Psalms 78:53

78:53 He guided them safely along,

while the sea covered their enemies.

Psalms 81:12

81:12 I gave them over to their stubborn desires; ¹ 

they did what seemed right to them. ² 

Psalms 103:5

103:5 who satisfies your life with good things, ³ 

so your youth is renewed like an eagle’s. ⁴ 

Psalms 103:11-13

103:11 For as the skies are high above the earth,

so his loyal love towers ⁵  over his faithful followers. ⁶ 

103:12 As far as the eastern horizon ⁷  is from the west, ⁸ 

so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions ⁹  from us.

103:13 As a father has compassion on his children, ¹⁰ 

so the Lord has compassion on his faithful followers. ¹¹ 

Psalms 109:17

109:17 He loved to curse ¹²  others, so those curses have come upon him. ¹³ 

He had no desire to bless anyone, so he has experienced no blessings. ¹⁴ 

Psalms 119:44

119:44 Then I will keep ¹⁵  your law continually

now and for all time. ¹⁶ 

[81:12]  ¹ tn Heb “and I sent him away in the stubbornness of their heart.”

[81:12]  ² tn Heb “they walked in their counsel.” The prefixed verbal form is either preterite (“walked”) or a customary imperfect (“were walking”).

[103:5]  ¹ tc Heb “who satisfies with the good of your ornaments.” The text as it stands makes little, if any, sense. The translation assumes an emendation of עֶדְיֵךְ (’ed’ekh, “your ornaments”) to עֹדֵכִי (’odekhiy, “your duration; your continuance”) that is, “your life” (see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 18).

[103:5]  ² sn The expression your youth is renewed like an eagle’s may allude to the phenomenon of molting, whereby the eagle grows new feathers.

[103:11]  ¹ tn For this sense of the verb גָבַר (gavar), see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 17, 19.

[103:11]  ² tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[103:12]  ¹ tn Heb “sunrise.”

[103:12]  ² tn Or “sunset.”

[103:12]  ³ tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.

[103:13]  ¹ tn Or “sons,” but the Hebrew term sometimes refers to children in general.

[103:13]  ² tn Heb “those who fear him.”

[109:17]  ¹ sn A curse in OT times consists of a formal appeal to God to bring judgment down upon another. Curses were sometimes justified (such as the one spoken by the psalmist here in vv. 6-19), but when they were not, the one pronouncing the curse was in danger of bringing the anticipated judgment down upon himself.

[109:17]  ² tn Heb “and he loved a curse and it came [upon] him.” A reference to the evil man experiencing a curse seems premature here, for the psalmist is asking God to bring judgment on his enemies. For this reason some (cf. NIV, NRSV) prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” as conjunctive and translate the verb as a jussive of prayer (“may it come upon him!”). The prefixed form with vav consecutive in the next line is emended in the same way and translated, “may it be far from him.” However, the psalmist may be indicating that the evil man’s lifestyle has already begun to yield its destructive fruit.

[109:17]  ³ tn Heb “and he did not delight in a blessing and it is far from him.”

[119:44]  ¹ tn The cohortative verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive indicates purpose/result after the negated jussive (see v. 43).

[119:44]  ² tn Or “forever and ever.”