Psalms 4:4

4:4 Tremble with fear and do not sin! ¹ 

Meditate as you lie in bed, and repent of your ways! ²  (Selah)

Psalms 12:4

12:4 They say, ³  “We speak persuasively; ⁴ 

we know how to flatter and boast. ⁵ 

Who is our master?” ⁶ 

Psalms 64:5

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ⁷ 

They plan how to hide ⁸  snares,

and boast, ⁹  “Who will see them?” ¹⁰ 

Psalms 66:3

66:3 Say to God:

“How awesome are your deeds!

Because of your great power your enemies cower in fear ¹¹  before you.

Psalms 74:8

74:8 They say to themselves, ¹² 

“We will oppress all of them.” ¹³ 

They burn down all the places where people worship God in the land. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 83:4

83:4 They say, “Come on, let’s annihilate them so they are no longer a nation! ¹⁵ 

Then the name of Israel will be remembered no more.”

Psalms 96:10

96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

The world is established, it cannot be moved.

He judges the nations fairly.”

Psalms 129:8

129:8 Those who pass by will not say, ¹⁶ 

“May you experience the Lord’s blessing!

We pronounce a blessing on you in the name of the Lord.”

[4:4]  ¹ sn The psalmist warns his enemies that they need to tremble with fear before God and repudiate their sinful ways.

[4:4]  ² tn Heb “say in your heart(s) on your bed(s) and wail/lament.” The verb דֹמּוּ (dommu) is understood as a form of דָמָם (“wail, lament”) in sorrow and repentance. Another option is to take the verb from II דָמָם (damam, “be quiet”); cf. NIV, NRSV “be silent.”

[12:4]  ³ tn Heb “which say.” The plural verb after the relative pronoun indicates a plural antecedent for the pronoun, probably “lips” in v. 3.

[12:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “to our tongue we make strong.” The Hiphil of גָבַר (gavar) occurs only here and in Dan 9:27, where it refers to making strong, or confirming, a covenant. Here in Ps 12 the evildoers “make their tongue strong” in the sense that they use their tongue to produce flattering and arrogant words to accomplish their purposes. The preposition -לְ (l) prefixed to “our tongue” may be dittographic.

[12:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “our lips [are] with us.” This odd expression probably means, “our lips are in our power,” in the sense that they say what they want, whether it be flattery or boasting. For other cases where אֵת (’et, “with”) has the sense “in the power of,” see Ps 38:10 and other texts listed by BDB 86 s.v. 3.a.

[12:4]  ⁶ sn The rhetorical question expresses the arrogant attitude of these people. As far as they are concerned, they are answerable to no one for how they speak.

[64:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5]  ⁸ tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

[66:3]  ⁷ tn See Deut 33:29; Ps 81:15 for other uses of the verb כָּחַשׁ (kakhash) in the sense “cower in fear.” In Ps 18:44 the verb seems to carry the nuance “be weak, powerless” (see also Ps 109:24).

[74:8]  ⁹ tn Heb “in their heart.”

[74:8]  ¹⁰ tc Heb “[?] altogether.” The Hebrew form נִינָם (ninam) is problematic. It could be understood as the noun נִין (nin, “offspring”) but the statement “their offspring altogether” would make no sense here. C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:159) emends יָחַד (yakhad, “altogether”) to יָחִיד (yakhid, “alone”) and translate “let their offspring be solitary” (i.e., exiled). Another option is to understand the form as a Qal imperfect first common plural from יָנָה (yanah, “to oppress”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix, “we will oppress them.” However, this verb, when used in the finite form, always appears in the Hiphil. Therefore, it is preferable to emend the form to the Hiphil נוֹנֵם (nonem, “we will oppress them”).

[74:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “they burn down all the meeting places of God in the land.”

[83:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “we will cause them to disappear from [being] a nation.”

[129:8]  ¹³ tn The perfect verbal form is used for rhetorical effect; it describes an anticipated development as if it were already reality.