Psalms 3:6

3:6 I am not afraid ¹  of the multitude of people ² 

who attack me from all directions. ³ 

Psalms 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ⁴ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ⁵  (Selah)

Psalms 77:16

77:16 The waters ⁶  saw you, O God,

the waters saw you and trembled. ⁷ 

Yes, the depths of the sea ⁸  shook with fear. ⁹ 

Psalms 99:1

Psalm 99 ¹⁰ 

99:1 The Lord reigns!

The nations tremble. ¹¹ 

He sits enthroned above the winged angels; ¹² 

the earth shakes. ¹³ 

Psalms 111:9

111:9 He delivered his people; ¹⁴ 

he ordained that his covenant be observed forever. ¹⁵ 

His name is holy and awesome.

[3:6]  ¹ tn The imperfect verbal form here expresses the psalmist’s continuing attitude as he faces the crisis at hand.

[3:6]  ² tn Or perhaps “troops.” The Hebrew noun עָם (’am) sometimes refers to a military contingent or army.

[3:6]  ³ tn Heb “who all around take a stand against me.”

[4:4]  ⁴ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

[77:16]  ⁷ tn The waters of the Red Sea are here personified; they are portrayed as seeing God and fearing him.

[77:16]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a preterite or as an imperfect with past progressive force.

[77:16]  ⁹ tn The words “of the sea” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[77:16]  ¹⁰ tn The prefixed verbal form may be taken as a preterite or as an imperfect with past progressive force.

[99:1]  ¹⁰ sn Psalm 99. The psalmist celebrates the Lord’s just rule and recalls how he revealed himself to Israel’s leaders.

[99:1]  ¹¹ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 1 are understood here as indicating the nations’ characteristic response to the reality of the Lord’s kingship. Another option is to take them as jussives: “let the nations tremble…let the earth shake!”

[99:1]  ¹² sn Winged angels (Heb “cherubs”). Cherubs, as depicted in the OT, possess both human and animal (lion, ox, and eagle) characteristics (see Ezek 1:10; 10:14, 21; 41:18). They are pictured as winged creatures (Exod 25:20; 37:9; 1 Kgs 6:24-27; Ezek 10:8, 19) and serve as the very throne of God when the ark of the covenant is in view (Ps 99:1; see Num 7:89; 1 Sam 4:4; 2 Sam 6:2; 2 Kgs 19:15). The picture of the Lord seated on the cherubs suggests they might be used by him as a vehicle, a function they carry out in Ezek 1:22-28 (the “living creatures” mentioned here are identified as cherubs in Ezek 10:20). In Ps 18:10 the image of a cherub serves to personify the wind.

[99:1]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew verb נוּט (nut) occurs only here in the OT, but the meaning can be determined on the basis of the parallelism with רָגַז (ragaz, “tremble”) and evidence from the cognate languages (see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena [SBLDS], 121).

[111:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “redemption he sent for his people.”

[111:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “he commanded forever his covenant.”