Psalms 35:21

35:21 They are ready to devour me; ¹ 

they say, “Aha! Aha! We’ve got you!” ² 

Psalms 44:13

44:13 You made us ³  an object of disdain to our neighbors;

those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. ⁴ 

Psalms 57:3

57:3 May he send help from heaven and deliver me ⁵ 

from my enemies who hurl insults! ⁶  (Selah)

May God send his loyal love and faithfulness!

Psalms 79:4

79:4 We have become an object of disdain to our neighbors;

those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. ⁷ 

Psalms 119:39

119:39 Take away the insults that I dread! ⁸ 

Indeed, ⁹  your regulations are good.

Psalms 119:2

119:2 How blessed are those who observe his rules,

and seek him with all their heart,

Psalms 16:7-8

16:7 I will praise ¹⁰  the Lord who ¹¹  guides ¹²  me;

yes, during the night I reflect and learn. ¹³ 

16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord; ¹⁴ 

because he is at my right hand, I will not be upended.

Joel 2:17

2:17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep

from the vestibule all the way back to the altar. ¹⁵ 

Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;

please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,

to become a proverb ¹⁶  among the nations.

Why should it be said ¹⁷  among the peoples,

“Where is their God?”

Joel 2:19

2:19 The Lord responded ¹⁸  to his people,

“Look! I am about to restore your grain ¹⁹ 

as well as fresh wine and olive oil.

You will be fully satisfied. ²⁰ 

I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.

Romans 2:23-24

2:23 You who boast in the law dishonor God by transgressing the law! 2:24 For just as it is written, “the name of God is being blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” ²¹ 

[35:21]  ¹ tn Heb “and they cause their mouth to be wide against me.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the generalizing mood of the previous verse. For other examples of this use of the prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive, see GKC 329 §111.t.

[35:21]  ² tn Heb “our eye sees.” Apparently this is an idiom meaning to “look in triumph” or “gloat over” (see Ps 54:7).

[44:13]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.”

[57:3]  ⁵ tn Heb “may he send from heaven and deliver me.” The prefixed verbal forms are understood as jussives expressing the psalmist’s prayer. The second verb, which has a vav (ו) conjunctive prefixed to it, probably indicates purpose. Another option is to take the forms as imperfects expressing confidence, “he will send from heaven and deliver me” (cf. NRSV).

[57:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “he hurls insults, one who crushes me.” The translation assumes that this line identifies those from whom the psalmist seeks deliverance. (The singular is representative; the psalmist is surrounded by enemies, see v. 4.) Another option is to understand God as the subject of the verb חָרַף (kharaf), which could then be taken as a homonym of the more common root חָרַף (“insult”) meaning “confuse.” In this case “one who crushes me” is the object of the verb. One might translate, “he [God] confuses my enemies.”

[79:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.” See Ps 44:13.

[119:39]  ⁸ tn Heb “my reproach that I fear.”

[119:39]  ⁹ tn Or “for.”

[16:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “bless,” that is, “proclaim as worthy of praise.”

[16:7]  ¹¹ tn Or “because.”

[16:7]  ¹² tn Or “counsels, advises.”

[16:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “yes, [during] nights my kidneys instruct [or “correct”] me.” The “kidneys” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s moral character (see Ps 26:2). In the quiet darkness the Lord speaks to his inner being, as it were, and enables him to grow in moral understanding.

[16:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I set the Lord before me continually.” This may mean that the psalmist is aware of the Lord’s presence and sensitive to his moral guidance (see v. 7), or that he trusts in the Lord’s protection (see the following line).

[2:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “between the vestibule and the altar.” The vestibule was located at the entrance of the temple and the altar was located at the other end of the building. So “between the vestibule and the altar” is a merism referring to the entire structure. The priestly lament permeates the entire house of worship.

[2:17]  ¹⁶ tn For the MT reading לִמְשָׁל (limshol, an infinitive, “to rule”), one should instead read לְמָשָׁל (lÿmashal, a noun, “to a byword”). While the consonantal Hebrew text permits either, the context suggests that the concern here is more one of not wanting to appear abandoned by God to ongoing economic depression rather than one of concern over potential political subjection of Israel (cf. v. 19). The possibility that the form in the MT is an infinitive construct of the denominative verb II מָשַׁל (mashal, “to utter a proverb”) does not seem likely because of the following preposition (Hebrew בְּ [bÿ], rather than עַל [’al]).

[2:17]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “Why will they say?”

[2:19]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “answered and said.”

[2:19]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.

[2:19]  ²⁰ tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXII^c) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied” (the reading of the MT, LXX).

[2:24]  ²¹ sn A quotation from Isa 52:5.