Psalms 38:2-8

38:2 For your arrows pierce ¹  me,

and your hand presses me down. ² 

38:3 My whole body is sick because of your judgment; ³ 

I am deprived of health because of my sin. ⁴ 

38:4 For my sins overwhelm me; ⁵ 

like a heavy load, they are too much for me to bear.

38:5 My wounds ⁶  are infected and starting to smell, ⁷ 

because of my foolish sins. ⁸ 

38:6 I am dazed ⁹  and completely humiliated; ¹⁰ 

all day long I walk around mourning.

38:7 For I am overcome with shame ¹¹ 

and my whole body is sick. ¹² 

38:8 I am numb with pain and severely battered; ¹³ 

I groan loudly because of the anxiety I feel. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 39:10-11

39:10 Please stop wounding me! ¹⁵ 

You have almost beaten me to death! ¹⁶ 

39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins; ¹⁷ 

like a moth you slowly devour their strength. ¹⁸ 

Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)

Psalms 39:1

Psalm 39 ¹⁹ 

For the music director, Jeduthun; a psalm of David.

39:1 I decided, ²⁰  “I will watch what I say

and make sure I do not sin with my tongue. ²¹ 

I will put a muzzle over my mouth

while in the presence of an evil man.” ²² 

Psalms 5:6-7

5:6 You destroy ²³  liars; ²⁴ 

the Lord despises ²⁵  violent and deceitful people. ²⁶ 

5:7 But as for me, ²⁷  because of your great faithfulness I will enter your house; ²⁸ 

I will bow down toward your holy temple as I worship you. ²⁹ 

Psalms 5:9

5:9 For ³⁰  they do not speak the truth; ³¹ 

their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ³² 

their throats like an open grave, ³³ 

their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ³⁴ 

Psalms 5:11

5:11 But may all who take shelter ³⁵  in you be happy! ³⁶ 

May they continually ³⁷  shout for joy! ³⁸ 

Shelter them ³⁹  so that those who are loyal to you ⁴⁰  may rejoice! ⁴¹ 

Psalms 6:9

6:9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;

the Lord has accepted ⁴²  my prayer.

Job 16:21

16:21 and ⁴³  he contends with God on behalf of man

as a man ⁴⁴  pleads ⁴⁵  for his friend.

Job 33:7

33:7 Therefore no fear of me should terrify you,

nor should my pressure ⁴⁶  be heavy on you. ⁴⁷ 

[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).

[38:3]  ³ tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh from before your anger.” “Anger” here refers metonymically to divine judgment, which is the practical effect of God’s anger at the psalmist’s sin.

[38:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “there is no health in my bones from before my sin.”

[38:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “pass over my head.”

[38:5]  ⁶ sn The reference to wounds may be an extension of the metaphorical language of v. 2. The psalmist pictures himself as one whose flesh is ripped and torn by arrows.

[38:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “my wounds stink, they are festering” (cf. NEB).

[38:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “from before my foolishness.”

[38:6]  ⁹ tn The verb’s precise shade of meaning in this context is not entirely clear. The verb, which literally means “to bend,” may refer to the psalmist’s posture. In Isa 21:3 it seems to mean “be confused, dazed.”

[38:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “I am bowed down to excess.”

[38:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for my loins are filled with shame.” The “loins” are viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s emotions. The present translation assumes that נִקְלֶה (niqleh) is derived from קָלָה (qalah, “be dishonored”). Some derive it instead from a homonymic root קָלָה (qalah), meaning “to roast.” In this case one might translate “fever” (cf. NEB “my loins burn with fever”).

[38:7]  ¹² tn Heb “there is no soundness in my flesh” (see v. 3).

[38:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “I am numb and crushed to excess.”

[38:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I roar because of the moaning of my heart.”

[39:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “remove from upon me your wound.”

[39:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “from the hostility of your hand I have come to an end.”

[39:11]  ¹⁷ tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”

[39:11]  ¹⁸ tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew mss.

[39:1]  ¹⁹ sn Psalm 39. The psalmist laments his frailty and mortality as he begs the Lord to take pity on him and remove his disciplinary hand.

[39:1]  ²⁰ tn Heb “I said.”

[39:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “I will watch my ways, from sinning with my tongue.”

[39:1]  ²² sn The psalmist wanted to voice a lament to the Lord (see vv. 4-6), but he hesitated to do so in the presence of evil men, for such words might be sinful if they gave the wicked an occasion to insult God. See C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs, Psalms (ICC), 1:345.

[5:6]  ²³ tn The imperfect verbal form indicates God’s typical response to such individuals. Another option is to translate the verb as future (“You will destroy”); the psalmist may be envisioning a time of judgment when God will remove the wicked from the scene.

