Psalms 36:9-12

36:9 For you are the one who gives

and sustains life. ¹ 

36:10 Extend ²  your loyal love to your faithful followers, ³ 

and vindicate ⁴  the morally upright! ⁵ 

36:11 Do not let arrogant men overtake me,

or let evil men make me homeless! ⁶ 

36:12 I can see the evildoers! They have fallen! ⁷ 

They have been knocked down and are unable to get up! ⁸ 

[36:9]  ¹ tn Heb “for with you is the fountain of life, in your light we see light.” Water (note “fountain”) and light are here metaphors for life.

[36:10]  ² tn Heb “draw out to full length.”

[36:10]  ³ tn Heb “to those who know you.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yada’, “know”) is used here of those who “know” the Lord in the sense that they recognize his royal authority and obey his will (see Jer 22:16).

[36:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “and your justice to.” The verb “extend” is understood by ellipsis in the second line (see the previous line).

[36:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “the pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 11:2; 32:11; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).

[36:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “let not a foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of the evil ones cause me to wander as a fugitive.”

[36:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “there the workers of wickedness have fallen.” The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here for dramatic effect, as the psalmist envisions the evildoers lying fallen at a spot that is vivid in his imagination (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[36:12]  ⁸ tn The psalmist uses perfect verbal forms in v. 12 to describe the demise of the wicked as if it has already taken place.