Psalms 31:8

31:8 You do not deliver me over to the power of the enemy;

you enable me to stand ¹  in a wide open place.

Psalms 74:8

74:8 They say to themselves, ² 

“We will oppress all of them.” ³ 

They burn down all the places where people worship God in the land. ⁴ 

Psalms 74:20

74:20 Remember your covenant promises, ⁵ 

for the dark regions of the earth are full of places where violence rules. ⁶ 

Psalms 103:16

103:16 but when the hot wind ⁷  blows by, it disappears,

and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.

Psalms 104:8

104:8 as the mountains rose up,

and the valleys went down –

to the place you appointed for them. ⁸ 

[31:8]  ¹ tn Heb “you cause my feet to stand.”

[74:8]  ² tn Heb “in their heart.”

[74:8]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “they burn down all the meeting places of God in the land.”

[74:20]  ³ tc Heb “look at the covenant.” The LXX reads “your covenant,” which seems to assume a second person pronominal suffix. The suffix may have been accidentally omitted by haplography. Note that the following word (כִּי) begins with kaf (כ).

[74:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “for the dark places of the earth are full of dwelling places of violence.” The “dark regions” are probably the lands where the people have been exiled (see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms [ICC], 2:157). In some contexts “dark regions” refers to Sheol (Ps 88:6) or to hiding places likened to Sheol (Ps 143:3; Lam 3:6).

[103:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.

[104:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “from your shout they fled, from the sound of your thunder they hurried off.”