Psalms 89:32

89:32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club, ¹ 

their sin by inflicting them with bruises. ² 

Psalms 107:17

107:17 They acted like fools in their rebellious ways, ³ 

and suffered because of their sins.

Psalms 32:1

Psalm 32 ⁴ 

By David; a well-written song. ⁵ 

32:1 How blessed ⁶  is the one whose rebellious acts are forgiven, ⁷ 

whose sin is pardoned! ⁸ 

Psalms 39:8

39:8 Deliver me from all my sins of rebellion!

Do not make me the object of fools’ insults!

Psalms 51:3

51:3 For I am aware of ⁹  my rebellious acts;

I am forever conscious of my sin. ¹⁰ 

Psalms 65:3

65:3 Our record of sins overwhelms me, ¹¹ 

but you forgive ¹²  our acts of rebellion.

Psalms 103:12

103:12 As far as the eastern horizon ¹³  is from the west, ¹⁴ 

so he removes the guilt of our rebellious actions ¹⁵  from us.

Psalms 5:10

5:10 Condemn them, ¹⁶  O God!

May their own schemes be their downfall! ¹⁷ 

Drive them away ¹⁸  because of their many acts of insurrection, ¹⁹ 

for they have rebelled against you.

Psalms 25:7

25:7 Do not hold against me ²⁰  the sins of my youth ²¹  or my rebellious acts!

Because you are faithful to me, extend to me your favor, O Lord! ²² 

Psalms 19:13

19:13 Moreover, keep me from committing flagrant ²³  sins;

do not allow such sins to control me. ²⁴ 

Then I will be blameless,

and innocent of blatant ²⁵  rebellion.

Psalms 32:5

32:5 Then I confessed my sin;

I no longer covered up my wrongdoing.

I said, “I will confess ²⁶  my rebellious acts to the Lord.”

And then you forgave my sins. ²⁷  (Selah)

Psalms 36:1

Psalm 36 ²⁸ 

For the music director; written by the Lord’s servant, David; an oracle. ²⁹ 

36:1 An evil man is rebellious to the core. ³⁰ 

He does not fear God, ³¹ 

Psalms 59:3

59:3 For look, they wait to ambush me; ³² 

powerful men stalk ³³  me,

but not because I have rebelled or sinned, O Lord. ³⁴ 

Psalms 51:1

Psalm 51 ³⁵ 

For the music director; a psalm of David, written when Nathan the prophet confronted him after David’s affair with Bathsheba. ³⁶ 

51:1 Have mercy on me, O God, because of ³⁷  your loyal love!

Because of ³⁸  your great compassion, wipe away my rebellious acts! ³⁹ 

[89:32]  ¹ tn Heb “I will punish with a club their rebellion.”

[89:32]  ² tn Heb “with blows their sin.”

[107:17]  ³ tn Heb “fools [they were] because of the way of their rebellion.”

[32:1]  ⁵ sn Psalm 32. The psalmist recalls the agony he experienced prior to confessing his sins and affirms that true happiness comes when one’s sins are forgiven. He then urges others not to be stubborn, but to turn to God while forgiveness is available, for God extends his mercy to the repentant, while the wicked experience nothing but sorrow.

[32:1]  ⁶ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term מַשְׂכִּיל (maskil) is uncertain. The word is derived from a verb meaning “to be prudent; to be wise.” Various options are: “a contemplative song,” “a song imparting moral wisdom,” or “a skillful [i.e., well-written] song.” The term occurs in the superscriptions of Pss 32, 42, 44, 45, 52-55, 74, 78, 88, 89, and 142, as well as in Ps 47:7.

[32:1]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew noun is an abstract plural. The word often refers metonymically to the happiness that God-given security and prosperity produce (see Pss 1:1, 3; 2:12; 34:9; 41:1; 65:4; 84:12; 89:15; 106:3; 112:1; 127:5; 128:1; 144:15). Here it refers to the relief that one experiences when one’s sins are forgiven.

[32:1]  ⁸ tn Heb “lifted up.”

[32:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “covered over.”

[51:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “know.”

[51:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “and my sin [is] in front of me continually.”

[65:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “the records of sins are too strong for me.”

[65:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “make atonement for.”

[103:12]  ¹¹ tn Heb “sunrise.”

[103:12]  ¹² tn Or “sunset.”

[103:12]  ¹³ tn The Hebrew term פֶּשַׁע (pesha’, rebellious act”) is here used metonymically for the guilt such actions produce.

