Psalms 38:2

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹  me,

and your hand presses me down. ² 

Psalms 46:8

46:8 Come! Witness the exploits ³  of the Lord,

who brings devastation to the earth! ⁴ 

Psalms 71:21

71:21 Raise me to a position of great honor! ⁵ 

Turn and comfort me! ⁶ 

Psalms 78:48

78:48 He rained hail down on their cattle, ⁷ 

and hurled lightning bolts down on their livestock. ⁸ 

Psalms 83:10

83:10 They were destroyed at Endor; ⁹ 

their corpses were like manure ¹⁰  on the ground.

Psalms 97:3

97:3 Fire goes before him;

on every side ¹¹  it burns up his enemies.

Psalms 102:14

102:14 Indeed, ¹²  your servants take delight in her stones,

and feel compassion for ¹³  the dust of her ruins. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 105:14

105:14 He let no one oppress them;

he disciplined kings for their sake,

Psalms 105:16

105:16 He called down a famine upon the earth;

he cut off all the food supply. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 115:13

115:13 He will bless his loyal followers, ¹⁶ 

both young and old. ¹⁷ 

Psalms 119:6

119:6 Then I would not be ashamed,

if ¹⁸  I were focused on ¹⁹  all your commands.

Psalms 119:143

119:143 Distress and hardship confront ²⁰  me,

yet I find delight in your commands.

Psalms 129:3

129:3 The plowers plowed my back;

they made their furrows long.

Psalms 132:18

132:18 I will humiliate his enemies, ²¹ 

and his crown will shine.

[38:2]  ¹ tn The verb Hebrew נָחַת (nakhat) apparently here means “penetrate, pierce” (note the use of the Qal in Prov 17:10). The psalmist pictures the Lord as a warrior who shoots arrows at him (see Ps 7:12-13).

[38:2]  ² tn Heb “and your hand [?] upon me.” The meaning of the verb נָחַת (nakhat) is unclear in this context. It is preferable to emend the form to וַתָּנַח (vattanakh) from the verb נוּחַ (nuakh, “rest”). In this case the text would read literally, “and your hand rests upon me” (see Isa 25:10, though the phrase is used in a positive sense there, unlike Ps 38:2).

[46:8]  ³ sn In this context the Lord’s exploits are military in nature (see vv. 8b-9).

[46:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “who sets desolations in the earth” (see Isa 13:9). The active participle describes God’s characteristic activity as a warrior.

[71:21]  ⁵ tn Heb “increase my greatness.” The prefixed verbal form is distinctly jussive, indicating this is a prayer or wish. The psalmist’s request for “greatness” (or “honor”) is not a boastful, self-serving prayer for prominence, but, rather, a request that God would vindicate by elevating him over those who are trying to humiliate him.

[71:21]  ⁶ tn The imperfects are understood here as expressing the psalmist’s prayer or wish. (Note the use of a distinctly jussive form at the beginning of v. 21.)

[78:48]  ⁷ tn Heb “and he turned over to the hail their cattle.”

[78:48]  ⁸ tn Heb “and their livestock to the flames.” “Flames” here refer to the lightning bolts that accompanied the storm.

[83:10]  ⁹ sn Endor is not mentioned in the accounts of Gideon’s or Barak’s victories, but both battles took place in the general vicinity of the town. (See Y. Aharoni and M. Avi-Yonah, The Macmillan Bible Atlas, 46, 54.) Because Sisera and Jabin are mentioned in v. 9b, many understand them to be the subject of the verbs in v. 10, though they relate v. 10 to Gideon’s victory, which is referred to in v. 9a, 11. (See, for example, Y. Aharoni, The Land of the Bible, 263.)

[83:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “they were manure.” In addition to this passage, corpses are compared to manure in 2 Kgs 9:37; Jer 8:2; 9:21; 16:4; 25:33.

[97:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “all around.”

[102:14]  ¹³ tn Or “for.”

[102:14]  ¹⁴ tn The Poel of חָנַן (khanan) occurs only here and in Prov 14:21, where it refers to having compassion on the poor.

[102:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “her dust,” probably referring to the dust of the city’s rubble.

[105:16]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “and every staff of food he broke.” The psalmist refers to the famine that occurred in Joseph’s time (see v. 17 and Gen 41:53-57).

[115:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the fearers of the Lord.”

[115:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “the small along with the great.” The translation assumes that “small” and “great” here refer to age (see 2 Chr 15:13). Another option is to translate “both the insignificant and the prominent” (see Job 3:19; cf. NEB “high and low alike”).

[119:6]  ¹⁹ tn Or “when.”

[119:6]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I gaze at.”

[119:143]  ²¹ tn Heb “find.”

[132:18]  ²³ tn Heb “his enemies I will clothe [with] shame.”