Psalms 5:10

5:10 Condemn them, ¹  O God!

May their own schemes be their downfall! ² 

Drive them away ³  because of their many acts of insurrection, ⁴ 

for they have rebelled against you.

Psalms 7:6

7:6 Stand up angrily, ⁵  Lord!

Rise up with raging fury against my enemies! ⁶ 

Wake up for my sake and execute the judgment you have decreed for them! ⁷ 

Psalms 25:3

25:3 Certainly none who rely on you will be humiliated.

Those who deal in treachery will be thwarted ⁸  and humiliated.

Psalms 35:26

35:26 May those who want to harm me be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ⁹ 

May those who arrogantly taunt me be covered with shame and humiliation! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 40:14-15

40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life

be totally embarrassed and ashamed! ¹¹ 

May those who want to harm me

be turned back and ashamed! ¹² 

40:15 May those who say to me, “Aha! Aha!”

be humiliated ¹³  and disgraced! ¹⁴ 

Psalms 71:13

71:13 May my accusers be humiliated and defeated!

May those who want to harm me ¹⁵  be covered with scorn and disgrace!

Psalms 83:16-17

83:16 Cover ¹⁶  their faces with shame,

so they might seek ¹⁷  you, ¹⁸  O Lord.

83:17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified! ¹⁹ 

May they die in shame! ²⁰ 

Psalms 86:17

86:17 Show me evidence of your favor! ²¹ 

Then those who hate me will see it and be ashamed, ²² 

for you, O Lord, will help me and comfort me. ²³ 

Psalms 109:28-29

109:28 They curse, but you will bless. ²⁴ 

When they attack, they will be humiliated, ²⁵ 

but your servant will rejoice.

109:29 My accusers will be covered ²⁶  with shame,

and draped in humiliation as if it were a robe.

Psalms 112:10

112:10 When the wicked ²⁷  see this, they will worry;

they will grind their teeth in frustration ²⁸  and melt away;

the desire of the wicked will perish. ²⁹ 

Psalms 132:18

132:18 I will humiliate his enemies, ³⁰ 

and his crown will shine.

Isaiah 26:11

26:11 O Lord, you are ready to act, ³¹ 

but they don’t even notice.

They will see and be put to shame by your angry judgment against humankind, ³² 

yes, fire will consume your enemies. ³³ 

Jeremiah 20:11

20:11 But the Lord is with me to help me like an awe-inspiring warrior. ³⁴ 

Therefore those who persecute me will fail and will not prevail over me.

They will be thoroughly disgraced because they did not succeed.

Their disgrace will never be forgotten.

[5:10]  ¹ tn Heb “declare/regard them as guilty.” Declaring the psalmist’s adversaries guilty is here metonymic for judging them or paying them back for their wrongdoing.

[5:10]  ² tn Heb “may they fall from their plans.” The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation. The psalmist calls judgment down on the evildoers. Their plans will be their downfall in that God will judge them for their evil schemes.

[5:10]  ³ tn Or “banish them.”

[5:10]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew noun used here, פֶּשַׁע (pesha’), refers to rebellious actions. The psalmist pictures his enemies as rebels against God (see the next line).

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “in your anger.”

[7:6]  ⁶ tn Heb “Lift yourself up in the angry outbursts of my enemies.” Many understand the preposition prefixed to עַבְרוֹת (’avrot, “angry outbursts”) as adversative, “against,” and the following genitive “enemies” as subjective. In this case one could translate, “rise up against my furious enemies” (cf. NIV, NRSV). The present translation, however, takes the preposition as indicating manner (cf. “in your anger” in the previous line) and understands the plural form of the noun as indicating an abstract quality (“fury”) or excessive degree (“raging fury”). Cf. Job 21:30.

[7:6]  ⁷ tc Heb “Wake up to me [with the] judgment [which] you have commanded.” The LXX understands אֵלִי (’eliy, “my God”) instead of אֵלַי (’elay, “to me”; the LXX reading is followed by NEB, NIV, NRSV.) If the reading of the MT is retained, the preposition probably has the sense of “on account of, for the sake of.” The noun מִשְׁפָּט (mishpat, “judgment”) is probably an adverbial accusative, modifying the initial imperative, “wake up.” In this case צִוִּיתָ (tsivvita, “[which] you have commanded”) is an asyndetic relative clause. Some take the perfect as precative. In this case one could translate the final line, “Wake up for my sake! Decree judgment!” (cf. NIV). However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.

[25:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “those who deal in treachery in vain.” The adverb רֵיקָם (reqam, “in vain”) probably refers to the failure (or futility) of their efforts. Another option is to understand it as meaning “without cause” (cf. NIV “without excuse”; NRSV “wantonly treacherous”).

[35:26]  ⁹ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones who rejoice over my harm.”