[5:6]  ²⁴ tn Heb “those who speak a lie.” In the OT a “lie” does not refer in a general philosophical sense to any statement that fails to correspond to reality. Instead it refers more specifically to a slanderous and/or deceitful statement that promotes one’s own selfish, sinful interests and/or exploits or harms those who are innocent. Note the emphasis on violence and deceit in the following line.

[5:6]  ²⁵ tn The imperfect verbal form highlights the Lord’s characteristic attitude toward such individuals.

[5:6]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a man of bloodshed and deceit.” The singular אִישׁ (’ish, “man”) is used here in a collective or representative sense; thus the translation “people” is appropriate here. Note the plural forms in vv. 5-6a.

[5:7]  ²⁷ sn But as for me. By placing the first person pronoun at the beginning of the verse, the psalmist highlights the contrast between the evildoers’ actions and destiny, outlined in the preceding verses, with his own.

[5:7]  ²⁸ sn I will enter your house. The psalmist is confident that God will accept him into his presence, in contrast to the evildoers (see v. 5).

[5:7]  ²⁹ tn Heb “in fear [of] you.” The Hebrew noun יִרְאָה (yir’ah, “fear”), when used of fearing God, is sometimes used metonymically for what it ideally produces: “worship, reverence, piety.”

[5:9]  ³⁰ tn Or “certainly.”

[5:9]  ³¹ tn Heb “for there is not in his mouth truthfulness.” The singular pronoun (“his”) probably refers back to the “man of bloodshed and deceit” mentioned in v. 6. The singular is collective or representative, as the plural in the next line indicates, and so has been translated “they.”

[5:9]  ³² tn Heb “their inward part[s] [is] destruction.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse.

[5:9]  ³³ tn Heb “their throat is an open grave.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse. The metaphor is suggested by the physical resemblance of the human throat to a deeply dug grave; both are dark chasms.

[5:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “they make smooth their tongue.” Flattering, deceitful words are in view. See Ps 12:2. The psalmist’s deceitful enemies are compared to the realm of death/Sheol in v. 9b. Sheol was envisioned as a dark region within the earth, the entrance to which was the grave with its steep slopes (cf. Ps 88:4-6). The enemies’ victims are pictured here as slipping down a steep slope (the enemies’ tongues) and falling into an open grave (their throat) that terminates in destruction in the inner recesses of Sheol (their stomach). The enemies’ קרב (“inward part”) refers here to their thoughts and motives, which are destructive in their intent. The throat is where these destructive thoughts are transformed into words, and their tongue is what they use to speak the deceitful words that lead their innocent victims to their demise.

[5:11]  ³⁵ sn Take shelter. “Taking shelter” in the Lord is an idiom for seeking his protection. Seeking his protection presupposes and even demonstrates the subject’s loyalty to the Lord. In the psalms those who “take shelter” in the Lord are contrasted with the wicked and equated with those who love, fear and serve the Lord (Pss 5:11-12; 31:17-20; 34:21-22).

[5:11]  ³⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer. The psalmist calls on God to reward his faithful followers.

[5:11]  ³⁷ tn Or perhaps more hyperbolically, “forever.”

[5:11]  ³⁸ tn As in the preceding line, the prefixed verbal form is a jussive of wish or prayer.

[5:11]  ³⁹ tn Heb “put a cover over them.” The verb form is a Hiphil imperfect from סָכַךְ (sakhakh, “cover, shut off”). The imperfect expresses the psalmist’s wish or request.

[5:11]  ⁴⁰ tn Heb “the lovers of your name.” The phrase refers to those who are loyal to the Lord. See Pss 69:36; 119:132; Isa 56:6.

[5:11]  ⁴¹ tn The vav (ו) with prefixed verbal form following the volitional “shelter them” indicates purpose or result (“so that those…may rejoice).

[6:9]  ⁴² tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a preterite here; it is parallel to a perfect and refers to the fact that the Lord has responded favorably to the psalmist’s request.

[16:21]  ⁴³ tn E. Dhorme (Job, 240) alters this slightly to read “Would that” or “Ah! if only.”

[16:21]  ⁴⁴ tn This is the simple translation of the expression “son of man” in Job. But some commentators wish to change the word בֵּן (ben, “son”) to בֵּין (ben, “between”). It would then be “[as] between a man and [for] his friend.” Even though a few mss have this reading, it is to be rejected. But see J. Barr, “Some Notes on ‘ben’ in Classical Hebrew,” JSS 23 (1978): 1-22.

[16:21]  ⁴⁵ tn The verb is supplied from the parallel clause.

[33:7]  ⁴⁶ tc The noun means “my pressure; my burden” in the light of the verb אָכֲף (’akhaf, “to press on; to grip tightly”). In the parallel passages the text used “hand” and “rod” in the hand to terrify. The LXX has “hand” here for this word. But simply changing it to “hand” is ruled out because the verb is masculine.

[33:7]  ⁴⁷ tn See Job 9:34 and 13:21.