Psalms 5:9

5:9 For ¹  they do not speak the truth; ² 

their stomachs are like the place of destruction, ³ 

their throats like an open grave, ⁴ 

their tongues like a steep slope leading into it. ⁵ 

Psalms 7:9

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

But make the innocent ⁸  secure, ⁹ 

O righteous God,

you who examine ¹⁰  inner thoughts and motives! ¹¹ 

Psalms 7:12

7:12 If a person ¹²  does not repent, God sharpens his sword ¹³ 

and prepares to shoot his bow. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 8:3

8:3 When I look up at the heavens, which your fingers made,

and see the moon and the stars, which you set in place, ¹⁵ 

Psalms 40:2

40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, ¹⁶ 

out of the slimy mud. ¹⁷ 

He placed my feet on a rock

and gave me secure footing. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 51:10

51:10 Create for me a pure heart, O God! ¹⁹ 

Renew a resolute spirit within me! ²⁰ 

Psalms 57:6

57:6 They have prepared a net to trap me; ²¹ 

I am discouraged. ²² 

They have dug a pit for me. ²³ 

They will fall ²⁴  into it! (Selah)

Psalms 68:9

68:9 O God, you cause abundant showers to fall ²⁵  on your chosen people. ²⁶ 

When they ²⁷  are tired, you sustain them, ²⁸ 

Psalms 74:16

74:16 You established the cycle of day and night; ²⁹ 

you put the moon ³⁰  and sun in place. ³¹ 

Psalms 87:5

87:5 But it is said of Zion’s residents, ³² 

“Each one of these ³³  was born in her,

and the sovereign One ³⁴  makes her secure.” ³⁵ 

Psalms 89:2

89:2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established; ³⁶ 

in the skies you set up your faithfulness.” ³⁷ 

Psalms 89:4

89:4 ‘I will give you an eternal dynasty ³⁸ 

and establish your throne throughout future generations.’” ³⁹  (Selah)

Psalms 96:10

96:10 Say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!

The world is established, it cannot be moved.

He judges the nations fairly.”

Psalms 99:4

99:4 The king is strong;

he loves justice. ⁴⁰ 

You ensure that legal decisions will be made fairly; ⁴¹ 

you promote justice and equity in Jacob.

Psalms 101:7

101:7 Deceitful people will not live in my palace. ⁴² 

Liars will not be welcome in my presence. ⁴³ 

Psalms 108:1

Psalm 108 ⁴⁴ 

A song, a psalm of David.

108:1 I am determined, ⁴⁵  O God!

I will sing and praise you with my whole heart. ⁴⁶ 

Psalms 140:11

140:11 A slanderer ⁴⁷  will not endure on ⁴⁸  the earth;

calamity will hunt down a violent man and strike him down. ⁴⁹ 

Psalms 147:8

147:8 He covers ⁵⁰  the sky with clouds,

provides the earth with rain,

and causes grass to grow on the hillsides. ⁵¹ 

[5:9]  ¹ tn Or “certainly.”

[5:9]  ² tn Heb “for there is not in his mouth truthfulness.” The singular pronoun (“his”) probably refers back to the “man of bloodshed and deceit” mentioned in v. 6. The singular is collective or representative, as the plural in the next line indicates, and so has been translated “they.”

[5:9]  ³ tn Heb “their inward part[s] [is] destruction.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse.

[5:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “their throat is an open grave.” For a discussion of the extended metaphor in v. 9b, see the note on the word “it” at the end of the verse. The metaphor is suggested by the physical resemblance of the human throat to a deeply dug grave; both are dark chasms.

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “they make smooth their tongue.” Flattering, deceitful words are in view. See Ps 12:2. The psalmist’s deceitful enemies are compared to the realm of death/Sheol in v. 9b. Sheol was envisioned as a dark region within the earth, the entrance to which was the grave with its steep slopes (cf. Ps 88:4-6). The enemies’ victims are pictured here as slipping down a steep slope (the enemies’ tongues) and falling into an open grave (their throat) that terminates in destruction in the inner recesses of Sheol (their stomach). The enemies’ קרב (“inward part”) refers here to their thoughts and motives, which are destructive in their intent. The throat is where these destructive thoughts are transformed into words, and their tongue is what they use to speak the deceitful words that lead their innocent victims to their demise.

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

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

[7:9]  ¹⁰ tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.

[7:9]  ¹¹ 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.

[7:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “If he”; the referent (a person who is a sinner) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The subject of the first verb is understood as the sinner who fails to repent of his ways and becomes the target of God’s judgment (vv. 9, 14-16).

