tn The meaning of the Hebrew word נְחִילוֹת (nÿkhilot), which occurs only here, is uncertain. Many relate the form to חָלִיל (khalil, “flute”).

[5:1]  ²⁸ tn Heb “my words.”

[5:1]  ²⁹ tn Or “sighing.” The word occurs only here and in Ps 39:3.