Psalms 22:10

22:10 I have been dependent on you since birth; ¹ 

from the time I came out of my mother’s womb you have been my God. ² 

Psalms 44:25

44:25 For we lie in the dirt,

with our bellies pressed to the ground. ³ 

Psalms 58:3

58:3 The wicked turn aside from birth; ⁴ 

liars go astray as soon as they are born. ⁵ 

Psalms 127:3

127:3 Yes, ⁶  sons ⁷  are a gift from the Lord,

the fruit of the womb is a reward.

Psalms 139:13

139:13 Certainly ⁸  you made my mind and heart; ⁹ 

you wove me together ¹⁰  in my mother’s womb.

[22:10]  ¹ tn Heb “upon you I was cast from [the] womb.”

[22:10]  ² tn Heb “from the womb of my mother you [have been] my God.”

[44:25]  ³ tn Heb “for our being/life sinks down to the dirt, our belly clings to the earth.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being, life”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[58:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[58:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “speakers of a lie go astray from the womb.”

[127:3]  ⁷ tn or “look.”

[127:3]  ⁸ tn Some prefer to translate this term with the gender neutral “children,” but “sons” are plainly in view here, as the following verses make clear. Daughters are certainly wonderful additions to a family, but in ancient Israelite culture sons were the “arrows” that gave a man security in his old age, for they could defend the family interests at the city gate, where the legal and economic issues of the community were settled.

[139:13]  ⁹ tn Or “for.”

[139:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my kidneys.” The kidneys were sometimes viewed as the seat of one’s emotions and moral character (cf. Pss 7:9; 26:2). A number of translations, recognizing that “kidneys” does not communicate this idea to the modern reader, have generalized the concept: “inmost being” (NAB, NIV); “inward parts” (NASB, NRSV); “the delicate, inner parts of my body” (NLT). In the last instance, the focus is almost entirely on the physical body rather than the emotions or moral character. The present translation, by using a hendiadys (one concept expressed through two terms), links the concepts of emotion (heart) and moral character (mind).

[139:13]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew verb סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave together”) is an alternate form of שָׂכַךְ (sakhakh, “to weave”) used in Job 10:11.