[35:26]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “may they be clothed with shame and humiliation, the ones who magnify [themselves] against me.” The prefixed verbal forms in v. 26 are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-25, where the negative particle אַל (’al) appears before the prefixed verbal forms, indicating they are jussives). The psalmist is calling down judgment on his enemies.

[40:14]  ¹¹ tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”

[40:14]  ¹² tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse (“may those…be…embarrassed and ashamed…may those…be turned back and ashamed”) are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.

[40:15]  ¹³ tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive in this imprecation.

[40:15]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “May they be humiliated according to their shame, those who say to me, ‘Aha! Aha!’”

[71:13]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”

[83:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fill.”

[83:16]  ¹⁷ tn After the preceding imperative, the prefixed verbal form with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose or result (“then they will seek”).

[83:16]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “your name,” which stands here for God’s person.

[83:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and may they be terrified to perpetuity.” The Hebrew expression עֲדֵי־עַד (’adey-’ad, “to perpetuity”) can mean “forevermore” (see Pss 92:7; 132:12, 14), but here it may be used hyperbolically, for the psalmist asks that the experience of judgment might lead the nations to recognize (v. 18) and even to seek (v. 16) God.

[83:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “may they be ashamed and perish.” The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist concludes his prayer with an imprecation, calling severe judgment down on his enemies. The strong language of the imprecation seems to run contrary to the positive outcome of divine judgment envisioned in v. 16b. Perhaps the language of v. 17 is overstated for effect. Another option is that v. 16b expresses an ideal, while the strong imprecation of vv. 17-18 anticipates reality. It would be nice if the defeated nations actually pursued a relationship with God, but if judgment does not bring them to that point, the psalmist asks that they be annihilated so that they might at least be forced to acknowledge God’s power.

[86:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “Work with me a sign for good.” The expression “work a sign” also occurs in Judg 6:17.

[86:17]  ²² tn After the imperative in the preceding line (“work”), the prefixed verb forms with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose or result.

[86:17]  ²³ tn The perfect verbal forms are understood here as dramatic/rhetorical, expressing the psalmist’s certitude that such a sign from the Lord will be followed by his intervention. Another option is to understand the forms as future perfects (“for you, O Lord, will have helped me and comforted me”).

[109:28]  ²⁴ tn Another option is to translate the imperfect as a prayer/request (“may you bless”).

[109:28]  ²⁵ tn The verbal sequence is perfect + prefixed form with vav (ו) consecutive. Since the psalmist seems to be anticipating the demise of his enemies, he may be using these forms rhetorically to describe the enemies’ defeat as if it were already accomplished. Some emend the text to קָמוּ יֵבֹשׁוּ (qamu yevoshu, “may those who attack me be humiliated”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 75.

[109:29]  ²⁶ tn Heb “clothed.” Another option is to translate the prefixed verbal forms in this line and the next as jussives (“may my accusers be covered with shame”).

[112:10]  ²⁷ tn The Hebrew text uses the singular; the representative wicked individual is in view as typifying the group (note the use of the plural form in v. 10).

[112:10]  ²⁸ tn Heb “his teeth he will gnash.” In Pss 35:16 and 37:12 this action is associated with a vicious attack.

[112:10]  ²⁹ tn This could mean that the desires of the wicked will go unfulfilled. Another possibility is that “desire” refers by metonymy to the object desired and acquired. In this case the point is that the wicked will lose what they desired so badly and acquired by evil means (see Ps 10:3).

[132:18]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his enemies I will clothe [with] shame.”

[26:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “O Lord, your hand is lifted up.”

[26:11]  ³² tn Heb “They will see and be ashamed of zeal of people.” Some take the prefixed verbs as jussives and translate the statement as a prayer, “Let them see and be put to shame.” The meaning of the phrase קִנְאַת־עָם (qin’at-’am, “zeal of people”) is unclear. The translation assumes that this refers to God’s angry judgment upon people. Another option is to understand the phrase as referring to God’s zealous, protective love of his covenant people. In this case one might translate, “by your zealous devotion to your people.”

[26:11]  ³³ tn Heb “yes, fire, your enemies, will consume them.” Many understand the prefixed verb form to be jussive and translate, “let [fire] consume” (cf. NAB, NIV, NRSV). The mem suffixed to the verb may be enclitic; if a pronominal suffix, it refers back to “your enemies.”

[20:11]  ³⁴ sn This line has some interesting ties with Jer 15:20-21 where Jeremiah is assured by God that he is indeed with him as he promised him when he called him (1:8, 19) and will deliver him from the clutches of wicked and violent people. The word translated here “awe-inspiring” is the same as the word “violent people” there. Jeremiah is confident that his “awe-inspiring” warrior will overcome “violent people.” The statement of confidence here is, by the way, a common element in the psalms of petition in the Psalter. The common elements of that type of psalm are all here: invocation (v. 7), lament (vv. 7-10), confession of trust/confidence in being heard (v. 11), petition (v. 12), thanksgiving or praise (v. 13). For some examples of this type of psalm see Pss 3, 7, 26.