Psalms 35:11

35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, ¹ 

and falsely accuse me. ² 

Psalms 83:17

83:17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified! ³ 

May they die in shame! ⁴ 

Psalms 132:14

132:14 He said, ⁵  “This will be my resting place forever;

I will live here, for I have chosen it. ⁶ 

Psalms 147:6

147:6 The Lord lifts up the oppressed,

but knocks ⁷  the wicked to the ground.

[35:11]  ¹ tn Heb “witnesses of violence rise up.”

[35:11]  ² tn Heb “[that] which I do not know they ask me.”

[83:17]  ³ tn Heb “and may they be terrified to perpetuity.” The Hebrew expression עֲדֵי־עַד (’adey-’ad, “to perpetuity”) can mean “forevermore” (see Pss 92:7; 132:12, 14), but here it may be used hyperbolically, for the psalmist asks that the experience of judgment might lead the nations to recognize (v. 18) and even to seek (v. 16) God.

[83:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “may they be ashamed and perish.” The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling severe judgment down on his enemies. The strong language of the imprecation seems to run contrary to the positive outcome of divine judgment envisioned in v. 16b. Perhaps the language of v. 17 is overstated for effect. Another option is that v. 16b expresses an ideal, while the strong imprecation of vv. 17-18 anticipates reality. It would be nice if the defeated nations actually pursued a relationship with God, but if judgment does not bring them to that point, the psalmist asks that they be annihilated so that they might at least be forced to acknowledge God’s power.

[132:14]  ⁵ tn The words “he said” are added in the translation to clarify that what follows are the Lord’s words.

[132:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “for I desired it.”

[147:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “brings down.”