Psalms 34:22

34:22 The Lord rescues his servants; ¹ 

all who take shelter in him escape punishment. ² 

Psalms 35:27

35:27 May those who desire my vindication shout for joy and rejoice!

May they continually say, ³  “May the Lord be praised, ⁴  for he wants his servant to be secure.” ⁵ 

Psalms 69:17

69:17 Do not ignore ⁶  your servant,

for I am in trouble! Answer me right away! ⁷ 

Psalms 79:2

79:2 They have given the corpses of your servants

to the birds of the sky; ⁸ 

the flesh of your loyal followers

to the beasts of the earth.

Psalms 79:10

79:10 Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?”

Before our very eyes may the shed blood of your servants

be avenged among the nations! ⁹ 

Psalms 86:2

86:2 Protect me, ¹⁰  for I am loyal!

O my God, deliver your servant, who trusts in you!

Psalms 86:16

86:16 Turn toward me and have mercy on me!

Give your servant your strength!

Deliver your slave! ¹¹ 

Psalms 89:50

89:50 Take note, O Lord, ¹²  of the way your servants are taunted, ¹³ 

and of how I must bear so many insults from people! ¹⁴ 

Psalms 102:14

102:14 Indeed, ¹⁵  your servants take delight in her stones,

and feel compassion for ¹⁶  the dust of her ruins. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 113:1

Psalm 113 ¹⁸ 

113:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise, you servants of the Lord,

praise the name of the Lord!

Psalms 119:176

119:176 I have wandered off like a lost sheep. ¹⁹ 

Come looking for your servant,

for I do not forget your commands.

Psalms 135:1

Psalm 135 ²⁰ 

135:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the name of the Lord!

Offer praise, you servants of the Lord,

Psalms 143:2

143:2 Do not sit in judgment on ²¹  your servant,

for no one alive is innocent before you. ²² 

Psalms 143:12

143:12 As a demonstration of your loyal love, ²³  destroy my enemies!

Annihilate ²⁴  all who threaten my life, ²⁵ 

for I am your servant.

Psalms 144:10

144:10 the one who delivers ²⁶  kings,

and rescued David his servant from a deadly ²⁷  sword.

[34:22]  ¹ tn Heb “redeems the life of his servants.” The Hebrew participial form suggests such deliverance is characteristic.

[34:22]  ² tn “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear, and serve the Lord (Pss 2:12; 5:11-12; 31:19).

[35:27]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 27a are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-26).

[35:27]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great.”

[35:27]  ⁵ tn Heb “the one who desires the peace of his servant.”

[69:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “do not hide your face from.” The Hebrew idiom “hide the face” can (1) mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or (2) carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).

[69:17]  ⁶ tn Or “quickly.”

[79:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “[as] food for the birds of the sky.”

[79:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “may it be known among the nations, to our eyes, the vengeance of the shed blood of your servants.”

[86:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my life.”

[86:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 116:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.

[89:50]  ¹⁵ tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read here יְהוָה (yehvah, “the Lord”).

[89:50]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “remember, O Lord, the taunt against your servants.” Many medieval Hebrew mss read the singular here, “your servant” (that is, the psalmist).

[89:50]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “my lifting up in my arms [or “against my chest”] all of the many, peoples.” The term רַבִּים (rabbim, “many”) makes no apparent sense here. For this reason some emend the text to רִבֵי (rivey, “attacks by”), a defectively written plural construct form of רִיב (riv, “dispute; quarrel”).

[102:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “for.”

[102:14]  ¹⁸ tn The Poel of חָנַן (khanan) occurs only here and in Prov 14:21, where it refers to having compassion on the poor.

[102:14]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “her dust,” probably referring to the dust of the city’s rubble.

[113:1]  ¹⁹ sn Psalm 113. The psalmist praises God as the sovereign king of the world who reaches down to help the needy.

[119:176]  ²¹ tn Heb “I stray like a lost sheep.” It is possible that the point of the metaphor is vulnerability: The psalmist, who is threatened by his enemies, feels as vulnerable as a straying, lost sheep. This would not suggest, however, that he has wandered from God’s path (see the second half of the verse, as well as v. 110).

[135:1]  ²³ sn Psalm 135. The psalmist urges God’s people to praise him because he is the incomparable God and ruler of the world who has accomplished great things for Israel.

[143:2]  ²⁵ tn Heb “do not enter into judgment with.”

[143:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “for no one living is innocent before you.”

[143:12]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[143:12]  ²⁸ tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the mood of the preceding imperfect.

[143:12]  ²⁹ tn Heb “all the enemies of my life.”

[144:10]  ²⁹ tn Heb “grants deliverance to.”

[144:10]  ³⁰ tn Heb “harmful.”