Psalms 59:6

59:6 They return in the evening;

they growl ¹  like a dog

and prowl around outside ²  the city.

Psalms 22:16

22:16 Yes, ³  wild dogs surround me –

a gang of evil men crowd around me;

like a lion they pin my hands and feet. ⁴ 

Psalms 22:20

22:20 Deliver me ⁵  from the sword!

Save ⁶  my life ⁷  from the claws ⁸  of the wild dogs!

Psalms 59:14

59:14 They return in the evening;

they growl ⁹  like a dog

and prowl around outside ¹⁰  the city.

Psalms 68:23

68:23 so that your feet may stomp ¹¹  in their blood,

and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.” ¹² 

Psalms 105:31

105:31 He ordered flies to come; ¹³ 

gnats invaded their whole territory.

Psalms 44:19

44:19 Yet you have battered us, leaving us a heap of ruins overrun by wild dogs; ¹⁴ 

you have covered us with darkness. ¹⁵ 

Psalms 89:51

89:51 Your enemies, O Lord, hurl insults;

they insult your chosen king as they dog his footsteps. ¹⁶ 

[59:6]  ¹ tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”

[59:6]  ² tn Heb “go around.”

[22:16]  ³ tn Or “for.”

[22:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “like a lion, my hands and my feet.” This reading is often emended because it is grammatically awkward, but perhaps its awkwardness is by rhetorical design. Its broken syntax may be intended to convey the panic and terror felt by the psalmist. The psalmist may envision a lion pinning the hands and feet of its victim to the ground with its paws (a scene depicted in ancient Near Eastern art), or a lion biting the hands and feet. The line has been traditionally translated, “they pierce my hands and feet,” and then taken as foreshadowing the crucifixion of Christ. Though Jesus does appropriate the language of this psalm while on the cross (compare v. 1 with Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34), the NT does not cite this verse in describing the death of Jesus. (It does refer to vv. 7-8 and 18, however. See Matt 27:35, 39, 43; Mark 15:24, 29; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24.) If one were to insist on an emendation of כָּאֲרִי (ka’ariy, “like a lion”) to a verb, the most likely verbal root would be כָּרָה (karah, “dig”; see the LXX). In this context this verb could refer to the gnawing and tearing of wild dogs (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV). The ancient Greek version produced by Symmachus reads “bind” here, perhaps understanding a verbal root כרך, which is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic and means “to encircle, entwine, embrace” (see HALOT 497-98 s.v. כרך and Jastrow 668 s.v. כָּרַךְ). Neither one of these proposed verbs can yield a meaning “bore, pierce.”

[22:20]  ⁵ tn Or “my life.”

[22:20]  ⁶ tn The verb “save” is supplied in the translation; it is understood by ellipsis (see “deliver” in the preceding line).

[22:20]  ⁷ tn Heb “my only one.” The psalmist may mean that his life is precious, or that he feels isolated and alone.

[22:20]  ⁸ tn Heb “from the hand.” Here “hand” is understood by metonymy as a reference to the “paw” and thus the “claws” of the wild dogs.

[59:14]  ⁷ tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”

[59:14]  ⁸ tn Heb “go around.”

[68:23]  ⁹ tc Some (e.g. NRSV) prefer to emend מָחַץ (makhats, “smash; stomp”; see v. 21) to רָחַץ (rakhats, “bathe”; see Ps 58:10).

[68:23]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “[and] the tongue of your dogs from [the] enemies [may eat] its portion.”

[105:31]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he spoke and flies came.”

[44:19]  ¹³ tn Heb “yet you have battered us in a place of jackals.”

[44:19]  ¹⁴ tn The Hebrew term צַלְמָוֶת (tsalmavet) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun meaning “shadow of death” (צֵל+מָוֶת [mavet + tsel]; see BDB 853 s.v. צַלְמָוֶת; cf. NASB). Other scholars prefer to vocalize the form צַלְמוּת (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root צלם) meaning “darkness” (cf. NIV, NRSV). An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. In Ps 44:19 darkness symbolizes defeat and humiliation.

[89:51]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “[by] which your enemies, O Lord, taunt, [by] which they taunt [at] the heels of your anointed one.”