Psalms 3:5

3:5 I rested and slept;

I awoke, ¹  for the Lord protects ²  me.

Psalms 17:4

17:4 As for the actions of people ³  –

just as you have commanded,

I have not followed in the footsteps of violent men. ⁴ 

Psalms 17:15

17:15 As for me, because I am innocent I will see your face; ⁵ 

when I awake you will reveal yourself to me. ⁶ 

Psalms 25:16

25:16 Turn toward me and have mercy on me,

for I am alone ⁷  and oppressed!

Psalms 38:17

38:17 For I am about to stumble,

and I am in constant pain. ⁸ 

Psalms 39:10

39:10 Please stop wounding me! ⁹ 

You have almost beaten me to death! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 51:3

51:3 For I am aware of ¹¹  my rebellious acts;

I am forever conscious of my sin. ¹² 

Psalms 55:16

55:16 As for me, I will call out to God,

and the Lord will deliver me.

Psalms 75:2

75:2 God says, ¹³ 

“At the appointed times, ¹⁴ 

I judge ¹⁵  fairly.

Psalms 82:6

82:6 I thought, ¹⁶  ‘You are gods;

all of you are sons of the Most High.’ ¹⁷ 

Psalms 88:15

88:15 I am oppressed and have been on the verge of death since my youth. ¹⁸ 

I have been subjected to your horrors and am numb with pain. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 89:27

89:27 I will appoint him to be my firstborn son, ²⁰ 

the most exalted of the earth’s kings.

Psalms 119:63

119:63 I am a friend to all your loyal followers, ²¹ 

and to those who keep your precepts.

Psalms 119:67

119:67 Before I was afflicted I used to stray off, ²² 

but now I keep your instructions. ²³ 

Psalms 119:78

119:78 May the arrogant be humiliated, for they have slandered me! ²⁴ 

But I meditate on your precepts.

[3:5]  ¹ tn The three verbal forms that appear in succession here (perfect + vav [ו] consecutive with preterite + perfect) are most naturally taken as narrational. When the psalmist received an assuring word from the Lord, he was able to sleep calmly. Because the Lord was protecting him, he awoke safely from his sleep.

[3:5]  ² tn Or “supports”; “sustains.” In this explanatory causal clause the imperfect verbal form probably has a habitual or present progressive nuance, for the psalmist is confident of God’s continual protection (see v. 3). Another option is to take the verb as a preterite, “for the Lord protected me.” In this case, the psalmist focuses specifically on the protection God provided while he slept.

[17:4]  ³ tn Heb “with regard to the deeds of man[kind].”

[17:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “by the word of your lips, I, I have watched the paths of the violent” (i.e., “watched” in the sense of “watched for the purpose of avoiding”).

[17:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “I, in innocence, I will see your face.” To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 11:7; see also Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזַה (khazah), is used]). Here, however, the psalmist may be anticipating a mystical experience. See the following note on the word “me.”

[17:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “I will be satisfied, when I awake, [with] your form.” The noun תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) normally carries the nuance “likeness” or “form.” In Job 4:16 it refers to a ghostlike spiritual entity (see v. 15) that revealed itself to Eliphaz during the night. The psalmist may anticipate a mystical encounter with God in which he expects to see a manifestation of God’s presence (i.e., a theophany), perhaps in conjunction with an oracle of deliverance. During the quiet darkness of the night, God examines the psalmist’s inner motives and finds them to be pure (see v. 3). The psalmist is confident that when he awakens, perhaps sometime during the night or in the morning, he will be visited by God and assured of vindication.

[25:16]  ⁷ tn That is, helpless and vulnerable.

[38:17]  ⁹ tn Heb “and my pain [is] before me continually.”

[39:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “remove from upon me your wound.”

[39:10]  ¹² tn Heb “from the hostility of your hand I have come to an end.”

[51:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “know.”

[51:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

[75:2]  ¹⁵ tn The words “God says” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation to clarify that God speaks in vv. 2-3.

[75:2]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “when I take an appointed time.”

[75:2]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “I, [in] fairness, I judge.” The statement is understood in a generalizing sense; God typically executes fair judgment as he governs the world. One could take this as referring to an anticipated (future) judgment, “I will judge.”

[82:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “said.”

[82:6]  ¹⁸ sn Normally in the OT the title Most High belongs to the God of Israel, but in this context, where the mythological overtones are so strong, it probably refers to the Canaanite high god El (see v. 1, as well as Isa 14:13).

[88:15]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and am dying from youth.”

[88:15]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I carry your horrors [?].” The meaning of the Hebrew form אָפוּנָה (’afunah), which occurs only here in the OT, is unclear. It may be an adverb meaning “very much” (BDB 67 s.v.), though some prefer to emend the text to אָפוּגָה (’afugah, “I am numb”) from the verb פוּג (pug; see Pss 38:8; 77:2).

[89:27]  ²¹ sn The firstborn son typically had special status and received special privileges.

[119:63]  ²³ tn Heb “to all who fear you.”

[119:67]  ²⁵ tn Heb “before I suffered, I was straying off.”

[119:67]  ²⁶ tn Heb “your word.”

[119:78]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for [with] falsehood they have denied me justice.”