Psalms 73:8

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

they proudly threaten violence. ³ 

Psalms 92:8

92:8 But you, O Lord, reign ⁴  forever!

Psalms 7:7

7:7 The countries are assembled all around you; ⁵ 

take once more your rightful place over them! ⁶ 

Psalms 18:16

18:16 He reached down ⁷  from above and took hold of me;

he pulled me from the surging water. ⁸ 

Psalms 75:5

75:5 Do not be so certain you have won! ⁹ 

Do not speak with your head held so high! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 10:5

10:5 He is secure at all times. ¹¹ 

He has no regard for your commands; ¹² 

he disdains all his enemies. ¹³ 

Psalms 56:2

56:2 Those who anticipate my defeat ¹⁴  attack me all day long.

Indeed, ¹⁵  many are fighting against me, O Exalted One. ¹⁶ 

Psalms 71:19

71:19 Your justice, O God, extends to the skies above; ¹⁷ 

you have done great things. ¹⁸ 

O God, who can compare to you? ¹⁹ 

Psalms 93:4

93:4 Above the sound of the surging water, ²⁰ 

and the mighty waves of the sea,

the Lord sits enthroned in majesty. ²¹ 

Psalms 102:19

102:19 For he will look down from his sanctuary above; ²² 

from heaven the Lord will look toward earth, ²³ 

Psalms 144:7

144:7 Reach down ²⁴  from above!

Grab me and rescue me from the surging water, ²⁵ 

from the power of foreigners, ²⁶ 

Psalms 148:1

Psalm 148 ²⁷ 

148:1 Praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord from the sky!

Praise him in the heavens!

Psalms 68:18

68:18 You ascend on high, ²⁸ 

you have taken many captives. ²⁹ 

You receive tribute ³⁰  from ³¹  men,

including even sinful rebels.

Indeed the Lord God lives there! ³² 

[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.

[92:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “[are elevated] on high.”

[7:7]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ 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.

[18:16]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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).

[75:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “do not lift up on high your horn.”

[75:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “[do not] speak with unrestrained neck.” The negative particle is understood in this line by ellipsis (note the preceding line).

[10:5]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “they are firm, his ways, at every time.” The verb חַיִל (khayil, “be firm, be strong”) occurs only here and in Job 20:21, where it has the sense “endure.”

[10:5]  ¹⁷ tc Heb “[on a] height, your judgments from before him.” If the MT is retained, then the idea may be that God’s “judgments” are high above (i.e., not recognized) by the wicked man. However, the syntax is awkward. The translation assumes an emendation of מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) to סָרוּ (saru, “[your judgments] are turned aside”), the final mem (ם) being dittographic (note the initial mem on the immediately following word [מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ, mishÿfatekha, “your judgments”). “Judgments” probably refers here to God’s laws or commands, rather than his judicial decisions or acts of judgment.

[10:5]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “all his enemies, he snorts against them.” This may picture the wicked man defiantly challenging his enemies because he is confident of success. Another option is to take יָפִיחַ (yafiakh) from the root יָפַח (yafakh, “to testify”) and translate “he testifies against all his enemies,” implying that he gets the upper hand over them in legal battles. The noun יָפֵחַ (yafeakh, “witness”) is attested in biblical Hebrew (see Prov 6:19; 12:17; 14:5, 25; 19:5, 9, and Hab 2:3). The verb, however, is not clearly attested.

[56:2]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “to those who watch me [with evil intent].” See also Pss 5:8; 27:11; 54:5; 59:10.

[56:2]  ²⁰ tn Or “for.”

[56:2]  ²¹ tn Some take the Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “on high; above”) as an adverb modifying the preceding participle and translate, “proudly” (cf. NASB; NIV “in their pride”). The present translation assumes the term is a divine title here. The Lord is pictured as enthroned “on high” in Ps 92:8. (Note the substantival use of the term in Isa 24:4 and see C. A. Briggs and E. G. Briggs (Psalms [ICC], 2:34), who prefer to place the term at the beginning of the next verse.)

[71:19]  ²² tn Heb “your justice, O God, [is] unto the height.” The Hebrew term מָרוֹם (marom, “height”) is here a title for the sky/heavens.

[71:19]  ²³ tn Heb “you who have done great things.”

[71:19]  ²⁴ tn Or “Who is like you?”

[93:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “mighty waters.”

[93:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “mighty on high [is] the Lord.”

[102:19]  ²⁸ tn Heb “from the height of his sanctuary.”

[102:19]  ²⁹ 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]  ³¹ tn Heb “stretch out your hands.”

[144:7]  ³² 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]  ³³ tn Heb “from the hand of the sons of foreignness.”

[148:1]  ³⁴ sn Psalm 148. The psalmist calls upon all creation to praise the Lord, for he is the creator and sovereign king of the world.

[68:18]  ³⁷ tn Heb “to the elevated place”; or “on high.” This probably refers to the Lord’s throne on Mount Zion.

[68:18]  ³⁸ tn Heb “you have taken captives captive.”

[68:18]  ³⁹ tn Or “gifts.”

[68:18]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “among.”

[68:18]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “so that the Lord God might live [there].” Many take the infinitive construct with -לְ (lamed) as indicating purpose here, but it is unclear how the offering of tribute enables the Lord to live in Zion. This may be an occurrence of the relatively rare emphatic lamed (see HALOT 510-11 s.v. II לְ, though this text is not listed as an example there). If so, the statement corresponds nicely to the final line of v. 16, which also affirms emphatically that the Lord lives in Zion.