[5:10]  ¹³ tn Heb “declare/regard them as guilty.” Declaring the psalmist’s adversaries guilty is here metonymic for judging them or paying them back for their wrongdoing.

[5:10]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “may they fall from their plans.” The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation. The psalmist calls judgment down on the evildoers. Their plans will be their downfall in that God will judge them for their evil schemes.

[5:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “banish them.”

[5:10]  ¹⁶ tn The Hebrew noun used here, פֶּשַׁע (pesha’), refers to rebellious actions. The psalmist pictures his enemies as rebels against God (see the next line).

[25:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “do not remember,” with the intention of punishing.

[25:7]  ¹⁶ sn That is, the sins characteristic of youths, who lack moral discretion and wisdom.

[25:7]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “according to your faithfulness, remember me, you, for the sake of your goodness, O Lord.”

[19:13]  ¹⁷ tn Or “presumptuous.”

[19:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “let them not rule over me.”

[19:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “great.”

[32:5]  ¹⁹ tn The Hiphil of ידה normally means “give thanks, praise,” but here, as in Prov 28:13, it means “confess.”

[32:5]  ²⁰ tn Heb “the wrongdoing of my sin.” By joining synonyms for “sin” in this way, the psalmist may be emphasizing the degree of his wrongdoing.

[36:1]  ²¹ sn Psalm 36. Though evil men plan to harm others, the psalmist is confident that the Lord is the just ruler of the earth who gives and sustains all life. He prays for divine blessing and protection and anticipates God’s judgment of the wicked.

[36:1]  ²² tn In the Hebrew text the word נאם (“oracle”) appears at the beginning of the next verse (v. 2 in the Hebrew text because the superscription is considered v. 1). The resulting reading, “an oracle of rebellion for the wicked [is] in the midst of my heart” (cf. NIV) apparently means that the psalm, which foresees the downfall of the wicked, is a prophetic oracle about the rebellion of the wicked which emerges from the soul of the psalmist. One could translate, “Here is a poem written as I reflected on the rebellious character of evil men.” Another option, followed in the translation above, is to attach נאם (nÿ’um, “oracle”) with the superscription. For another example of a Davidic poem being labeled an “oracle,” see 2 Sam 23:1.

[36:1]  ²³ tn Heb “[the] rebellion of an evil man [is] in the midst of my heart.” The translation assumes a reading “in the midst of his heart” (i.e., “to the core”) instead of “in the midst of my heart,” a change which finds support in a a few medieval Hebrew mss, the Hebrew text of Origen’s Hexapla, and the Syriac.

[36:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “there is no dread of God before his eyes.” The phrase “dread of God” refers here to a healthy respect for God which recognizes that he will punish evil behavior.

[59:3]  ²³ tn Heb “my life.”

[59:3]  ²⁴ tn The Hebrew verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 56:8.

[59:3]  ²⁵ sn The point is that the psalmist’s enemies have no justifiable reason for attacking him. He has neither rebelled or sinned against the Lord.

[51:1]  ²⁵ sn Psalm 51. The psalmist confesses his sinfulness to God and begs for forgiveness and a transformation of his inner character. According to the psalm superscription, David offered this prayer when Nathan confronted him with his sin following the king’s affair with Bathsheba (see 2 Sam 11-12). However, the final two verses of the psalm hardly fit this situation, for they assume the walls of Jerusalem have been destroyed and that the sacrificial system has been temporarily suspended. These verses are probably an addition to the psalm made during the period of exile following the fall of Jerusalem in 586 b.c. The exiles could relate to David’s experience, for they, like him, and had been forced to confront their sin. They appropriated David’s ancient prayer and applied it to their own circumstances.

[51:1]  ²⁶ tn Heb “a psalm by David, when Nathan the prophet came to him when he had gone to Bathsheba.”

[51:1]  ²⁷ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ²⁸ tn Or “according to.”

[51:1]  ²⁹ tn Traditionally “blot out my transgressions.” Because of the reference to washing and cleansing in the following verse, it is likely that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to wiping an object clean (note the use of the verb מָחָה (makhah) in the sense of “wipe clean; dry” in 2 Kgs 21:13; Prov 30:20; Isa 25:8). Another option is that the psalmist is comparing forgiveness to erasing or blotting out names from a register (see Exod 32:32-33). In this case one might translate, “erase all record of my rebellious acts.”