Psalms 28:4

28:4 Pay them back for their evil deeds!

Pay them back for what they do!

Punish them! ¹ 

Psalms 76:5

76:5 The bravehearted ²  were plundered; ³ 

they “fell asleep.” ⁴ 

All the warriors were helpless. ⁵ 

Psalms 115:7

115:7 hands, but cannot touch,

feet, but cannot walk.

They cannot even clear their throats. ⁶ 

Psalms 125:3

125:3 Indeed, ⁷  the scepter of a wicked king ⁸  will not settle ⁹ 

upon the allotted land of the godly.

Otherwise the godly might

do what is wrong. ¹⁰ 

[28:4]  ¹ tn Heb “Give to them according to their work, and according to the evil of their deeds. According to the work of their hands give to them. Return their due to them.” The highly repetitive style reflects the psalmist’s agitated emotional state and draws attention to his yearning for justice.

[76:5]  ² tn Heb “strong of heart.” In Isa 46:12, the only other text where this phrase appears, it refers to those who are stubborn, but here it seems to describe brave warriors (see the next line).

[76:5]  ³ tn The verb is a rare Aramaized form of the Hitpolel (see GKC 149 §54.a, n. 2); the root is שָׁלַל (shalal, “to plunder”).

[76:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “they slept [in] their sleep.” “Sleep” here refers to the “sleep” of death. A number of modern translations take the phrase to refer to something less than death, however: NASB “cast into a deep sleep”; NEB “fall senseless”; NIV “lie still”; NRSV “lay stunned.”

[76:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and all the men of strength did not find their hands.”

[115:7]  ³ tn Heb “they cannot mutter in their throats.” Verse 5a refers to speaking, v. 7c to inarticulate sounds made in the throat (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:140-41).

[125:3]  ⁴ tn Or “for.”

[125:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “a scepter of wickedness.” The “scepter” symbolizes royal authority; when collocated with “wickedness” the phrase refers to an oppressive foreign conqueror.

[125:3]  ⁶ tn Or “rest.”

[125:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “so that the godly might not stretch out their hands in wrongdoing.” A wicked king who sets a sinful example can have an adverse moral and ethical effect on the people he rules.