Psalms 22:12

22:12 Many bulls ¹  surround me;

powerful bulls of Bashan ²  hem me in.

Psalms 48:7

48:7 With an east wind

you shatter ³  the large ships. ⁴ 

Psalms 59:2

59:2 Deliver me from evildoers! ⁵ 

Rescue me from violent men! ⁶ 

Psalms 73:8

73:8 They mock ⁷  and say evil things; ⁸ 

they proudly threaten violence. ⁹ 

Psalms 77:12

77:12 I will think about all you have done;

I will reflect upon your deeds!”

Psalms 82:4

82:4 Rescue the poor and needy!

Deliver them from the power ¹⁰  of the wicked!

Psalms 93:2

93:2 Your throne has been secure from ancient times;

you have always been king. ¹¹ 

Psalms 107:24

107:24 They witnessed the acts of the Lord,

his amazing feats on the deep water.

Psalms 112:2

112:2 His descendants ¹²  will be powerful on the earth;

the godly ¹³  will be blessed.

Psalms 132:8

132:8 Ascend, O Lord, to your resting place,

you and the ark of your strength!

Psalms 136:12

136:12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,

for his loyal love endures,

[22:12]  ¹ sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.

[22:12]  ² sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.

[48:7]  ³ tn The switch to the imperfect, as well as the introduction of the ship metaphor, perhaps signals a change to a generalizing tone; the Lord typically shatters these large ships, symbolic of the human strength of hostile armies (see the following note on “large ships”). The verb שָׁבַר (shavar, “break”) appears in the Piel here (see Pss 29:5; 46:9). In the OT it occurs thirty-six times in the Piel, always with multiple objects (the object is either a collective singular or grammatically plural or dual form). The Piel may highlight the repetition of the pluralative action, or it may suggest an intensification of action, indicating repeated action comprising a whole, perhaps with the nuance “break again and again, break in pieces.” Another option is to understand the form as resultative: “make broken” (see IBHS 404-7 §24.3).

[48:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “the ships of Tarshish.” This probably refers to large ships either made in or capable of traveling to and from the distant western port of Tarshish. These ships, which were the best of their class, here symbolize the mere human strength of hostile armies, which are incapable of withstanding the Lord’s divine power (see Isa 2:16).

[59:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “from the workers of wickedness.”

[59:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “from men of bloodshed.”

[73:8]  ⁷ tn The verb מוּק (muq, “mock”) occurs only here in the OT.

[73:8]  ⁸ tn Heb “and speak with evil.”

[73:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “oppression from an elevated place they speak.” The traditional accentuation of the MT places “oppression” with the preceding line. In this case, one might translate, “they mock and speak with evil [of] oppression, from an elevated place [i.e., “proudly”] they speak.” By placing “oppression” with what follows, one achieves better poetic balance in the parallelism.

[82:4]  ⁹ tn Heb “hand.”

[93:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “from antiquity [are] you.” As the context suggests, this refers specifically to God’s royal position, not his personal existence.

[112:2]  ¹³ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[112:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “His seed will be mighty on the earth, the generation of the godly.” The Hebrew term דוֹר (dor, “generation”) could be taken as parallel to “offspring” and translated “posterity,” but the singular more likely refers to the godly as a class. See BDB 189-90 s.v. for other examples where “generation” refers to a class of people.