Psalms 2:7

2:7 The king says, ¹  “I will announce the Lord’s decree. He said to me: ² 

‘You are my son! ³  This very day I have become your father!

Psalms 25:5

25:5 Guide me into your truth ⁴  and teach me.

For you are the God who delivers me;

on you I rely all day long.

Psalms 38:6

38:6 I am dazed ⁵  and completely humiliated; ⁶ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

Psalms 38:12

38:12 Those who seek my life try to entrap me; ⁷ 

those who want to harm me speak destructive words;

all day long they say deceitful things.

Psalms 42:10

42:10 My enemies’ taunts cut into me to the bone, ⁸ 

as they say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” ⁹ 

Psalms 44:8

44:8 In God I boast all day long,

and we will continually give thanks to your name. (Selah)

Psalms 44:22

44:22 Yet because of you ¹⁰  we are killed all day long;

we are treated like ¹¹  sheep at the slaughtering block. ¹² 

Psalms 56:2

56:2 Those who anticipate my defeat ¹³  attack me all day long.

Indeed, ¹⁴  many are fighting against me, O Exalted One. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 56:5

56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; ¹⁶ 

they make a habit of plotting my demise. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 71:15

71:15 I will tell about your justice,

and all day long proclaim your salvation, ¹⁸ 

though I cannot fathom its full extent. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 71:24

71:24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,

for those who want to harm me ²⁰  will be embarrassed and ashamed. ²¹ 

Psalms 72:15

72:15 May he live! ²²  May they offer him gold from Sheba! ²³ 

May they continually pray for him!

May they pronounce blessings on him all day long! ²⁴ 

Psalms 74:22

74:22 Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! ²⁵ 

Remember how fools insult you all day long! ²⁶ 

Psalms 95:7

95:7 For he is our God;

we are the people of his pasture,

the sheep he owns. ²⁷ 

Today, if only you would obey him! ²⁸ 

[2:7]  ¹ tn The words “the king says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The speaker is the Lord’s chosen king.

[2:7]  ² tn Or “I will relate the decree. The Lord said to me” (in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation).

[2:7]  ³ sn ‘You are my son!’ The Davidic king was viewed as God’s “son” (see 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 89:26-27). The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty. See M. Weinfeld, “The Covenant of Grant in the Old Testament and in the Ancient Near East,” JAOS 90 (1970): 184-203, for general discussion and some striking extra-biblical parallels.

[25:5]  ⁴ sn The Lord’s commandments are referred to as truth here because they are a trustworthy and accurate expression of the divine will.

[38:6]  ⁷ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ⁸ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[38:12]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “lay snares.”

[42:10]  ¹³ tc Heb “with a shattering in my bones my enemies taunt me.” A few medieval Hebrew mss and Symmachus’ Greek version read “like” instead of “with.”

[42:10]  ¹⁴ sn “Where is your God?” The enemies ask this same question in v. 3.

[44:22]  ¹⁶ tn The statement “because of you” (1) may simply indicate that God is the cause of the Israelites’ defeat (see vv. 9-14, where the nation’s situation is attributed directly to God’s activity, and cf. NEB, NRSV), or (2) it may suggest they suffer because of their allegiance to God (see Ps 69:7 and Jer 15:15). In this case one should translate, “for your sake” (cf. NASB, NIV). The citation of this verse in Rom 8:36 follows the LXX (Ps 43:23 LXX), where the Greek term ἕνεκεν (Jeneken; LXX ἕνεκα) may likewise mean “because of” or “for the sake of” (BDAG 334 s.v. ἕνεκα 1).

[44:22]  ¹⁷ tn Or “regarded as.”

[44:22]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “like sheep of slaughtering,” that is, sheep destined for slaughter.

[56:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 59:10.

[56:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “for.”

[56:2]  ²¹ tn Some take the Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “on high; above”) as an adverb modifying the preceding participle and translate, “proudly” (cf. NASB; NIV “in their pride”). The present translation assumes the term is a divine title here. The Lord is pictured as enthroned “on high” in Ps 92:8. (Note the substantival use of the term in Isa 24:4 and see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:34), who prefer to place the term at the beginning of the next verse.)

[56:5]  ²² tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”

[56:5]  ²³ tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”

[71:15]  ²⁵ tn Heb “my mouth declares your vindication, all the day your deliverance.”

[71:15]  ²⁶ 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.”

[71:24]  ²⁸ tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”

[71:24]  ²⁹ tn Heb “will have become embarrassed and ashamed.” The perfect verbal forms function here as future perfects, indicating future actions which will precede chronologically the action expressed by the main verb in the preceding line.

[72:15]  ³¹ tn The prefixed verbal form is jussive, not imperfect. Because the form has the prefixed vav (ו), some subordinate it to what precedes as a purpose/result clause. In this case the representative poor individual might be the subject of this and the following verb, “so that he may live and give to him gold of Sheba.” But the idea of the poor offering gold is incongruous. It is better to take the jussive as a prayer with the king as subject of the verb. (Perhaps the initial vav is dittographic; note the vav at the end of the last form in v. 14.) The statement is probably an abbreviated version of the formula יְחִי הַמֶּלֶךְ (yÿkhiy hammelekh, “may the king live”; see 1 Sam 10:24; 2 Sam 16:16; 1 Kgs 1:25, 34, 39; 2 Kgs 11:12).

[72:15]  ³² tn Heb “and he will give to him some gold of Sheba.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive with a grammatically indefinite subject (“and may one give”). Of course, the king’s subjects, mentioned in the preceding context, are the tribute bearers in view here.

[72:15]  ³³ tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives with a grammatically indefinite subject (“and may one pray…and may one bless”). Of course, the king’s subjects, mentioned in the preceding context, are in view here.

[74:22]  ³⁴ tn Or “defend your cause.”

[74:22]  ³⁵ tn Heb “remember your reproach from a fool all the day.”

[95:7]  ³⁷ tn Heb “of his hand.”

[95:7]  ³⁸ tn Heb “if only you would listen to his voice.” The Hebrew particle אִם (’im, “if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (cf. Ps 81:8). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.