Psalms 18:8

18:8 Smoke ascended from ¹  his nose; ² 

fire devoured as it came from his mouth; ³ 

he hurled down fiery coals. ⁴ 

Psalms 33:8

33:8 Let the whole earth fear ⁵  the Lord!

Let all who live in the world stand in awe of him!

Psalms 55:12

55:12 Indeed, ⁶  it is not an enemy who insults me,

or else I could bear it;

it is not one who hates me who arrogantly taunts me, ⁷ 

or else I could hide from him.

Psalms 62:1

Psalm 62 ⁸ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

62:1 For God alone I patiently wait; ⁹ 

he is the one who delivers me. ¹⁰ 

[18:8]  ¹ tn Heb “within”; or “[from] within.” For a discussion of the use of the preposition -בְּ (bÿ) here, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 163-64.

[18:8]  ² tn Or “in his anger.” The noun אַף (’af) can carry the abstract meaning “anger,” but the parallelism (note “from his mouth”) suggests the more concrete meaning “nose” here. See also v. 15, “the powerful breath of your nose.”

[18:8]  ³ tn Heb “fire from his mouth devoured.” In this poetic narrative context the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite indicating past tense, not an imperfect. Note the two perfect verbal forms in the verse.

[18:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “coals burned from him.” Perhaps the psalmist pictures God’s fiery breath igniting coals (cf. Job 41:21), which he then hurls as weapons (cf. Ps 120:4).

[33:8]  ⁵ tn In this context “fear” probably means “to demonstrate respect for the Lord’s power and authority by worshiping him and obeying his commandments.”

[55:12]  ⁹ tn Or “for.”

[55:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[who] magnifies against me.” See Pss 35:26; 38:16.

[62:1]  ¹³ sn Psalm 62. The psalmist expresses his unwavering confidence in God’s justice and in his ability to protect his people.

[62:1]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “only for God [is] there silence [to] my soul.”

[62:1]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “from him [is] my deliverance.”