Psalms 18:40

18:40 You make my enemies retreat; ¹ 

I destroy those who hate me. ² 

Psalms 54:5

54:5 May those who wait to ambush me ³  be repaid for their evil! ⁴ 

As a demonstration of your faithfulness, ⁵  destroy them!

Psalms 73:27

73:27 Yes, ⁶  look! Those far from you ⁷  die;

you destroy everyone who is unfaithful to you. ⁸ 

Psalms 101:5

101:5 I will destroy anyone who slanders his neighbor in secret.

I will not tolerate anyone who has a cocky demeanor and an arrogant attitude. ⁹ 

Psalms 101:8

101:8 Each morning I will destroy all the wicked people in the land,

and remove all evildoers from the city of the Lord.

Psalms 143:12

143:12 As a demonstration of your loyal love, ¹⁰  destroy my enemies!

Annihilate ¹¹  all who threaten my life, ¹² 

for I am your servant.

Psalms 69:4

69:4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head.

Those who want to destroy me, my enemies for no reason, ¹³  outnumber me. ¹⁴ 

They make me repay what I did not steal! ¹⁵ 

[18:40]  ¹ tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.

[18:40]  ² sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the Lord who delivered the psalmist from those who hated him.

[54:5]  ³ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2.

[54:5]  ⁴ tn The Kethib (consonantal text) reads a Qal imperfect, “the evil will return,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Hiphil imperfect, “he will repay.” The parallel line has an imperative (indicating a prayer/request), so it is best to read a jussive form יָשֹׁב (yashov, “let it [the evil] return”) here.

[54:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[73:27]  ⁵ tn Or “for.”

[73:27]  ⁶ sn The following line defines the phrase far from you in a spiritual sense. Those “far” from God are those who are unfaithful and disloyal to him.

[73:27]  ⁷ tn Heb “everyone who commits adultery from you.”

[101:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “[one who has] pride of eyes and wideness [i.e., arrogance] of heart, him I will not endure.”

[143:12]  ⁹ tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[143:12]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the mood of the preceding imperfect.

[143:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all the enemies of my life.”

[69:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “[with] a lie.” The Hebrew noun שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, “lie”) is used here as an adverb, “falsely, wrongfully” (see Pss 35:19; 38:19).

[69:4]  ¹² tn The Hebrew verb עָצַם (’atsam) can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority; note the parallel verb רָבַב (ravav, “be many”).

[69:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “that which I did not steal, then I restore.” Apparently אָז (’az, “then”) is used here to emphasize the verb that follows.