Psalms 18:43

18:43 You rescue me from a hostile army; ¹ 

you make me ²  a leader of nations;

people over whom I had no authority are now my subjects. ³ 

Psalms 35:15

35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together;

they gathered together to ambush me. ⁴ 

They tore at me without stopping to rest. ⁵ 

Psalms 41:11

41:11 By this ⁶  I know that you are pleased with me,

for my enemy does ⁷  not triumph ⁸  over me.

Psalms 56:9

56:9 My enemies will turn back when I cry out to you for help; ⁹ 

I know that God is on my side. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 71:15

71:15 I will tell about your justice,

and all day long proclaim your salvation, ¹¹ 

though I cannot fathom its full extent. ¹² 

Psalms 81:5

81:5 He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,

when he attacked the land of Egypt. ¹³ 

I heard a voice I did not recognize. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 135:5

135:5 Yes, ¹⁵  I know the Lord is great,

and our Lord is superior to all gods.

Psalms 140:12

140:12 I know ¹⁶  that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed

and vindicates the poor. ¹⁷ 

[18:43]  ¹ tn Heb “from the strivings of a people.” In this context the Hebrew term רִיב (riv, “striving”) probably has a militaristic sense (as in Judg 12:2; Isa 41:11), and עָם (’am, “people”) probably refers more specifically to an army (for other examples, see the verses listed in BDB 766 s.v. I עַם, עָם 2.d). Some understand the phrase as referring to attacks by the psalmist’s own countrymen, the “nation” being Israel. However, foreign enemies appear to be in view; note the reference to “nations” in the following line.

[18:43]  ² tn 2 Sam 22:44 reads, “you keep me.”

[18:43]  ³ tn Heb “a people whom I did not know serve me.” In this context “know” (יָדַע, yada’) probably refers to formal recognition by treaty. People who were once not under the psalmist’s authority now willingly submit to his rulership to avoid being conquered militarily (see vv. 44-45). The language may recall the events recorded in 2 Sam 8:9-10 and 10:19.

[35:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “they gathered together against me, stricken [ones], and I did not know.” The Hebrew form נֵכִים (nekhim, “stricken ones” ?) is problematic. Some suggest an emendation to נָכְרִים[כְ] (kÿnokhÿrim, “foreigners”) or “like foreigners,” which would fit with what follows, “[like] foreigners that I do not recognize.” Perhaps the form should be read as a Qal active participle, נֹכִים (nokhim, “ones who strike”) from the verbal root נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike”). The Qal of this verb is unattested in biblical Hebrew, but the peal (basic) stem appears in Old Aramaic (J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire [BibOr], 114; DNWSI 1:730.) In this case one might translate, “attackers gathered together against me though I was not aware of it” (cf. NASB “smiters”; NEB, NRSV “ruffians”; NIV “attackers”).

[35:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “they tore and did not keep quiet.” By using the verb “tear,” the psalmist likens his enemies to a wild animal (see Hos 13:8). In v. 17 he compares them to hungry young lions.

[41:11]  ⁷ sn By this. Having recalled his former lament and petition, the psalmist returns to the confident mood of vv. 1-3. The basis for his confidence may be a divine oracle of deliverance, assuring him that God would intervene and vindicate him. The demonstrative pronoun “this” may refer to such an oracle, which is assumed here, though its contents are not included. See P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 319, 321.

[41:11]  ⁸ tn Or “will.” One may translate the imperfect verbal form as descriptive (present, cf. NIV) or as anticipatory (future, cf. NEB).

[41:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “shout.”

[56:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “then my enemies will turn back in the day I cry out.” The Hebrew particle אָז (’az, “then”) is probably used here to draw attention to the following statement.

[56:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “this I know, that God is for me.”

[71:15]  ¹³ tn Heb “my mouth declares your vindication, all the day your deliverance.”

[71:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “though I do not know [the] numbers,” that is, the tally of God’s just and saving acts. HALOT 768 s.v. סְפֹרוֹת understands the plural noun to mean “the art of writing.”

[81:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “in his going out against the land of Egypt.” This apparently refers to the general time period of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The LXX reads, “from Egypt,” in which case “Joseph” (see the preceding line) would be the subject of the verb, “when he [Joseph = Israel] left Egypt.”

[81:5]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip” probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalmist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is recorded in the following verses.

[135:5]  ¹⁹ tn Or “for.”

[140:12]  ²² tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew mss in reading a first person verb form here. The Kethib reads the second person.

[140:12]  ²³ tn Heb “and the just cause of the poor.”