Psalms 50:9

50:9 I do not need to take ¹  a bull from your household

or goats from your sheepfolds.

Psalms 73:24

73:24 You guide ²  me by your wise advice,

and then you will lead me to a position of honor. ³ 

Psalms 78:70

78:70 He chose David, his servant,

and took him from the sheepfolds.

Psalms 109:8

109:8 May his days be few! ⁴ 

May another take his job! ⁵ 

Psalms 6:9

6:9 The Lord has heard my appeal for mercy;

the Lord has accepted ⁶  my prayer.

Psalms 18:16

18:16 He reached down ⁷  from above and took hold of me;

he pulled me from the surging water. ⁸ 

Psalms 75:2

75:2 God says, ⁹ 

“At the appointed times, ¹⁰ 

I judge ¹¹  fairly.

Psalms 49:15

49:15 But ¹²  God will rescue ¹³  my life ¹⁴  from the power ¹⁵  of Sheol;

certainly ¹⁶  he will pull me to safety. ¹⁷  (Selah)

Psalms 49:17

49:17 For he will take nothing with him when he dies;

his wealth will not follow him down into the grave. ¹⁸ 

Psalms 51:11

51:11 Do not reject me! ¹⁹ 

Do not take your Holy Spirit ²⁰  away from me! ²¹ 

Psalms 15:5

15:5 He does not charge interest when he lends his money. ²² 

He does not take bribes to testify against the innocent. ²³ 

The one who lives like this ²⁴  will never be upended.

Psalms 31:13

31:13 For I hear what so many are saying, ²⁵ 

the terrifying news that comes from every direction. ²⁶ 

When they plot together against me,

they figure out how they can take my life.

Psalms 68:18

68:18 You ascend on high, ²⁷ 

you have taken many captives. ²⁸ 

You receive tribute ²⁹  from ³⁰  men,

including even sinful rebels.

Indeed the Lord God lives there! ³¹ 

[50:9]  ¹ tn Or “I will not take.”

[73:24]  ² tn The imperfect verbal form here suggests this is the psalmist’s ongoing experience.

[73:24]  ³ tn Heb “and afterward [to] glory you will take me.” Some interpreters view this as the psalmist’s confidence in an afterlife in God’s presence and understand כָּבוֹד (cavod) as a metonymic reference to God’s presence in heaven. But this seems unlikely in the present context. The psalmist anticipates a time of vindication, when the wicked are destroyed and he is honored by God for his godly life style. The verb לָקַח (laqakh, “take”) here carries the nuance “lead, guide, conduct,” as in Num 23:14, 27-28; Josh 24:3 and Prov 24:11.

[109:8]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal forms (except those with vav [ו] consecutive) in vv. 8-20 are taken as jussives of prayer. Note the distinct jussive forms used in vv. 12-13, 15, 19.

[109:8]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew noun פְּקֻדָּה (pÿquddah) can mean “charge” or “office,” though BDB 824 s.v. suggests that here it refers to his possessions.

[6:9]  ⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form is probably a preterite here; it is parallel to a perfect and refers to the fact that the Lord has responded favorably to the psalmist’s request.

[18:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “stretched.” Perhaps “his hand” should be supplied by ellipsis (see Ps 144:7). In this poetic narrative context the three prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see v. 4 and Ps 144:7).

[75:2]  ⁶ tn The words “God says” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation to clarify that God speaks in vv. 2-3.

[75:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “when I take an appointed time.”

[75:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “I, [in] fairness, I judge.” The statement is understood in a generalizing sense; God typically executes fair judgment as he governs the world. One could take this as referring to an anticipated (future) judgment, “I will judge.”

[49:15]  ⁷ tn Or “certainly.”

[49:15]  ⁸ tn Or “redeem.”

[49:15]  ⁹ tn Or “me.” 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).

[49:15]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hand.”

[49:15]  ¹¹ tn Or “for.”

[49:15]  ¹² tn Heb “he will take me.” To improve the poetic balance of the verse, some move the words “from the power of Sheol” to the following line. The verse would then read: “But God will rescue my life; / from the power of Sheol he will certainly deliver me” (cf. NEB).

[49:17]  ⁸ tn Heb “his glory will not go down after him.”

[51:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “do not cast me away from before you.”

[51:11]  ¹⁰ sn Your Holy Spirit. The personal Spirit of God is mentioned frequently in the OT, but only here and in Isa 63:10-11 is he called “your/his Holy Spirit.”

[51:11]  ¹¹ sn Do not take…away. The psalmist expresses his fear that, due to his sin, God will take away the Holy Spirit from him. NT believers enjoy the permanent gift of the Holy Spirit and need not make such a request nor fear such a consequence. However, in the OT God’s Spirit empowered certain individuals for special tasks and only temporarily resided in them. For example, when God rejected Saul as king and chose David to replace him, the divine Spirit left Saul and came upon David (1 Sam 16:13-14).

[15:5]  ¹⁰ sn He does not charge interest. Such an individual is truly generous, and not simply concerned with making a profit.

[15:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “a bribe against the innocent he does not take.” For other texts condemning the practice of a judge or witness taking a bribe, see Exod 23:8; Deut 16:19; 27:25; 1 Sam 8:3; Ezek 22:12; Prov 17:23.

[15:5]  ¹² tn Heb “does these things.”

[31:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the report of many.”

[31:13]  ¹² tn Heb “the terror from all around.”

[68:18]  ¹² tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.

[68:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”

[68:18]  ¹⁴ tn Or “gifts.”

[68:18]  ¹⁵ tn Or “among.”

[68:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “so that the Lord God might live [there].” Many take the infinitive construct with -לְ (lamed) as indicating purpose here, but it is unclear how the offering of tribute enables the Lord to live in Zion. This may be an occurrence of the relatively rare emphatic lamed (see HALOT 510-11 s.v. II לְ, though this text is not listed as an example there). If so, the statement corresponds nicely to the final line of v. 16, which also affirms emphatically that the Lord lives in Zion.