[7:12]  ¹² tn Heb “if he does not return, his sword he sharpens.” The referent (God) of the pronominal subject of the second verb (“sharpens”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:12]  ¹³ tn Heb “his bow he treads and prepares it.” “Treading the bow” involved stepping on one end of it in order to string it and thus prepare it for battle.

[8:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “when I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars which you established.” The verb “[and] see” is understood by ellipsis in the second half of the verse.

[40:2]  ²¹ tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).

[40:2]  ²² tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[40:2]  ²³ tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”

[51:10]  ²⁶ sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s motives and moral character.

[51:10]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and a reliable spirit renew in my inner being.”

[57:6]  ³¹ tn Heb “for my feet.”

[57:6]  ³² tn Heb “my life bends low.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).

[57:6]  ³³ tn Heb “before me.”

[57:6]  ³⁴ tn The perfect form is used rhetorically here to express the psalmist’s certitude. The demise of the enemies is so certain that he can speak of it as already accomplished.

[68:9]  ³⁶ tn The verb נוּף (nuf, “cause rain to fall”) is a homonym of the more common נוּף (“brandish”).

[68:9]  ³⁷ tn Heb “[on] your inheritance.” This refers to Israel as God’s specially chosen people (see Pss 28:9; 33:12; 74:2; 78:62, 71; 79:1; 94:5, 14; 106:40). Some take “your inheritance” with what follows, but the vav (ו) prefixed to the following word (note וְנִלְאָה, vÿnil’ah) makes this syntactically unlikely.

[68:9]  ³⁸ tn Heb “it [is],” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[68:9]  ³⁹ tn Heb “it,” referring to God’s “inheritance.”

[74:16]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “To you [is] day, also to you [is] night.”

[74:16]  ⁴² tn Heb “[the] light.” Following the reference to “day and night” and in combination with “sun,” it is likely that the Hebrew term מָאוֹר (ma’or, “light”) refers here to the moon.

[74:16]  ⁴³ tn Heb “you established [the] light and [the] sun.”

[87:5]  ⁴⁶ tn Heb “and of Zion it is said.” Another option is to translate, “and to Zion it is said.” In collocation with the Niphal of אָמַר (’amar), the preposition lamed (-לְ) can introduce the recipient of the statement (see Josh 2:2; Jer 4:11; Hos 1:10; Zeph 3:16), carry the nuance “concerning, of” (see Num 23:23), or mean “be named” (see Isa 4:3; 62:4).

[87:5]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “a man and a man.” The idiom also appears in Esth 1:8. The translation assumes that the phrase refers to each of Zion’s residents, in contrast to the foreigners mentioned in v. 4. Those advocating the universalistic interpretation understand this as a reference to each of the nations, including those mentioned in v. 4.

[87:5]  ⁴⁸ tn Traditionally “Most High.”

[87:5]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “and he makes her secure, the Most High.”

[89:2]  ⁵¹ tn Heb “built.”

[89:2]  ⁵² sn You set up your faithfulness. This may allude to the Lord’s heavenly throne, which symbolizes his just rule and from which the Lord decrees his unconditional promises (see vv. 8, 14).

[89:4]  ⁵⁶ tn Heb “forever I will establish your offspring.”

[89:4]  ⁵⁷ tn Heb “and I will build to a generation and a generation your throne.”

[99:4]  ⁶¹ tn Heb “and strength, a king, justice he loves.” The syntax of the Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation assumes that two affirmations are made about the king, the Lord (see v. 1, and Ps 98:6). The noun עֹז (’oz, “strength”) should probably be revocalized as the adjective עַז (’az, “strong”).

[99:4]  ⁶² tn Heb “you establish fairness.”

[101:7]  ⁶⁶ tn Heb “he will not live in the midst of my house, one who does deceit.”

[101:7]  ⁶⁷ tn Heb “one who speaks lies will not be established before my eyes.”

[108:1]  ⁷¹ sn Psalm 108. With some minor variations, this psalm is a composite of Ps 57:7-11 (see vv. 1-5) and Ps 60:5-12 (see vv. 6-13).

[108:1]  ⁷² tn Or perhaps “confident”; Heb “my heart is steadfast.” The “heart” is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s volition and/or emotions.

[108:1]  ⁷³ tn Heb “also my glory,” but this makes little sense in the context. Some view the term כָּבוֹד (“glory”) here as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvodiy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 16:9; 30:12; 57:9; as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 3:93. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”

[140:11]  ⁷⁶ tn Heb “a man of a tongue.”

[140:11]  ⁷⁷ tn Heb “be established in.”

[140:11]  ⁷⁸ tn Heb “for blows.” The Hebrew noun מַדְחֵפֹה (madkhefoh, “blow”) occurs only here in the OT.

[147:8]  ⁸¹ tn Heb “the one who covers.”

[147:8]  ⁸² tn Heb “hills.”