Psalms 73:2

73:2 But as for me, my feet almost slipped;

my feet almost slid out from under me. ¹ 

Psalms 81:14

81:14 Then I would quickly subdue their enemies,

and attack ²  their adversaries.”

Psalms 94:17

94:17 If the Lord had not helped me,

I would have laid down in the silence of death. ³ 

Psalms 119:87

119:87 They have almost destroyed me here on the earth,

but I do not reject your precepts.

[73:2]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb normally means “to pour out,” but here it must have the nuance “to slide.”

[81:14]  ² tn Heb “turn my hand against.” The idiom “turn the hand against” has the nuance of “strike with the hand, attack” (see Isa 1:25; Ezek 38:12; Amos 1:8; Zech 13:7).

[94:17]  ³ tn Heb “If the Lord [were] not my help, quickly my life would have lain down in silence.” The psalmist, perhaps speaking as the nation’s representative, recalls God’s past intervention. For other examples of conditional sentences with the term לוּלֵי (luley, “if not”) in the protasis and a perfect verbal form in the apodosis, see Pss 119:92 and 124:2-5.