Psalms 79:3

79:3 They have made their blood flow like water

all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury them. ¹ 

Psalms 88:17

88:17 They surround me like water all day long;

they join forces and encircle me. ² 

Psalms 109:18

109:18 He made cursing a way of life, ³ 

so curses poured into his stomach like water

and seeped into his bones like oil. ⁴ 

Psalms 22:14

22:14 My strength drains away like water; ⁵ 

all my bones are dislocated;

my heart ⁶  is like wax;

it melts away inside me.

[79:3]  ¹ tn Heb “they have poured out their blood like water, all around Jerusalem, and there is no one burying.”

[88:17]  ² tn Heb “they encircle me together.”

[109:18]  ³ tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”

[109:18]  ⁴ tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”

[22:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “like water I am poured out.”

[22:14]  ⁵ sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.