Psalms 38:16

38:16 I have prayed for deliverance, because otherwise they will gloat over me; ¹ 

when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me. ² 

Psalms 66:6

66:6 He turned the sea into dry land; ³ 

they passed through the river on foot. ⁴ 

Let us rejoice in him there! ⁵ 

Psalms 91:12

91:12 They will lift you up in their hands,

so you will not slip and fall on a stone. ⁶ 

Psalms 121:3

121:3 May he not allow your foot to slip!

May your protector ⁷  not sleep! ⁸ 

Psalms 36:11

36:11 Do not let arrogant men overtake me,

or let evil men make me homeless! ⁹ 

[38:16]  ¹ tn Heb “For I said, ‘Lest they rejoice over me.’” The psalmist recalls the motivating argument of his petition. He probably prefaced this statement with a prayer for deliverance (see Pss 7:1-2; 13:3-4; 28:1).

[38:16]  ² tn Heb “they will magnify against me.” See Pss 35:26; 55:13.

[66:6]  ³ sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).

[66:6]  ⁴ tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. NEB).

[66:6]  ⁵ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[91:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “so your foot will not strike a stone.”

[121:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “the one who guards you.”

[121:3]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אל appear to be jussives. As noted above, if they are taken as true jussives of prayer, then the speaker in v. 3 would appear to be distinct from both the speaker in vv. 1-2 and the speaker in vv. 4-8. However, according to GKC 322 §109.e), the jussives are used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one should probably translate, “he will not allow your foot to slip, your protector will not sleep,” and understand just one speaker in vv. 4-8.

[36:11]  ⁹ 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.”