Discovery BoxPsalms 3:7
ContextDeliver me, my God!
Yes, 2 you will strike 3 all my enemies on the jaw;
you will break the teeth 4 of the wicked. 5
Psalms 7:6
ContextRise up with raging fury against my enemies! 7
Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! 8
Psalms 10:12
ContextO God, strike him down! 10
Do not forget the oppressed!
Psalms 44:23
Context44:23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Wake up! 11 Do not reject us forever!
Psalms 44:26
Context44:26 Rise up and help us!
Rescue us 12 because of your loyal love!
Psalms 68:1-2
ContextFor the music director; by David, a psalm, a song.
68:1 God springs into action! 14
His enemies scatter;
his adversaries 15 run from him. 16
68:2 As smoke is driven away by the wind, so you drive them away. 17
As wax melts before fire,
so the wicked are destroyed before God.
Psalms 74:22-23
Context74:22 Rise up, O God! Defend your honor! 18
Remember how fools insult you all day long! 19
74:23 Do not disregard 20 what your enemies say, 21
or the unceasing shouts of those who defy you. 22
Psalms 76:8-9
Context76:8 From heaven you announced what their punishment would be. 23
The earth 24 was afraid and silent
76:9 when God arose to execute judgment,
and to deliver all the oppressed of the earth. (Selah)
Psalms 80:2
Context80:2 In the sight of Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh reveal 25 your power!
Come and deliver us! 26
Isaiah 42:13-14
Context42:13 The Lord emerges like a hero,
like a warrior he inspires himself for battle; 27
he shouts, yes, he yells,
he shows his enemies his power. 28
42:14 “I have been inactive 29 for a long time;
I kept quiet and held back.
Like a woman in labor I groan;
I pant and gasp. 30
Isaiah 51:9
Context51:9 Wake up! Wake up!
Clothe yourself with strength, O arm of the Lord! 31
Wake up as in former times, as in antiquity!
Did you not smash 32 the Proud One? 33
Did you not 34 wound the sea monster? 35
Zephaniah 3:8
Context3:8 Therefore you must wait patiently 36 for me,” says the Lord,
“for the day when I attack and take plunder. 37
I have decided 38 to gather nations together
and assemble kingdoms,
so I can pour out my fury on them –
all my raging anger.
For 39 the whole earth will be consumed
by my fiery anger.
[3:7] 1 tn In v. 2 the psalmist describes his enemies as those who “confront” him (קָמִים [qamim], literally, “rise up against him”). Now, using the same verbal root (קוּם, qum) he asks the
[3:7] 2 tn Elsewhere in the psalms the particle כִּי (ki), when collocated with a perfect verbal form and subordinated to a preceding imperative directed to God, almost always has an explanatory or causal force (“for, because”) and introduces a motivating argument for why God should respond positively to the request (see Pss 5:10; 6:2; 12:1; 16:1; 41:4; 55:9; 56:1; 57:1; 60:2; 69:1; 74:20; 119:94; 123:3; 142:6; 143:8). (On three occasions the כִּי is recitative after a verb of perception [“see/know that,” see Pss 4:3; 25:19; 119:159]). If כִּי is taken as explanatory here, then the psalmist is arguing that God should deliver him now because that is what God characteristically does. However, such a motivating argument is not used in the passages cited above. The motivating argument usually focuses on the nature of the psalmist’s dilemma or the fact that he trusts in the Lord. For this reason it is unlikely that כִּי has its normal force here. Most scholars understand the particle כִּי as having an asseverative (emphasizing) function here (“indeed, yes”; NEB leaves the particle untranslated).
[3:7] 3 tn If the particle כִּי (ki) is taken as explanatory, then the perfect verbal forms in v. 7b would describe God’s characteristic behavior. However, as pointed out in the preceding note on the word “yes,” the particle probably has an asseverative force here. If so, the perfects may be taken as indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s assault on his enemies as if it had already happened. Such confidence is consistent with the mood of the psalm, as expressed before (vv. 3-6) and after this (v. 8). Another option is to take the perfects as precative, expressing a wish or request (“Strike all my enemies on the jaw, break the teeth of the wicked”). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
[3:7] 4 sn The expression break the teeth may envision violent hand-to hand combat, though it is possible that the enemies are pictured here as a dangerous animal (see Job 29:17).
[3:7] 5 tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.
[7:6] 6 tn Heb “in your anger.”
[7:6] 7 tn Heb “Lift yourself up in the angry outbursts of my enemies.” Many understand the preposition prefixed to עַבְרוֹת (’avrot, “angry outbursts”) as adversative, “against,” and the following genitive “enemies” as subjective. In this case one could translate, “rise up against my furious enemies” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The present translation, however, takes the preposition as indicating manner (cf. “in your anger” in the previous line) and understands the plural form of the noun as indicating an abstract quality (“fury”) or excessive degree (“raging fury”). Cf. Job 21:30.
