Psalms 7:7

7:7 The countries are assembled all around you; ¹ 

take once more your rightful place over them! ² 

Psalms 17:11

17:11 They attack me, now they surround me; ³ 

they intend to throw me to the ground. ⁴ 

Psalms 18:5

18:5 The ropes of Sheol tightened around me, ⁵ 

the snares of death trapped me. ⁶ 

Psalms 22:12

22:12 Many bulls ⁷  surround me;

powerful bulls of Bashan ⁸  hem me in.

Psalms 26:6

26:6 I maintain a pure lifestyle, ⁹ 

so I can appear before your altar, ¹⁰  O Lord,

Psalms 32:10

32:10 An evil person suffers much pain, ¹¹ 

but the Lord’s faithfulness overwhelms the one who trusts in him. ¹² 

Psalms 49:5

49:5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble, ¹³ 

when the sinful deeds of deceptive men threaten to overwhelm me? ¹⁴ 

Psalms 59:6

59:6 They return in the evening;

they growl ¹⁵  like a dog

and prowl around outside ¹⁶  the city.

Psalms 59:14

59:14 They return in the evening;

they growl ¹⁷  like a dog

and prowl around outside ¹⁸  the city.

Psalms 88:17

88:17 They surround me like water all day long;

they join forces and encircle me. ¹⁹ 

Psalms 114:5

114:5 Why do you flee, O sea?

Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?

Psalms 118:10

118:10 All the nations surrounded me. ²⁰ 

Indeed, in the name of the Lord ²¹  I pushed them away. ²² 

[7:7]  ¹ tn Heb “and the assembly of the peoples surrounds you.” Some understand the prefixed verbal form as a jussive, “may the assembly of the peoples surround you.”

[7:7]  ² tn Heb “over it (the feminine suffix refers back to the feminine noun “assembly” in the preceding line) on high return.” Some emend שׁוּבָה (shuvah, “return”) to שֵׁבָה (shevah, “sit [in judgment]”) because they find the implication of “return” problematic. But the psalmist does not mean to imply that God has abandoned his royal throne and needs to regain it. Rather he simply urges God, as sovereign king of the world, to once more occupy his royal seat of judgment and execute judgment, as the OT pictures God doing periodically.

[17:11]  ³ tc Heb “our steps, now they surround me.” The Kethib (consonantal text) has “surround me,” while the Qere (marginal reading) has “surround us,” harmonizing the pronoun to the preceding “our steps.” The first person plural pronoun does not fit the context, where the psalmist speaks as an individual. In the preceding verses the psalmist uses a first person singular verbal or pronominal form twenty times. For this reason it is preferable to emend “our steps” to אִשְּׁרוּנִי (’ishÿruni, “they attack me”) from the verbal root אָשֻׁר (’ashur, “march, stride, track”).

[17:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “their eyes they set to bend down in the ground.”

[18:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[18:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “confronted me.”

[22:12]  ⁷ sn The psalmist figuratively compares his enemies to dangerous bulls.

[22:12]  ⁸ sn Bashan, located east of the Jordan River, was well-known for its cattle. See Ezek 39:18; Amos 4:1.

[26:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “I wash my hands in innocence.” The psalmist uses an image from cultic ritual to picture his moral lifestyle. The imperfect verbal emphasizes that this is his habit.

[26:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “so I can go around your altar” (probably in ritual procession). Following the imperfect of the preceding line, the cohortative with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose or result.

[32:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “many [are the] pains of evil [one].” The singular form is representative here; the typical evildoer, representative of the larger group of wicked people, is in view.

[32:10]  ¹² tn Heb “but the one who trusts in the Lord, faithfulness surrounds him.”

[49:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “days of trouble.” The phrase also occurs in Ps 94:13. The question is rhetorical; there is no reason to be afraid when the rich oppressors threaten the weak (see v. 17). The following verses explain why this is so.

[49:5]  ¹⁴ tc The MT has, “the iniquity of my heels surrounds me.” The clause is best understood as temporal and as elaborating on the preceding phrase “times of trouble.” If the MT is retained, the genitive “of my heels” would probably indicate location (“the iniquity at my heels”); the sinful actions of the rich threaten to overtake the psalmist, as it were. It is better, however, to emend עֲקֵבַי (’aqivay, “my heels”) to either (1) עֲקֻבַּי (’aqubay, “my deceitful ones,” i.e., “those who deceive me” [from the adjective עָקֹב (’aqov), “deceitful,” see Jer 17:9]) or (2) עֹקְבַי (’oqÿvay, “those who deceive me” [a suffixed active participle from עָקַב, ’aqav, “betray, deceive”]). Origen’s transliteration of the Hebrew text favors the first of these options. Either of the emendations provides a much smoother transition to v. 6, because “those who trust in their wealth” would then be appositional to “those who deceive me.”

[59:6]  ¹⁵ tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”

[59:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “go around.”

[59:14]  ¹⁷ tn Or “howl”; or “bark.”

[59:14]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “go around.”

[88:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “they encircle me together.”

[118:10]  ²¹ sn The reference to an attack by the nations suggests the psalmist may have been a military leader.

[118:10]  ²² tn In this context the phrase “in the name of the Lord” means “by the Lord’s power.”

[118:10]  ²³ tn Traditionally the verb has been derived from מוּל (mul, “to circumcise”) and translated “[I] cut [them] off” (see BDB 557-58 s.v. II מוּל). However, it is likely that this is a homonym meaning “to fend off” (see HALOT 556 s.v. II מול) or “to push away.” In this context, where the psalmist is reporting his past experience, the prefixed verbal form is best understood as a preterite. The phrase also occurs in vv. 11, 12.