Psalms 35:4

35:4 May those who seek my life be embarrassed and humiliated!

May those who plan to harm me be turned back and ashamed! ¹ 

Psalms 35:26

35:26 May those who want to harm me be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ² 

May those who arrogantly taunt me be covered with shame and humiliation! ³ 

Psalms 40:14

40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life

be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ⁴ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ⁵ 

Psalms 83:16-17

83:16 Cover ⁶  their faces with shame,

so they might seek ⁷  you, ⁸  O Lord.

83:17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified! ⁹ 

May they die in shame! ¹⁰ 

[35:4]  ¹ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies. See also the distinct jussive form in v. 6.

[35:26]  ² tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones who rejoice over my harm.”

[35:26]  ³ tn Heb “may they be clothed with shame and humiliation, the ones who magnify [themselves] against me.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 26 are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-25, where the negative particle אַל (’al) appears before the prefixed verbal forms, indicating they are jussives). The psalmist is calling down judgment on his enemies.

[40:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ⁵ tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse (“may those…be…embarrassed and ashamed…may those…be turned back and ashamed”) are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[83:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “fill.”

[83:16]  ⁷ tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose or result (“then they will seek”).

[83:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “your name,” which stands here for God’s person.

[83:17]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ 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.