Psalms 27:2

27:2 When evil men attack me ¹ 

to devour my flesh, ² 

when my adversaries and enemies attack me, ³ 

they stumble and fall. ⁴ 

Psalms 35:25

35:25 Do not let them say to themselves, ⁵  “Aha! We have what we wanted!” ⁶ 

Do not let them say, “We have devoured him!”

Psalms 56:1-2

Psalm 56 ⁷ 

For the music director; according to the yonath-elem-rechovim style; ⁸  a prayer ⁹  of David, written when the Philistines captured him in Gath. ¹⁰ 

56:1 Have mercy on me, O God, for men are attacking me! ¹¹ 

All day long hostile enemies ¹²  are tormenting me. ¹³ 

56:2 Those who anticipate my defeat ¹⁴  attack me all day long.

Indeed, ¹⁵  many are fighting against me, O Exalted One. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 57:3

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ¹⁷ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ¹⁸  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

Psalms 74:8

74:8 They say to themselves, ¹⁹ 

“We will oppress all of them.” ²⁰ 

They burn down all the places where people worship God in the land. ²¹ 

Psalms 83:4

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ²² 

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

Esther 3:6

3:6 But the thought of striking out against ²³  Mordecai alone was repugnant to him, for he had been informed ²⁴  of the identity of Mordecai’s people. ²⁵  So Haman sought to destroy all the Jews (that is, the people of Mordecai) ²⁶  who were in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus.

Esther 3:12-13

3:12 So the royal scribes ²⁷  were summoned in the first month, on the thirteenth day of the month. Everything Haman commanded was written to the king’s satraps ²⁸  and governors who were in every province and to the officials of every people, province by province according to its script and people by people according to its language. In the name of King Ahasuerus it was written and sealed with the king’s signet ring. 3:13 Letters were sent by the runners to all the king’s provinces stating that ²⁹  they should destroy, kill, and annihilate all the Jews, from youth to elderly, both women and children, ³⁰  on a particular day, namely the thirteenth day ³¹  of the twelfth month (that is, the month of Adar), and to loot and plunder their possessions.

[27:2]  ¹ tn Heb “draw near to me.”

[27:2]  ² sn To devour my flesh. The psalmist compares his enemies to dangerous, hungry predators (see 2 Kgs 9:36; Ezek 39:17).

[27:2]  ³ tn Heb “my adversaries and my enemies against me.” The verb “draw near” (that is, “attack”) is understood by ellipsis; see the previous line.

[27:2]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew verbal forms are perfects. The translation assumes the psalmist is generalizing here, but another option is to take this as a report of past experience, “when evil men attacked me…they stumbled and fell.”

[35:25]  ⁵ tn Heb “in their heart[s].”

[35:25]  ⁶ tn Heb “Aha! Our desire!” The “desire” of the psalmist’s enemies is to triumph over him.

[56:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 56. Despite the threats of his enemies, the psalmist is confident the Lord will keep his promise to protect and deliver him.

[56:1]  ⁸ tn The literal meaning of this phrase is “silent dove, distant ones.” Perhaps it refers to a particular style of music, a tune title, or a type of musical instrument.

[56:1]  ⁹ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew word מִכְתָּם (miktam), which also appears in the heading to Pss 16 and 57-60 is uncertain. HALOT 582-83 s.v. defines it as “inscription.”

[56:1]  ¹⁰ sn According to the superscription, David wrote this psalm when the Philistines seized him and took him to King Achish of Gath (see 1 Sam 21:11-15).

[56:1]  ¹¹ tn According to BDB 983 s.v. II שָׁאַף, the verb is derived from שָׁאַף (sha’af, “to trample, crush”) rather than the homonymic verb “pant after.”

[56:1]  ¹² tn Heb “a fighter.” The singular is collective for his enemies (see vv. 5-6). The Qal of לָחַם (lakham, “fight”) also occurs in Ps 35:1.

[56:1]  ¹³ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the continuing nature of the enemies’ attacks.

[56:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 59:10.

[56:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “for.”

[56:2]  ¹⁶ 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.)

[57:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”

[74:8]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “in their heart.”

[74:8]  ²⁰ tc Heb “[?] altogether.” The Hebrew form נִינָם (ninam) is problematic. It could be understood as the noun נִין (nin, “offspring”) but the statement “their offspring altogether” would make no sense here. C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:159) emends יָחַד (yakhad, “altogether”) to יָחִיד (yakhid, “alone”) and translate “let their offspring be solitary” (i.e., exiled). Another option is to understand the form as a Qal imperfect first common plural from יָנָה (yanah, “to oppress”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix, “we will oppress them.” However, this verb, when used in the finite form, always appears in the Hiphil. Therefore, it is preferable to emend the form to the Hiphil נוֹנֵם (nonem, “we will oppress them”).

[74:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “they burn down all the meeting places of God in the land.”

[83:4]  ²² tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

[3:6]  ²³ tn Heb “to send a hand against”; KJV, NRSV “to lay hands on.”

[3:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “they had related to him.” For stylistic reasons this has been translated as a passive construction.

[3:6]  ²⁵ tc The entire first half of the verse is not included in the LXX.

[3:6]  ²⁶ tc This parenthetical phrase is not included in the LXX. Some scholars emend the MT reading עַם (’am, “people”) to עִם (’im, “with”), arguing that the phrase is awkwardly placed and syntactically inappropriate. While there is some truth to their complaint, the MT makes sufficient sense to be acceptable here, and is followed by most English versions.

[3:12]  ²⁷ tn Or “secretaries” (so NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[3:12]  ²⁸ tn Or “princes” (so NLT); CEV “highest officials.”

[3:13]  ²⁹ tn The words “stating that” are not in the Hebrew text but have been supplied in the translation for clarity.

[3:13]  ³⁰ tn Heb “children and women.” The translation follows contemporary English idiom, which reverses the order.

[3:13]  ³¹ tc The LXX does not include the words “on the thirteenth day.”