Psalms 55:22

55:22 Throw your burden ¹  upon the Lord,

and he will sustain you. ² 

He will never allow the godly to be upended. ³ 

Psalms 62:2

62:2 He alone is my protector ⁴  and deliverer.

He is my refuge; ⁵  I will not be upended. ⁶ 

Psalms 62:6

62:6 He alone is my protector ⁷  and deliverer.

He is my refuge; ⁸  I will not be upended. ⁹ 

Psalms 112:6

112:6 For he will never be upended;

others will always remember one who is just. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 121:1-3

Psalm 121 ¹¹ 

A song of ascents. ¹² 

121:1 I look up ¹³  toward the hills.

From where ¹⁴  does my help come?

121:2 My help comes from the Lord, ¹⁵ 

the Creator ¹⁶  of heaven and earth!

121:3 May he not allow your foot to slip!

May your protector ¹⁷  not sleep! ¹⁸ 

Proverbs 12:3

12:3 No one ¹⁹  can be established ²⁰  through wickedness,

but a righteous root ²¹  cannot be moved.

[55:22]  ¹ tn The Hebrew noun occurs only here.

[55:22]  ² tn The pronoun is singular; the psalmist addresses each member of his audience individually.

[55:22]  ³ tn Heb “he will never allow swaying for the righteous.”

[62:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”

[62:2]  ⁵ tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[62:2]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds רַבָּה (rabbah, “greatly”) at the end of the line. It is unusual for this adverb to follow a negated verb. Some see this as qualifying the assertion to some degree, but this would water down the affirmation too much (see v. 6b, where the adverb is omitted). If the adverb has a qualifying function, it would suggest that the psalmist might be upended, though not severely. This is inconsistent with the confident mood of the psalm. The adverb probably has an emphatic force here, “I will not be greatly upended” meaning “I will not be annihilated.”

[62:6]  ⁷ tn Heb “my high rocky summit.”

[62:6]  ⁸ tn Or “my elevated place” (see Ps 18:2).

[62:6]  ⁹ sn The wording is identical to that of v. 2, except that רַבָּה (rabbah, “greatly”) does not appear in v. 6.

[112:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for an eternal memorial a just [one] will be.”

[121:1]  ¹¹ sn Psalm 121. The psalm affirms that the Lord protects his people Israel. Unless the psalmist addresses an observer (note the second person singular forms in vv. 3-8), it appears there are two or three speakers represented in the psalm, depending on how one takes v. 3. The translation assumes that speaker one talks in vv. 1-2, that speaker two responds to him with a prayer in v. 3 (this assumes the verbs are true jussives of prayer), and that speaker three responds with words of assurance in vv. 4-8. If the verbs in v. 3 are taken as a rhetorical use of the jussive, then there are two speakers. Verses 3-8 are speaker two’s response to the words of speaker one. See the note on the word “sleep” at the end of v. 3.

[121:1]  ¹² sn The precise significance of this title, which appears in Pss 120-134, is unclear. Perhaps worshipers recited these psalms when they ascended the road to Jerusalem to celebrate annual religious festivals. For a discussion of their background see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 219-21.

[121:1]  ¹³ tn Heb “I lift my eyes.”

[121:1]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term מֵאַיִן (me’ayin) is interrogative, not relative, in function. Rather than directly stating that his source of help descends from the hills, the psalmist is asking, “From where does my help come?” Nevertheless, the first line does indicate that he is looking toward the hills for help, probably indicating that he is looking up toward the sky in anticipation of supernatural intervention. The psalmist assumes the dramatic role of one needing help. He answers his own question in v. 2.

[121:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my help [is] from with the Lord.”

[121:2]  ¹⁶ tn Or “Maker.”

[121:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “the one who guards you.”

[121:3]  ¹⁸ tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אל appear to be jussives. As noted above, if they are taken as true jussives of prayer, then the speaker in v. 3 would appear to be distinct from both the speaker in vv. 1-2 and the speaker in vv. 4-8. However, according to GKC 322 §109.e), the jussives are used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one should probably translate, “he will not allow your foot to slip, your protector will not sleep,” and understand just one speaker in vv. 4-8.

[12:3]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “a man cannot be.”

[12:3]  ²⁰ tn The Niphal imperfect of כּוּן (cun, “to be established”) refers to finding permanent “security” (so NRSV, TEV, CEV) before God. Only righteousness can do that.

[12:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “a root of righteousness.” The genitive צַדִּיקִים (tsadiqim, “righteousness”) functions as an attributive adjective. The figure “root” (שֹׁרֶשׁ, shoresh) stresses the security of the righteous; they are firmly planted and cannot be uprooted (cf. NLT “the godly have deep roots”). The righteous are often compared to a tree (e.g., 11:30; Ps 1:3; 92:13).