Psalms 44:21

44:21 would not God discover it,

for he knows ¹  one’s thoughts? ² 

Psalms 49:8

49:8 (the ransom price for a human life ³  is too high,

and people go to their final destiny), ⁴ 

Psalms 54:4

54:4 Look, God is my deliverer! ⁵ 

The Lord is among those who support me. ⁶ 

Psalms 69:33

69:33 For the Lord listens to the needy;

he does not despise his captive people. ⁷ 

Psalms 84:9

84:9 O God, take notice of our shield! ⁸ 

Show concern for your chosen king! ⁹ 

Psalms 136:23

136:23 to the one who remembered us when we were down, ¹⁰ 

for his loyal love endures,

[44:21]  ¹ tn The active participle describes what is characteristically true.

[44:21]  ² tn Heb “would not God search out this, for he knows the hidden things of [the] heart?” The expression “search out” is used metonymically here, referring to discovery, the intended effect of a search. The “heart” (i.e., mind) is here viewed as the seat of one’s thoughts. The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he would!” The point seems to be this: There is no way the Israelites who are the speakers in the psalm would reject God and turn to another god, for the omniscient God would easily discover such a sin.

[49:8]  ³ tn Heb “their life.” Some emend the text to “his life,” understanding the antecedent of the pronoun as “brother” in v. 7. However, the man and brother of v. 7 are representative of the human race in general, perhaps explaining why a plural pronoun appears in v. 8. Of course, the plural pronoun could refer back to “the rich” mentioned in v. 6. Another option (the one assumed in the translation) is that the suffixed mem is enclitic. In this case the “ransom price for human life” is referred to an abstract, general way.

[49:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “and one ceases forever.” The translation assumes an indefinite subject which in turn is representative of the entire human race (“one,” that refers to human beings without exception). The verb חָדַל (khadal, “cease”) is understood in the sense of “come to an end; fail” (i.e., die). Another option is to translate, “and one ceases/refrains forever.” In this case the idea is that the living, convinced of the reality of human mortality, give up all hope of “buying off” God and refrain from trying to do so.

[54:4]  ⁵ tn Or “my helper.”

[54:4]  ⁶ tn Or “sustain my life.”

[69:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “his prisoners he does not despise.”

[84:9]  ⁹ tn The phrase “our shield” refers metaphorically to the Davidic king, who, as God’s vice-regent, was the human protector of the people. Note the parallelism with “your anointed one” here and with “our king” in Ps 89:18.

[84:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “look [on] the face of your anointed one.” The Hebrew phrase מְשִׁיחֶךָ (mÿshikhekha, “your anointed one”) refers here to the Davidic king (see Pss 2:2; 18:50; 20:6; 28:8; 89:38, 51; 132:10, 17).

[136:23]  ¹¹ tn Heb “who, in our low condition, remembered us.”