Psalms 9:4

9:4 For you defended my just cause; ¹ 

from your throne you pronounced a just decision. ² 

Psalms 10:17-18

10:17 Lord, you have heard ³  the request ⁴  of the oppressed;

you make them feel secure because you listen to their prayer. ⁵ 

10:18 You defend ⁶  the fatherless and oppressed, ⁷ 

so that mere mortals may no longer terrorize them. ⁸ 

Psalms 22:24

22:24 For he did not despise or detest the suffering ⁹  of the oppressed; ¹⁰ 

he did not ignore him; ¹¹ 

when he cried out to him, he responded. ¹² 

Psalms 72:4

72:4 He will defend ¹³  the oppressed among the people;

he will deliver ¹⁴  the children ¹⁵  of the poor

and crush the oppressor.

Psalms 72:12-14

72:12 For he will rescue the needy ¹⁶  when they cry out for help,

and the oppressed ¹⁷  who have no defender.

72:13 He will take pity ¹⁸  on the poor and needy;

the lives of the needy he will save.

72:14 From harm and violence he will defend them; ¹⁹ 

he will value their lives. ²⁰ 

Psalms 102:17

102:17 when he responds to the prayer of the destitute, ²¹ 

and does not reject ²²  their request. ²³ 

Psalms 102:1

Psalm 102 ²⁴ 

The prayer of an oppressed man, as he grows faint and pours out his lament before the Lord.

102:1 O Lord, hear my prayer!

Pay attention to my cry for help! ²⁵ 

Psalms 8:1

Psalm 8 ²⁶ 

For the music director, according to the gittith style; ²⁷  a psalm of David.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord, ²⁸ 

how magnificent ²⁹  is your reputation ³⁰  throughout the earth!

You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! ³¹ 

Psalms 8:1

Psalm 8 ³² 

For the music director, according to the gittith style; ³³  a psalm of David.

8:1 O Lord, our Lord, ³⁴ 

how magnificent ³⁵  is your reputation ³⁶  throughout the earth!

You reveal your majesty in the heavens above! ³⁷ 

Proverbs 22:22

22:22 Do not exploit ³⁸  a poor person because he is poor

and do not crush the needy in court, ³⁹ 

Proverbs 23:10-11

23:10 Do not move an ancient boundary stone,

or take over ⁴⁰  the fields of the fatherless,

23:11 for their Protector ⁴¹  is strong;

he will plead their case against you. ⁴² 

Isaiah 11:4

11:4 He will treat the poor fairly, ⁴³ 

and make right decisions ⁴⁴  for the downtrodden of the earth. ⁴⁵ 

He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, ⁴⁶ 

and order the wicked to be executed. ⁴⁷ 

Jeremiah 22:16

22:16 He upheld the cause of the poor and needy.

So things went well for Judah.’ ⁴⁸ 

The Lord says,

‘That is a good example of what it means to know me.’ ⁴⁹ 

Matthew 11:5

11:5 The blind see, the ⁵⁰  lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news proclaimed to them.

[9:4]  ¹ tn Heb “for you accomplished my justice and my legal claim.”

[9:4]  ² tn Heb “you sat on a throne [as] one who judges [with] righteousness.” The perfect verbal forms in v. 4 probably allude to a recent victory (see vv. 5-7). Another option is to understand the verbs as describing what is typical (“you defend…you sit on a throne”).

[10:17]  ³ sn You have heard. The psalmist is confident that God has responded positively to his earlier petitions for divine intervention. The psalmist apparently prayed the words of vv. 16-18 after the reception of an oracle of deliverance (given in response to the confident petition of vv. 12-15) or after the Lord actually delivered him from his enemies.

[10:17]  ⁴ tn Heb “desire.”

[10:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “you make firm their heart, you cause your ear to listen.”

[10:18]  ⁶ tn Heb “to judge (on behalf of),” or “by judging (on behalf of).”

[10:18]  ⁷ tn Heb “crushed.” See v. 10.

[10:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “he will not add again [i.e., “he will no longer”] to terrify, man from the earth.” The Hebrew term אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh, “man”) refers here to the wicked nations (v. 16). By describing them as “from the earth,” the psalmist emphasizes their weakness before the sovereign, eternal king.

[22:24]  ⁹ tn Or “affliction”; or “need.”

[22:24]  ¹⁰ sn In this verse the psalmist refers to himself in the third person and characterizes himself as oppressed.

[22:24]  ¹¹ tn Heb “he did not hide his face from him.” For other uses of the idiom “hide the face” meaning “ignore,” see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9. Sometimes the idiom carries the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 27:9; 88:14).

