Psalms 35:15

35:15 But when I stumbled, they rejoiced and gathered together;

they gathered together to ambush me. ¹ 

They tore at me without stopping to rest. ² 

Psalms 37:20

37:20 But ³  evil men will die;

the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated ⁴  –

they will go up in smoke. ⁵ 

Psalms 37:28

37:28 For the Lord promotes ⁶  justice,

and never abandons ⁷  his faithful followers.

They are permanently secure, ⁸ 

but the children ⁹  of evil men are wiped out. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 52:8

52:8 But I ¹¹  am like a flourishing ¹²  olive tree in the house of God;

I continually ¹³  trust in God’s loyal love.

Psalms 62:4

62:4 They ¹⁴  spend all their time planning how to bring him ¹⁵  down. ¹⁶ 

They love to use deceit; ¹⁷ 

they pronounce blessings with their mouths,

but inwardly they utter curses. ¹⁸  (Selah)

Psalms 73:28

73:28 But as for me, God’s presence is all I need. ¹⁹ 

I have made the sovereign Lord my shelter,

as ²⁰  I declare all the things you have done.

Psalms 102:26

102:26 They will perish,

but you will endure. ²¹ 

They will wear out like a garment;

like clothes you will remove them and they will disappear. ²² 

Psalms 146:9

146:9 The Lord protects those residing outside their native land;

he lifts up the fatherless and the widow, ²³ 

but he opposes the wicked. ²⁴ 

[35:15]  ¹ tn Heb “they gathered together against me, stricken [ones], and I did not know.” The Hebrew form נֵכִים (nekhim, “stricken ones” ?) is problematic. Some suggest an emendation to נָכְרִים[כְ] (kÿnokhÿrim, “foreigners”) or “like foreigners,” which would fit with what follows, “[like] foreigners that I do not recognize.” Perhaps the form should be read as a Qal active participle, נֹכִים (nokhim, “ones who strike”) from the verbal root נָכָה (nakhah, “to strike”). The Qal of this verb is unattested in biblical Hebrew, but the peal (basic) stem appears in Old Aramaic (J. Fitzmyer, The Aramaic Inscriptions of Sefire [BibOr], 114; DNWSI 1:730.) In this case one might translate, “attackers gathered together against me though I was not aware of it” (cf. NASB “smiters”; NEB, NRSV “ruffians”; NIV “attackers”).

[35:15]  ² tn Heb “they tore and did not keep quiet.” By using the verb “tear,” the psalmist likens his enemies to a wild animal (see Hos 13:8). In v. 17 he compares them to hungry young lions.

[37:20]  ³ tn Or “for,” but Hebrew כי in this case would have to extend all the way back to v. 17a. Another option is to understand the particle as asseverative, “surely” (see v. 22).

[37:20]  ⁴ tc The meaning of the MT (כִּיקַר כָּרִים [kiqar karim], “like what is precious among the pastures/rams”) is uncertain. One possibility is to take the noun כָּרִים as “pastures” and interpret “what is precious” as referring to flowers that blossom but then quickly disappear (see v. 2 and BDB 430 s.v. יָקָר 3). If כָּרִים is taken as “rams,” then “what is precious” might refer to the choicest portions of rams. The present translation follows a reading in the Dead Sea Scrolls (4QpPs37), כיקוד כורם (“like the burning of an oven”). The next line, which pictures the Lord’s enemies being consumed in smoke, supports this reading, which assumes confusion of the Hebrew letters resh (ר) and dalet (ד) at the end of the first word in the sequence.

[37:20]  ⁵ tn Heb “they perish in smoke, they perish.” In addition to repeating the verb for emphasis, the psalmist uses the perfect form of the verb to picture the enemies’ demise as if it had already taken place. In this way he draws attention to the certitude of their judgment.

[37:28]  ⁵ tn Heb “loves.” The verb “loves” is here metonymic; the Lord’s commitment to principles of justice causes him to actively promote these principles as he governs the world. The active participle describes characteristic behavior.

[37:28]  ⁶ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to this generalizing statement.

[37:28]  ⁷ tn Or “protected forever.”

[37:28]  ⁸ tn Or “offspring”; Heb “seed.”

[37:28]  ⁹ tn Or “cut off”; or “removed.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 28b state general truths.

[52:8]  ⁷ tn The disjunctive construction (vav [ו] + subject) highlights the contrast between the evildoer’s destiny (vv. 5-7) and that of the godly psalmist’s security.

[52:8]  ⁸ tn Or “luxuriant, green, leafy.”

[52:8]  ⁹ tn Or, hyperbolically, “forever and ever.”

[62:4]  ⁹ tn That is, the psalmist’s enemies addressed in the previous verse.

[62:4]  ¹⁰ tn That is, the generic “man” referred to in the previous verse.

[62:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “only from his lofty place [or perhaps, “dignity”] they plan to drive [him] away.”

[62:4]  ¹² tn Heb “they delight [in] a lie.”

[62:4]  ¹³ sn The enemies use deceit to bring down their victim. They make him think they are his friends by pronouncing blessings upon him, but inwardly they desire his demise.

[73:28]  ¹¹ tn Heb “but as for me, the nearness of God for me [is] good.”

[73:28]  ¹² tn The infinitive construct with -לְ (lÿ) is understood here as indicating an attendant circumstance. Another option is to take it as indicating purpose (“so that I might declare”) or result (“with the result that I declare”).

[102:26]  ¹³ tn Heb “stand.”

[102:26]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew verb חָלַף (khalaf) occurs twice in this line, once in the Hiphil (“you will remove them”) and once in the Qal (“they will disappear”). The repetition draws attention to the statement.

[146:9]  ¹⁵ sn God is depicted here as a just ruler. In the ancient Near Eastern world a king was responsible for promoting justice, including caring for the weak and vulnerable, epitomized by resident aliens, the fatherless, and widows.

[146:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he makes the way of the wicked twisted.” The “way of the wicked” probably refers to their course of life (see Prov 4:19; Jer 12:1). God makes their path tortuous in the sense that he makes them pay the harmful consequences of their actions.