Psalms 51:14

51:14 Rescue me from the guilt of murder, ¹  O God, the God who delivers me!

Then my tongue will shout for joy because of your deliverance. ² 

Psalms 71:24

71:24 All day long my tongue will also tell about your justice,

for those who want to harm me ³  will be embarrassed and ashamed. ⁴ 

Psalms 137:6

137:6 May my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

and do not give Jerusalem priority

over whatever gives me the most joy. ⁵ 

Psalms 45:1

Psalm 45 ⁶ 

For the music director; according to the tune of “Lilies;” ⁷  by the Korahites, a well-written poem, ⁸  a love song.

45:1 My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. ⁹ 

I say, “I have composed this special song ¹⁰  for the king;

my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.” ¹¹ 

[51:14]  ¹ tn Heb “from bloodshed.” “Bloodshed” here stands by metonymy for the guilt which it produces.

[51:14]  ² tn Heb “my tongue will shout for joy your deliverance.” Another option is to take the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may my tongue shout for joy.” However, the pattern in vv. 12-15 appears to be prayer/request (see vv. 12, 14a, 15a) followed by promise/vow (see vv. 13, 14b, 15b).

[71:24]  ³ tn Heb “those who seek my harm.”

[71:24]  ⁴ tn Heb “will have become embarrassed and ashamed.” The perfect verbal forms function here as future perfects, indicating future actions which will precede chronologically the action expressed by the main verb in the preceding line.

[137:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “if I do not lift up Jerusalem over the top of my joy.”

[45:1]  ⁷ sn Psalm 45. This is a romantic poem celebrating the Davidic king’s marriage to a lovely princess. The psalmist praises the king for his military prowess and commitment to justice, urges the bride to be loyal to the king, and anticipates that the marriage will be blessed with royal offspring.

[45:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “according to lilies.” “Lilies” may be a tune title or musical style, suggestive of romantic love. The imagery of a “lily” appears frequently in the Song of Solomon in a variety of contexts (see 2:1-2, 16; 4:5; 5:13; 6:2-3; 7:2).

[45:1]  ⁹ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. See the note on the phrase “well-written song” in the superscription of Ps 42.

[45:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[with] a good word.” The “good word” probably refers here to the song that follows.

[45:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “my works [are] for a king.” The plural “works” may here indicate degree, referring to the special musical composition that follows.

[45:1]  ¹² tn Heb “my tongue [is] a stylus of a skillful scribe.” Words flow from the psalmist’s tongue just as they do from a scribe’s stylus.