Psalms 20:4

20:4 May he grant your heart’s desire; ¹ 

may he bring all your plans to pass! ² 

Psalms 68:11

68:11 The Lord speaks; ³ 

many, many women spread the good news. ⁴ 

Psalms 85:12

85:12 Yes, the Lord will bestow his good blessings, ⁵ 

and our land will yield ⁶  its crops.

Psalms 120:3

120:3 How will he severely punish you,

you deceptive talker? ⁷ 

Psalms 121:3

121:3 May he not allow your foot to slip!

May your protector ⁸  not sleep! ⁹ 

[20:4]  ¹ tn Heb “may he give to you according to your heart.” This probably refers to the king’s prayer for protection and victory in battle. See vv. 5-6.

[20:4]  ² sn May he bring all your plans to pass. This probably refers to the king’s strategy for battle.

[68:11]  ³ tn Heb “gives a word.” Perhaps this refers to a divine royal decree or battle cry.

[68:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “the ones spreading the good news [are] a large army.” The participle translated “the ones spreading the good news” is a feminine plural form. Apparently the good news here is the announcement that enemy kings have been defeated (see v. 12).

[85:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “what is good.”

[85:12]  ⁶ tn Both “bestow” and “yield” translate the same Hebrew verb (נָתַן, natan). The repetition of the word emphasizes that agricultural prosperity is the direct result of divine blessing.

[120:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “What will he give to you, and what will he add to you, O tongue of deception?” The psalmist addresses his deceptive enemies. The Lord is the understood subject of the verbs “give” and “add.” The second part of the question echoes a standard curse formula, “thus the Lord/God will do … and thus he will add” (see Ruth 1:17; 1 Sam 3:17; 14:44; 20:13; 25:22; 2 Sam 3:9, 35; 19:13; 1 Kgs 2:23; 2 Kgs 6:31).

[121:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the one who guards you.”

[121:3]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אל appear to be jussives. As noted above, if they are taken as true jussives of prayer, then the speaker in v. 3 would appear to be distinct from both the speaker in vv. 1-2 and the speaker in vv. 4-8. However, according to GKC 322 §109.e), the jussives are used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one should probably translate, “he will not allow your foot to slip, your protector will not sleep,” and understand just one speaker in vv. 4-8.