Psalms 5:4

5:4 Certainly ¹  you are not a God who approves of evil; ² 

evil people ³  cannot dwell with you. ⁴ 

Psalms 7:9

7:9 May the evil deeds of the wicked ⁵  come to an end! ⁶ 

But make the innocent ⁷  secure, ⁸ 

O righteous God,

you who examine ⁹  inner thoughts and motives! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 41:5

41:5 My enemies ask this cruel question about me, ¹¹ 

‘When will he finally die and be forgotten?’ ¹² 

Psalms 64:5

64:5 They encourage one another to carry out their evil deed. ¹³ 

They plan how to hide ¹⁴  snares,

and boast, ¹⁵  “Who will see them?” ¹⁶ 

Psalms 97:10

97:10 You who love the Lord, hate evil!

He protects ¹⁷  the lives of his faithful followers;

he delivers them from the power ¹⁸  of the wicked.

Psalms 109:20

109:20 May the Lord repay my accusers in this way, ¹⁹ 

those who say evil things about ²⁰  me! ²¹ 

Psalms 140:1

Psalm 140 ²² 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

140:1 O Lord, rescue me from wicked men! ²³ 

Protect me from violent men, ²⁴ 

Psalms 140:11

140:11 A slanderer ²⁵  will not endure on ²⁶  the earth;

calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down. ²⁷ 

[5:4]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[5:4]  ² tn Heb “not a God [who] delights [in] wickedness [are] you.”

[5:4]  ³ tn The Hebrew text has simply the singular form רע, which may be taken as an abstract noun “evil” (the reference to “wickedness” in the preceding line favors this; cf. NEB, NASB, NRSV) or as a substantival adjective “evil one” (the references to evil people in the next two verses favor this; cf. NIV “with you the wicked cannot dwell”).

[5:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “cannot dwell as a resident alien [with] you.” The negated imperfect verbal form here indicates incapability or lack of permission. These people are morally incapable of dwelling in God’s presence and are not permitted to do so.

[7:9]  ⁵ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.

[7:9]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation here.

[7:9]  ⁷ tn Or “the godly” (see Ps 5:12). The singular form is collective (see the plural “upright in heart” in v. 10), though it may reflect the personal focus of the psalmist in this context.

[7:9]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form expresses the psalmist’s prayer or wish.

[7:9]  ⁹ tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.

[7:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and [the one who] tests hearts and kidneys, just God.” The translation inverts the word order to improve the English style. The heart and kidneys were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.

[41:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “my enemies speak evil concerning me.”

[41:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and his name perish.”

[64:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

[64:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

[64:5]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “they say.”

[64:5]  ¹⁶ 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).

[97:10]  ¹⁷ tn The participle may be verbal, though it might also be understood as substantival and appositional to “the Lord.” In this case one could translate, “Hate evil, you who love the Lord, the one who protects the lives…and delivers them.”

[97:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “hand.”

[109:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “[may] this [be] the repayment to my accusers from the Lord.”

[109:20]  ²² tn Or “against.”

[109:20]  ²³ tn The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being; soul”) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[140:1]  ²⁵ sn Psalm 140. The psalmist asks God to deliver him from his deadly enemies, calls judgment down upon them, and affirms his confidence in God’s justice.

[140:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “from a wicked man.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).

[140:1]  ²⁷ tn Heb “a man of violent acts.” The Hebrew uses the singular in a representative or collective sense (note the plural verbs in v. 2).

[140:11]  ²⁹ tn Heb “a man of a tongue.”

[140:11]  ³⁰ tn Heb “be established in.”

[140:11]  ³¹ tn Heb “for blows.” The Hebrew noun מַדְחֵפֹה (madkhefoh, “blow”) occurs only here in the OT.