Psalms 7:7-9

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

take once more your rightful place over them! ² 

7:8 The Lord judges the nations. ³ 

Vindicate me, Lord, because I am innocent, ⁴ 

because I am blameless, ⁵  O Exalted One! ⁶ 

7:9 May the evil deeds of the wicked ⁷  come to an end! ⁸ 

But make the innocent ⁹  secure, ¹⁰ 

O righteous God,

you who examine ¹¹  inner thoughts and motives! ¹² 

[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.

[7:8]  ³ sn The Lord judges the nations. In hyperbolic fashion the psalmist pictures the nations assembled around the divine throne (v. 7a). He urges God to take his rightful place on the throne (v. 7b) and then pictures him making judicial decisions that vindicate the innocent (see vv. 8-16).

[7:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “judge me, O Lord, according to my innocence.”

[7:8]  ⁵ tn Heb “according to my blamelessness.” The imperative verb translated “vindicate” governs the second line as well.

[7:8]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew form עָלָי (’alay) has been traditionally understood as the preposition עַל (’al, “over”) with a first person suffix. But this is syntactically awkward and meaningless. The form is probably a divine title derived from the verbal root עָלָה (’alah, “ascend”). This relatively rare title appears elsewhere in the OT (see HALOT 824-25 s.v. I עַל, though this text is not listed) and in Ugaritic as an epithet for Baal (see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 98). See M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:44-45, and P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 (WBC), 98.

[7:9]  ⁵ tn In the psalms the Hebrew term רְשָׁעִים (rÿsha’im, “wicked”) describes people who are proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and his people.

[7:9]  ⁶ tn The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation here.

[7:9]  ⁷ tn Or “the godly” (see Ps 5:12). The singular form is collective (see the plural “upright in heart” in v. 10), though it may reflect the personal focus of the psalmist in this context.

[7:9]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form expresses the psalmist’s prayer or wish.

[7:9]  ⁹ tn For other uses of the verb in this sense, see Job 7:18; Pss 11:4; 26:2; 139:23.

[7:9]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and [the one who] tests hearts and kidneys, just God.” The translation inverts the word order to improve the English style. The heart and kidneys were viewed as the seat of one’s volition, conscience, and moral character.