Psalms 17:5

17:5 I carefully obey your commands; ¹ 

I do not deviate from them. ² 

Psalms 94:18

94:18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.

Psalms 145:14

145:14 ³ The Lord supports all who fall,

and lifts up all who are bent over. ⁴ 

Psalms 145:1

Psalm 145 ⁵ 

A psalm of praise, by David.

145:1 I will extol you, my God, O king!

I will praise your name continually! ⁶ 

Psalms 2:9

2:9 You will break them ⁷  with an iron scepter; ⁸ 

you will smash them like a potter’s jar!’” ⁹ 

[17:5]  ¹ tn Heb “my steps stay firm in your tracks.” The infinitive absolute functions here as a finite verb (see GKC 347 §113.gg). God’s “tracks” are his commands, i.e., the moral pathways he has prescribed for the psalmist.

[17:5]  ² tn Heb “my footsteps do not stagger.”

[145:14]  ³ tc Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the mem (מ) and samek (ס) verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing nun (נ) verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. L. C. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line.

[145:14]  ⁴ tn Perhaps “discouraged” (see Ps 57:6).

[145:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 145. The psalmist praises God because he is a just and merciful king who cares for his people.

[145:1]  ⁶ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever.”

[2:9]  ⁷ tc The LXX reads “you will shepherd them.” This reading, quoted in the Greek text of the NT in Rev 2:27; 12:5; 19:15, assumes a different vocalization of the consonantal Hebrew text and understands the verb as רָעָה (ra’ah, “to shepherd”) rather than רָעָע (ra’a’, “to break”). But the presence of נָפַץ (nafats, “to smash”) in the next line strongly favors the MT vocalization.

[2:9]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew term שֵׁבֶט (shevet) can refer to a “staff” or “rod,” but here it probably refers to the Davidic king’s royal scepter, symbolizing his sovereignty.

[2:9]  ⁹ sn Like a potter’s jar. Before the Davidic king’s awesome power, the rebellious nations are like fragile pottery.