Psalms 37:20

37:20 But ¹  evil men will die;

the Lord’s enemies will be incinerated ²  –

they will go up in smoke. ³ 

Psalms 72:20

72:20 This collection of the prayers of David son of Jesse ends here. ⁴ 

Psalms 119:82

119:82 My eyes grow tired as I wait for your promise to be fulfilled. ⁵ 

I say, ⁶  “When will you comfort me?”

Psalms 119:123

119:123 My eyes grow tired as I wait for your deliverance, ⁷ 

for your reliable promise to be fulfilled. ⁸ 

Psalms 29:9

29:9 The Lord’s shout bends ⁹  the large trees ¹⁰ 

and strips ¹¹  the leaves from the forests. ¹² 

Everyone in his temple says, “Majestic!” ¹³ 

Psalms 31:10

31:10 For my life nears its end in pain;

my years draw to a close as I groan. ¹⁴ 

My strength fails me because of ¹⁵  my sin,

and my bones become brittle. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 53:3

53:3 Everyone rejects God; ¹⁷ 

they are all morally corrupt. ¹⁸ 

None of them does what is right, ¹⁹ 

not even one!

Psalms 69:3

69:3 I am exhausted from shouting for help;

my throat is sore; ²⁰ 

my eyes grow tired of looking for my God. ²¹ 

Psalms 102:3

102:3 For my days go up in smoke, ²² 

and my bones are charred like a fireplace. ²³ 

[37:20]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ 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.

[72:20]  ⁴ tn Heb “the prayers of David, son of Jesse, are concluded.” As noted earlier, v. 20 appears to be a remnant of an earlier collection of psalms or an earlier edition of the Psalter. In the present arrangement of the Book of Psalms, not all psalms prior to this are attributed to David (see Pss 1-2, 10, 33, 42-50, 66-67, 71-72) and several psalms attributed to David appear after this (see Pss 86, 101, 103, 108-110, 122, 124, 131, 138-145).

[119:82]  ⁷ tn Heb “my eyes fail for your word.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See Ps 69:3.

[119:82]  ⁸ tn Heb “saying.”

[119:123]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my eyes fail for your deliverance.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision. See the similar phrase in v. 82.

[119:123]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and for the word of your faithfulness.”

[29:9]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form is descriptive in function; the psalmist depicts the action as underway.

[29:9]  ¹⁴ tc Heb “the deer.” Preserving this reading, some translate the preceding verb, “causes [the deer] to give premature birth” (cf. NEB, NASB). But the Polel of חוּל/חִיל (khul/khil) means “give birth,” not “cause to give birth,” and the statement “the Lord’s shout gives birth to deer” is absurd. In light of the parallelism (note “forests” in the next line) and v. 5, it is preferable to emend אַיָּלוֹת (’ayyalot, “deer”) to אֵילוֹת (’elot, “large trees”) understanding the latter as an alternate form of the usual plural form אַיָּלִים (’ayyalim).

[29:9]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is used in Joel 1:7 of locusts stripping the leaves from a tree. The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries the descriptive function of the preceding imperfect. See GKC 329 §111.t.

[29:9]  ¹⁶ tn The usual form of the plural of יַעַר (ya’ar, “forest”) is יְעָרִים (yÿ’arim). For this reason some propose an emendation to יְעָלוֹת (yÿ’alot, “female mountain goats”) which would fit nicely in the parallelism with “deer” (cf. NEB “brings kids early to birth”). In this case one would have to understand the verb חָשַׂף (khasaf) to mean “cause premature birth,” an otherwise unattested homonym of the more common חָשַׂף (“strip bare”).

[29:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “In his temple, all of it says, ‘Glory.’”

[31:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and my years in groaning.”

[31:10]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “stumbles in.”

[31:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “grow weak.”

[53:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “all of it turns away.” Ps 14:1 has הָכֹּל (hakkol) instead of כֻּלּוֹ, and סָר (sar, “turn aside”) instead of סָג (sag, “turn away”).

[53:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “together they are corrupt.”

[53:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “there is none that does good.”

[69:3]  ²² tn Or perhaps “raw”; Heb “burned; enflamed.”

[69:3]  ²³ tn Heb “my eyes fail from waiting for my God.” The psalmist has intently kept his eyes open, looking for God to intervene, but now his eyes are watery and bloodshot, impairing his vision.

[102:3]  ²⁵ tn Heb “for my days come to an end in smoke.”

[102:3]  ²⁶ tn The Hebrew noun מוֹ־קֵד (mo-qed, “fireplace”) occurs only here, in Isa 33:14 (where it refers to the fire itself), and perhaps in Lev 6:2.