Psalms 18:28

18:28 Indeed, ¹  you are my lamp, Lord. ² 

My God ³  illuminates the darkness around me. ⁴ 

Psalms 66:11

66:11 You led us into a trap; ⁵ 

you caused us to suffer. ⁶ 

Psalms 69:10

69:10 I weep and refrain from eating food, ⁷ 

which causes others to insult me. ⁸ 

Psalms 73:7

73:7 Their prosperity causes them to do wrong; ⁹ 

their thoughts are sinful. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 73:19

73:19 How desolate they become in a mere moment!

Terrifying judgments make their demise complete! ¹¹ 

Psalms 78:33

78:33 So he caused them to die unsatisfied ¹² 

and filled with terror. ¹³ 

Psalms 78:48

78:48 He rained hail down on their cattle, ¹⁴ 

and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 80:6

80:6 You have made our neighbors dislike us, ¹⁶ 

and our enemies insult us.

Psalms 83:14

83:14 Like the fire that burns down the forest,

or the flames that consume the mountainsides, ¹⁷ 

Psalms 105:24-25

105:24 The Lord ¹⁸  made his people very fruitful,

and made them ¹⁹  more numerous than their ²⁰  enemies.

105:25 He caused them ²¹  to hate his people,

and to mistreat ²²  his servants.

Psalms 107:29

107:29 He calmed the storm, ²³ 

and the waves ²⁴  grew silent.

Psalms 140:2

140:2 who plan ways to harm me. ²⁵ 

All day long they stir up conflict. ²⁶ 

[18:28]  ¹ tn Or “for.” The translation assumes that כִּי (ki)is asseverative here.

[18:28]  ² tn Ps 18:28 reads literally, “you light my lamp, Lord.” 2 Sam 22:29 has, “you are my lamp, Lord.” The Ps 18 reading may preserve two variants, נֵרִי (neriy, “my lamp”) and אוֹרִי (’oriy, “my light”), cf. Ps 27:1. The verb תָּאִיר (ta’ir, “you light”) in Ps 18:28 would, in this case, be a corruption of the latter. See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, Studies in Ancient Yahwistic Poetry (SBLDS), 150, n. 64. The metaphor, which likens the Lord to a lamp or light, pictures him as the psalmist’s source of life. For other examples of “lamp” used in this way, see Job 18:6; 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20. For other examples of “light” as a symbol for life, see Job 3:20; 33:30; Ps 56:13.

[18:28]  ³ tn 2 Sam 22:29 repeats the name “Lord.”

[18:28]  ⁴ tn Heb “my darkness.”

[66:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “you brought us into a net.” This rare word for “net” also occurs in Ezek 12:13; 13:21; 17:20.

[66:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “you placed suffering on our hips.” The noun מוּעָקָה (mu’aqah, “suffering”) occurs only here in the OT.

[69:10]  ⁹ sn Fasting was a practice of mourners. By refraining from normal activities such as eating food, the mourner demonstrated the sincerity of his sorrow.

[69:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and it becomes insults to me.”

[73:7]  ¹³ tc The MT reads “it goes out from fatness their eye,” which might be paraphrased, “their eye protrudes [or “bulges”] because of fatness.” This in turn might refer to their greed; their eyes “bug out” when they see rich food or produce (the noun חֵלֶב [khelev, “fatness”] sometimes refers to such food or produce). However, when used with the verb יָצָא (yatsa’, “go out”) the preposition מִן (“from”) more naturally indicates source. For this reason it is preferable to emend עֵינֵמוֹ (’enemo, “their eye”) to עֲוֹנָמוֹ, (’avonamo, “their sin”) and read, “and their sin proceeds forth from fatness,” that is, their prosperity gives rise to their sinful attitudes. If one follows this textual reading, another interpretive option is to take חֵלֶב (“fatness”) in the sense of “unreceptive, insensitive” (see its use in Ps 17:10). In this case, the sin of the wicked proceeds forth from their spiritual insensitivity.

[73:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the thoughts of [their] heart [i.e., mind] cross over” (i.e., violate God’s moral boundary, see Ps 17:3).

[73:19]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “they come to an end, they are finished, from terrors.”

[78:33]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he ended in vanity their days.”

[78:33]  ²² tn Heb “and their years in terror.”

[78:48]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and he turned over to the hail their cattle.”

[78:48]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and their livestock to the flames.” “Flames” here refer to the lightning bolts that accompanied the storm.

[80:6]  ²⁹ tn Heb “you have made us an object of contention to our neighbors.”

[83:14]  ³³ sn The imagery of fire and flames suggests unrelenting, destructive judgment.

[105:24]  ³⁷ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[105:24]  ³⁸ tn Heb “him,” referring to “his people.”

[105:24]  ³⁹ tn Heb “his,” referring to “his people.”

[105:25]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “their heart.”

[105:25]  ⁴² tn Or “to deal deceptively.” The Hitpael of נָכַל (nakhal) occurs only here and in Gen 37:18, where it is used of Joseph’s brothers “plotting” to kill him.

[107:29]  ⁴⁵ tn Heb “he raised [the] storm to calm.”

[107:29]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “their waves.” The antecedent of the third masculine plural pronominal suffix is not readily apparent, unless it refers back to “waters” in v. 23.

[140:2]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “they devise wicked [plans] in [their] mind.”

[140:2]  ⁵⁰ tc Heb “they attack [for] war.” Some revocalize the verb (which is a Qal imperfect from גּוּר, gur, “to attack”) as יְגָרוּ (yÿgaru), a Piel imperfect from גָרָה (garah, “stir up strife”). This is followed in the present translation.