Psalms 39:3

39:3 my anxiety intensified. ¹ 

As I thought about it, I became impatient. ² 

Finally I spoke these words: ³ 

Psalms 74:7

74:7 They set your sanctuary on fire;

they desecrate your dwelling place by knocking it to the ground. ⁴ 

Psalms 140:10

140:10 May he rain down ⁵  fiery coals upon them!

May he throw them into the fire!

From bottomless pits they will not escape. ⁶ 

[39:3]  ¹ tn Heb “my heart was hot within me.”

[39:3]  ² tn Heb “In my reflection fire burned.” The prefixed verbal form is either a preterite (past tense) or an imperfect being used in a past progressive or customary sense (“fire was burning”).

[39:3]  ³ tn Heb “I spoke with my tongue.” The phrase “these words” is supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

[74:7]  ⁴ tn Heb “to the ground they desecrate the dwelling place of your name.”

[140:10]  ⁷ tn The verb form in the Kethib (consonantal Hebrew text) appears to be a Hiphil imperfect from the root מוּט (mut, “to sway”), but the Hiphil occurs only here and in Ps 55:3, where it is preferable to read יַמְטִירוּ (yamtiru, “they rain down”). In Ps 140:10 the form יַמְטֵר (yamter, “let him rain down”) should probably be read.

[140:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “into bottomless pits, they will not arise.” The translation assumes that the preposition -בְּ (bet) has the nuance “from” here. Another option is to connect the line with what precedes, take the final clause as an asyndetic relative clause, and translate, “into bottomless pits [from which] they cannot arise.” The Hebrew noun מַהֲמֹרָה (mahamorah, “bottomless pit”) occurs only here in the OT.