[7:6] 8 tc Heb “Wake up to me [with the] judgment [which] you have commanded.” The LXX understands אֵלִי (’eliy, “my God”) instead of אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”; the LXX reading is followed by NEB, NIV, NRSV.) If the reading of the MT is retained, the preposition probably has the sense of “on account of, for the sake of.” The noun מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “judgment”) is probably an adverbial accusative, modifying the initial imperative, “wake up.” In this case צִוִּיתָ (tsivvita, “[which] you have commanded”) is an asyndetic relative clause. Some take the perfect as precative. In this case one could translate the final line, “Wake up for my sake! Decree judgment!” (cf. NIV). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
[10:12] 9 sn Rise up, O
[10:12] 10 tn Heb “lift up your hand.” Usually the expression “lifting the hand” refers to praying (Pss 28:2; 134:2) or making an oath (Ps 106:26), but here it probably refers to “striking a blow” (see 2 Sam 18:28; 20:21). Note v. 15, where the psalmist asks the
[44:23] 11 sn Wake up! See Ps 35:23.
[44:26] 12 tn Or “redeem us.” See Pss 25:22; 26:11; 69:18; 119:134.
[68:1] 13 sn Psalm 68. The psalmist depicts God as a mighty warrior and celebrates the fact that God exerts his power on behalf of his people.
[68:1] 14 tn Or “rises up.” The verb form is an imperfect, not a jussive. The psalmist is describing God’s appearance in battle in a dramatic fashion.
[68:1] 15 tn Heb “those who hate him.”
[68:1] 16 sn The wording of v. 1 echoes the prayer in Num 10:35: “Spring into action,
[68:2] 17 tn Heb “as smoke is scattered, you scatter [them].”
[74:22] 18 tn Or “defend your cause.”
[74:22] 19 tn Heb “remember your reproach from a fool all the day.”
[74:23] 21 tn Heb “the voice of your enemies.”
[74:23] 22 tn Heb “the roar of those who rise up against you, which ascends continually.”
[76:8] 23 tn Heb “a [legal] decision,” or “sentence.”
[76:8] 24 tn “The earth” stands here by metonymy for its inhabitants.
[80:2] 25 tn Heb “stir up”; “arouse.”
[80:2] 26 tn Heb “come for our deliverance.”
[42:13] 27 tn Heb “like a man of war he stirs up zeal” (NIV similar).
[42:13] 28 tn Or perhaps, “he triumphs over his enemies” (cf. NIV); NLT “will crush all his enemies.”
[42:14] 29 tn Heb “silent” (so NASB, NIV, TEV, NLT); CEV “have held my temper.”
[42:14] 30 sn The imagery depicts the Lord as a warrior who is eager to fight and can no longer hold himself back from the attack.
[51:9] 31 tn The arm of the Lord is a symbol of divine military power. Here it is personified and told to arouse itself from sleep and prepare for action.
[51:9] 32 tn Heb “Are you not the one who smashed?” The feminine singular forms agree grammatically with the feminine noun “arm.” The Hebrew text has ַהמַּחְצֶבֶת (hammakhtsevet), from the verbal root חָצַב (khatsav, “hew, chop”). The Qumran scroll 1QIsaa has, probably correctly, המחצת, from the verbal root מָחַץ (makhats, “smash”) which is used in Job 26:12 to describe God’s victory over “the Proud One.”
[51:9] 33 tn This title (רַהַב, rahav, “proud one”) is sometimes translated as a proper name: “Rahab” (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). It is used here of a symbolic sea monster, known elsewhere in the Bible and in Ugaritic myth as Leviathan. This sea creature symbolizes the forces of chaos that seek to destroy the created order. In the Bible “the Proud One” opposes God’s creative work, but is defeated (see Job 26:12; Ps 89:10). Here the title refers to Pharaoh’s Egyptian army that opposed Israel at the Red Sea (see v. 10, and note also Isa 30:7 and Ps 87:4, where the title is used of Egypt).
[51:9] 34 tn The words “did you not” are understood by ellipsis (note the preceding line). The rhetorical questions here and in v. 10 expect the answer, “Yes, you certainly did!”
[51:9] 35 tn Hebrew תַּנִּין (tannin) is another name for the symbolic sea monster. See the note at 27:1. In this context the sea creature represents Egypt. See the note on the title “Proud One” earlier in this verse.
[3:8] 36 tn The second person verb form (“you must wait patiently”) is masculine plural, indicating that a group is being addressed. Perhaps the humble individuals addressed earlier (see 2:3) are in view. Because of Jerusalem’s sin, they must patiently wait for judgment to pass before their vindication arrives.
[3:8] 37 tn Heb “when I arise for plunder.” The present translation takes עַד (’ad) as “plunder.” Some, following the LXX, repoint the term עֵד (’ed) and translate, “as a witness” (cf. NASB, NIV, NRSV). In this case the Lord uses a legal metaphor to picture himself as testifying against his enemies. Adele Berlin takes לְעַד (lÿ’ad) in a temporal sense (“forever”) and translates “once and for all” (Zephaniah [AB 25A], 133).
