Psalms 32:9

32:9 Do not be ¹  like an unintelligent horse or mule, ² 

which will not obey you

unless they are controlled by a bridle and bit. ³ 

Psalms 2:3

2:3 They say, ⁴  “Let’s tear off the shackles they’ve put on us! ⁵ 

Let’s free ourselves from ⁶  their ropes!”

Psalms 37:31

37:31 The law of their God controls their thinking; ⁷ 

their ⁸  feet do not slip.

Psalms 119:133

119:133 Direct my steps by your word! ⁹ 

Do not let any sin dominate me!

Psalms 141:3

141:3 O Lord, place a guard on my mouth!

Protect the opening ¹⁰  of my lips! ¹¹ 

Psalms 19:13

19:13 Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant ¹²  sins;

do not allow such sins to control me. ¹³ 

Then I will be blameless,

and innocent of blatant ¹⁴  rebellion.

Psalms 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ¹⁵ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ¹⁶  (Selah)

Psalms 72:1

Psalm 72 ¹⁷ 

For ¹⁸  Solomon.

72:1 O God, grant the king the ability to make just decisions! ¹⁹ 

Grant the king’s son ²⁰  the ability to make fair decisions! ²¹ 

Psalms 78:72

78:72 David ²²  cared for them with pure motives; ²³ 

he led them with skill. ²⁴ 

Psalms 83:2

83:2 For look, your enemies are making a commotion;

those who hate you are hostile. ²⁵ 

Psalms 89:25

89:25 I will place his hand over the sea,

his right hand over the rivers. ²⁶ 

Psalms 39:1

Psalm 39 ²⁷ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

39:1 I decided, ²⁸  “I will watch what I say

and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. ²⁹ 

I will put a muzzle over my mouth

while in the presence of an evil man.” ³⁰ 

[32:9]  ¹ tn The verb form is plural (i.e., “do not all of you be”); the psalmist addresses the whole group.

[32:9]  ² tn Heb “like a horse, like a mule without understanding.”

[32:9]  ³ tn Heb “with a bridle and bit, its [?] to hold, not to come near to you.” The meaning of the Hebrew noun עֲדִי (’adiy) is uncertain. Normally the word refers to “jewelry,” so some suggest the meaning “trappings” here (cf. NASB). Some emend the form to לְחֵיהֶם (lÿkhehem, “their jawbones”) but it is difficult to see how the present Hebrew text, even if corrupt, could have derived from this proposed original reading. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 265) takes the form from an Arabic root and translates “whose gallop.” Cf. also NRSV “whose temper must be curbed.”

[2:3]  ⁴ tn The words “they say” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The quotation represents the words of the rebellious kings.

[2:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “their (i.e., the Lord’s and the king’s) shackles.” The kings compare the rule of the Lord and his vice-regent to being imprisoned.

[2:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “throw off from us.”

[37:31]  ⁷ tn Heb “the law of his God [is] in his heart.” The “heart” is here the seat of one’s thoughts and motives.

[37:31]  ⁸ tn Heb “his.” The pronoun has been translated as plural to agree with the representative or typical “godly” in v. 30.

[119:133]  ¹⁰ tn God’s “word” refers here to his law (see v. 11).

[141:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “door.” The Hebrew word occurs only here in the OT.

[141:3]  ¹⁴ sn My mouth…my lips. The psalmist asks God to protect him from speaking inappropriately or sinfully.

[19:13]  ¹⁶ tn Or “presumptuous.”

[19:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “let them not rule over me.”

[19:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “great.”

[4:4]  ¹⁹ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ²⁰ 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.”

[72:1]  ²² sn Psalm 72. This royal psalm contains a prayer for the Davidic king (note the imperatival form in v. 1 and the jussive forms in vv. 16-17). It is not entirely clear if vv. 2-15 express a prayer or anticipate a future reign. The translation assumes a blend of petition and vision: (I) opening prayer (v. 1), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 2-7); (II) prayer (v. 8), followed by anticipated results if prayer is answered (vv. 9-14); (III) closing prayer (vv. 15-17). Whether a prayer, vision, or combination of the two, the psalm depicts the king’s universal rule of peace and prosperity. As such it is indirectly messianic, for the ideal it expresses will only be fully realized during the Messiah’s earthly reign. Verses 18-19 are a conclusion for Book 2 of the Psalter (Pss 42-72; cf. Ps 41:13, which contains a similar conclusion for Book 1), while v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter.

[72:1]  ²³ tn The preposition could be understood as indicating authorship (“Of Solomon”), but since the psalm is a prayer for a king, it may be that the superscription reflects a tradition that understood this as a prayer for Solomon.

[72:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “O God, your judgments to [the] king give.”

[72:1]  ²⁵ sn Grant the king…Grant the king’s son. It is not entirely clear whether v. 1 envisions one individual or two. The phrase “the king’s son” in the second line may simply refer to “the king” of the first line, drawing attention to the fact that he has inherited his dynastic rule. Another option is that v. 1 envisions a co-regency between father and son (a common phenomenon in ancient Israel) or simply expresses a hope for a dynasty that champions justice.

[72:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and your justice to [the] son of [the] king.”

[78:72]  ²⁵ tn Heb “He”; the referent (David, God’s chosen king, mentioned in v. 70) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[78:72]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart.”

[78:72]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and with the understanding of his hands he led them.”

[83:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “lift up [their] head[s].” The phrase “lift up [the] head” here means “to threaten; to be hostile,” as in Judg 8:28.

[89:25]  ³¹ tn Some identify “the sea” as the Mediterranean and “the rivers” as the Euphrates and its tributaries. However, it is more likely that “the sea” and “the rivers” are symbols for hostile powers that oppose God and the king (see v. 9, as well as Ps 93:3-4).

[39:1]  ³⁴ sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.

[39:1]  ³⁵ tn Heb “I said.”

[39:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”

[39:1]  ³⁷ sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the Lord (see vv. 4-6), but he hesitated to do so in the presence of evil men, for such words might be sinful if they gave the wicked an occasion to insult God. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 1:345.