Psalms 5:8

5:8 Lord, lead me in your righteousness ¹ 

because of those who wait to ambush me, ² 

remove the obstacles in the way in which you are guiding me! ³ 

Psalms 54:5

54:5 May those who wait to ambush me ⁴  be repaid for their evil! ⁵ 

As a demonstration of your faithfulness, ⁶  destroy them!

Psalms 56:5-6

56:5 All day long they cause me trouble; ⁷ 

they make a habit of plotting my demise. ⁸ 

56:6 They stalk ⁹  and lurk; ¹⁰ 

they watch my every step, ¹¹ 

as ¹²  they prepare to take my life. ¹³ 

Psalms 64:6

64:6 They devise ¹⁴  unjust schemes;

they disguise ¹⁵  a well-conceived plot. ¹⁶ 

Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered. ¹⁷ 

Jeremiah 20:10

20:10 I ¹⁸  hear many whispering words of intrigue against me.

Those who would cause me terror are everywhere! ¹⁹ 

They are saying, “Come on, let’s publicly denounce him!” ²⁰ 

All my so-called friends ²¹  are just watching for

something that would lead to my downfall. ²² 

They say, “Perhaps he can be enticed into slipping up,

so we can prevail over ²³  him and get our revenge on him.

Daniel 6:4-5

6:4 Consequently the supervisors and satraps were trying to find ²⁴  some pretext against Daniel in connection with administrative matters. ²⁵  But they were unable to find any such damaging evidence, ²⁶  because he was trustworthy and guilty of no negligence or corruption. ²⁷  6:5 So these men concluded, ²⁸  “We won’t find any pretext against this man Daniel unless it is ²⁹  in connection with the law of his God.”

Luke 20:20

Paying Taxes to Caesar

20:20 Then ³⁰  they watched him carefully and sent spies who pretended to be sincere. ³¹  They wanted to take advantage of what he might say ³²  so that they could deliver him up to the authority and jurisdiction ³³  of the governor.

[5:8]  ¹ tn God’s providential leading is in view. His צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) includes here the deliverance that originates in his righteousness; he protects and vindicates the one whose cause is just. For other examples of this use of the word, see BDB 842 s.v.

[5:8]  ² tn Heb “because of those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 27:11; 56:2.

[5:8]  ³ tn Heb “make level before me your way.” The imperative “make level” is Hiphil in the Kethib (consonantal text); Piel in the Qere (marginal reading). God’s “way” is here the way in which he leads the psalmist providentially (see the preceding line, where the psalmist asks the Lord to lead him).

[54:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 56:2.

[54:5]  ⁵ tn The Kethib (consonantal text) reads a Qal imperfect, “the evil will return,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has a Hiphil imperfect, “he will repay.” The parallel line has an imperative (indicating a prayer/request), so it is best to read a jussive form יָשֹׁב (yashov, “let it [the evil] return”) here.

[54:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”

[56:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “my affairs they disturb.” For other instances of דָּבָר (davar) meaning “affairs, business,” see BDB 183 s.v.. The Piel of עָצַב (’atsav, “to hurt”) occurs only here and in Isa 63:10, where it is used of “grieving” (or “offending”) the Lord’s holy Spirit. Here in Ps 56:5, the verb seems to carry the nuance “disturb, upset,” in the sense of “cause trouble.”

[56:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “against me [are] all their thoughts for harm.”

[56:6]  ⁹ tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.

[56:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “hide.”

[56:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my heels.”

[56:6]  ¹² tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”

[56:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”

[64:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”

[64:6]  ¹⁵ tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).

[64:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.

[64:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.

[20:10]  ¹⁸ tn It would be difficult to render accurately the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) that introduces this verse without lengthening the English line unduly. It probably means something like “This is true even though I…,” i.e., the particle is concessive (cf. BDB s.v. כִּי 2.c). No other nuance seems appropriate. The particle is left out of the translation, but its presence is acknowledged here.

[20:10]  ¹⁹ tn The phrase translated “Those who would cause me terror are everywhere” has already occurred in 6:25 in the context of the terror caused by the enemy from the north and in 20:3 in reference to the curse pronounced on Pashhur who would experience it first hand. Some have seen the phrase here not as Jeremiah’s ejaculation of terror but of his assailant’s taunts of his message or even their taunting nickname for him. But comparison of this passage with the first two lines of Ps 31:13 (31:14 HT) which are word for word the same as these two will show that it refers to the terror inspired by the plots of his enemies to do away with him. It is also clear from the context of that passage and the following context here that the “whispering of many” (the literal translation of “many whispering words of intrigue against me) refers to intrigues to take vengeance on him and do away with him.

[20:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “Denounce and let us denounce him.” The verb which is translated “denounce” (נָגַד, nagad) does not take an accusative object of person as it does here very often. When it does it usually means to inform someone. The only relevant passage appears to be Job 17:5 where it means something like “denounce.” What is probably involved here are the attempts to portray Jeremiah as a traitor (Jer 26:10) and a false prophet (see his conflict with Hananiah in Jer 28).

[20:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “the men of my peace [who are concerned about my welfare].” For this phrase compare Ps 41:9 (41:10 HT); Jer 38:22. It is generally agreed that irony is being invoked here, hence “so-called” is supplied in the translation to bring out the irony.

[20:10]  ²² tn Heb “watching my stumbling [for me to stumble].” Metaphorically they were watching for some slip-up that would lead to his downfall. Compare the use in Pss 35:15 and 38:17 (38:18 HT).

[20:10]  ²³ tn All the text says literally is “Perhaps he can be enticed so that we can prevail over him.” However the word “enticed” needs some qualification. As W. McKane (Jeremiah [ICC], 1:479) notes it should probably be read in the context of the “stumbling” (= “something that would lead to my downfall”). Hence “slipping up” has been supplied as an object. It is vague enough to avoid specifics as the original text does but suggests some reference to “something that would lead to my downfall.”

[6:4]  ²⁴ tn Aram “looking to find.”

[6:4]  ²⁵ tn Aram “from the side of the kingdom.”

[6:4]  ²⁶ tn Aram “pretext and corruption.”

[6:4]  ²⁷ tn Aram “no negligence or corruption was found in him.” The Greek version of Theodotion lacks the phrase “and no negligence or corruption was found in him.”

[6:5]  ²⁸ tn Aram “were saying.”

[6:5]  ²⁹ tn Aram “unless we find [it] against him.”

[20:20]  ³⁰ tn Here καί (kai) has been translated as “then” to indicate the implied sequence of events within the narrative.

[20:20]  ³¹ tn Grk “righteous,” but in this context the point is their false sincerity.

[20:20]  ³² tn Grk “so that they might catch him in some word.”

[20:20]  ³³ tn This word is often translated “authority” in other contexts, but here, in combination with ἀρχή (arch), it refers to the domain or sphere of the governor’s rule (L&N 37.36).