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 9:10

9:10 Your loyal followers trust in you, ⁵ 

for you, Lord, do not abandon those who seek your help. ⁶ 

Psalms 25:2

25:2 My God, I trust in you.

Please do not let me be humiliated;

do not let my enemies triumphantly rejoice over me!

Psalms 31:1

Psalm 31 ⁷ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

31:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!

Never let me be humiliated!

Vindicate me by rescuing me! ⁸ 

Psalms 40:16

40:16 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!

May those who love to experience ⁹  your deliverance say continually, ¹⁰ 

“May the Lord be praised!” ¹¹ 

Psalms 50:7

50:7 He says: ¹² 

“Listen my people! I am speaking!

Listen Israel! I am accusing you! ¹³ 

I am God, your God!

Psalms 70:4

70:4 May all those who seek you be happy and rejoice in you!

May those who love to experience ¹⁴  your deliverance say continually, ¹⁵ 

“May God ¹⁶  be praised!” ¹⁷ 

Psalms 71:6

71:6 I have leaned on you since birth; ¹⁸ 

you pulled me ¹⁹  from my mother’s womb.

I praise you continually. ²⁰ 

Psalms 81:8-9

81:8 I said, ²¹  ‘Listen, my people!

I will warn ²²  you!

O Israel, if only you would obey me! ²³ 

81:9 There must be ²⁴  no other ²⁵  god among you.

You must not worship a foreign god.

[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).

[9:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “and the ones who know your name trust in you.” The construction vav (ו) conjunctive + imperfect at the beginning of the verse expresses another consequence of the statement made in v. 8. “To know” the Lord’s “name” means to be his follower, recognizing his authority and maintaining loyalty to him. See Ps 91:14, where “knowing” the Lord’s “name” is associated with loving him.

[9:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “the ones who seek you.”

[31:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 31. The psalmist confidently asks the Lord to protect him. Enemies threaten him and even his friends have abandoned him, but he looks to the Lord for vindication. In vv. 19-24, which were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18, the psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him.

[31:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me.”

[40:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “those who love,” which stands metonymically for its cause, the experience of being delivered by the Lord.

[40:16]  ¹⁴ tn The three prefixed verbal forms prior to the quotation are understood as jussives. The psalmist balances out his imprecation against his enemies with a prayer of blessing upon the godly.

[40:16]  ¹⁵ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great” (cf. NRSV). See Ps 35:27.

[50:7]  ¹⁷ tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation for clarification. God’s charges against his people follow.

[50:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “Israel, and I will testify against you.” The imperative “listen” is understood in the second line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[70:4]  ²¹ tn Heb “those who love,” which stands metonymically for its cause, the experience of being delivered by God.

[70:4]  ²² tn The three prefixed verbal forms prior to the quotation are understood as jussives. The psalmist balances out his imprecation against his enemies with a prayer of blessing on the godly.

[70:4]  ²³ tn Ps 40:16 uses the divine name “Lord” here instead of “God.”

[70:4]  ²⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the Lord be magnified [in praise].” Another option is to take the verb as an imperfect, “the Lord is great.” See Ps 35:27.

[71:6]  ²⁵ tn Heb “from the womb.”

[71:6]  ²⁶ tc The form in the MT is derived from גָזָה (gazah, “to cut off”), perhaps picturing God as the one who severed the psalmist’s umbilical cord. Many interpreters and translators prefer to emend the text to גֹחִי (gokhiy), from גוּח (gukh) or גִיח, (gikh, “pull out”; see Ps 22:9; cf. the present translation) or to עוּזִּי (’uzziy, “my strength”; cf. NEB “my protector since I left my mother’s womb”).

[71:6]  ²⁷ tn Heb “in you [is] my praise continually.”

[81:8]  ²⁹ tn The words “I said” are supplied in the translation for clarification. Verses 8-10 appear to recall what the Lord commanded the generation of Israelites that experienced the events described in v. 7. Note the statement in v. 11, “my people did not listen to me.”

[81:8]  ³⁰ tn Or perhaps “command.”

[81:8]  ³¹ tn The Hebrew particle אִם (“if”) and following prefixed verbal form here express a wish (GKC 321 §109.b). Note that the apodosis (the “then” clause of the conditional sentence) is suppressed.

[81:9]  ³³ tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 9 have a modal function, expressing what is obligatory.

[81:9]  ³⁴ tn Heb “different”; “illicit.”