Psalms 73:8

73:8 They mock ¹  and say evil things; ² 

they proudly threaten violence. ³ 

Psalms 18:16

18:16 He reached down ⁴  from above and took hold of me;

he pulled me from the surging water. ⁵ 

Psalms 102:19

102:19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above; ⁶ 

from heaven the Lord will look toward earth, ⁷ 

Psalms 144:7

144:7 Reach down ⁸  from above!

Grab me and rescue me from the surging water, ⁹ 

from the power of foreigners, ¹⁰ 

[73:8]  ¹ tn The verb מוּק (muq, “mock”) occurs only here in the OT.

[73:8]  ² tn Heb “and speak with evil.”

[73:8]  ³ tn Heb “oppression from an elevated place they speak.” The traditional accentuation of the MT places “oppression” with the preceding line. In this case, one might translate, “they mock and speak with evil [of] oppression, from an elevated place [i.e., “proudly”] they speak.” By placing “oppression” with what follows, one achieves better poetic balance in the parallelism.

[18:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “stretched.” Perhaps “his hand” should be supplied by ellipsis (see Ps 144:7). In this poetic narrative context the three prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.

[18:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see v. 4 and Ps 144:7).

[102:19]  ⁷ tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”

[102:19]  ⁸ tn The perfect verbal forms in v. 19 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 18.

[144:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “stretch out your hands.”

[144:7]  ¹¹ tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful foreign enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see the next line and Ps 18:16-17).

[144:7]  ¹² tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”