[22:24]  ¹² tn Heb “heard.”

[72:4]  ¹³ tn Heb “judge [for].”

[72:4]  ¹⁴ tn The prefixed verbal form appears to be an imperfect, not a jussive.

[72:4]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “sons.”

[72:12]  ¹⁶ tn The singular is representative. The typical needy individual here represents the entire group.

[72:12]  ¹⁷ tn The singular is representative. The typical oppressed individual here represents the entire group.

[72:13]  ¹⁸ tn The prefixed verb form is best understood as a defectively written imperfect (see Deut 7:16).

[72:14]  ¹⁹ tn Or “redeem their lives.” The verb “redeem” casts the Lord in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Pss 19:14; 69:18).

[72:14]  ²⁰ tn Heb “their blood will be precious in his eyes.”

[102:17]  ²¹ tn The Hebrew adjective עַרְעָר (’arar, “destitute”) occurs only here in the OT. It is derived from the verbal root ערר (“to strip oneself”).

[102:17]  ²² tn Heb “despise.”

[102:17]  ²³ tn The perfect verbal forms in vv. 16-17 are functioning as future perfects, indicating future actions that will precede the future developments described in v. 15.

[102:1]  ²⁴ sn Psalm 102. The psalmist laments his oppressed state, but longs for a day when the Lord will restore Jerusalem and vindicate his suffering people.

[102:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and may my cry for help come to you.”

[8:1]  ²⁶ sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.

[8:1]  ²⁷ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.

[8:1]  ²⁸ tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the Lord’s absolute sovereignty.

[8:1]  ²⁹ tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”

[8:1]  ³⁰ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[8:1]  ³¹ tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.

[8:1]  ³² sn Psalm 8. In this hymn to the sovereign creator, the psalmist praises God’s majesty and marvels that God has given mankind dominion over the created order.

[8:1]  ³³ tn The precise meaning of the Hebrew term הגתית is uncertain; it probably refers to a musical style or type of instrument.

[8:1]  ³⁴ tn The plural form of the title emphasizes the Lord’s absolute sovereignty.

[8:1]  ³⁵ tn Or “awesome”; or “majestic.”

[8:1]  ³⁶ tn Heb “name,” which here stands metonymically for God’s reputation.

[8:1]  ³⁷ tc Heb “which, give, your majesty on the heavens.” The verb form תְּנָה (tÿnah; an imperative?) is corrupt. The form should be emended to a second masculine singular perfect (נָתַתָּה, natatah) or imperfect (תִתֵן, titen) form. The introductory אֲשֶׁר (’asher, “which”) can be taken as a relative pronoun (“you who”) or as a causal conjunction (“because”). One may literally translate, “you who [or “because you”] place your majesty upon the heavens.” For other uses of the phrase “place majesty upon” see Num 27:20 and 1 Chr 29:25.

[22:22]  ³⁸ tn Two negated jussives form the instruction here: אַל־תִּגְזָל (’al-tigzal, “do not exploit”) and וְאַל־תְּדַכֵּא (ve’al-tÿdakke’, “do not crush”).

[22:22]  ³⁹ tn Heb “in the gate” (so KJV); NAB, NASB, NRSV “at the gate.” The “gate” of the city was the center of activity, the place of business as well as the place for settling legal disputes. The language of the next verse suggests a legal setting, so “court” is an appropriate translation here.

[23:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “encroach on” (NIV, NRSV); Heb “go into.”

[23:11]  ⁴¹ tn The participle גֹּאֵל (go’el) describes a “kinsman redeemer.” Some English versions explicitly cite “God” (e.g., NCV, CEV) or “the Lord” (e.g. TEV).

[23:11]  ⁴² sn This is the tenth saying; once again there is a warning not to encroach on other people’s rights and property, especially the defenseless (see v. 10; 22:22-23, 28).

[11:4]  ⁴³ tn Heb “with justice” (so NAB) or “with righteousness” (so KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV).

[11:4]  ⁴⁴ tn Heb “make decisions with rectitude”; cf. ASV, NRSV “and decide with equity.”

[11:4]  ⁴⁵ tn Or “land” (NAB, NCV, CEV). It is uncertain if the passage is picturing universal dominion or focusing on the king’s rule over his covenant people. The reference to God’s “holy mountain” in v. 9 and the description of renewed Israelite conquests in v. 14 suggest the latter, though v. 10 seems to refer to a universal kingdom (see 2:2-4).

[11:4]  ⁴⁶ tc The Hebrew text reads literally, “and he will strike the earth with the scepter of his mouth.” Some have suggested that in this context אֶרֶץ (’erets, “earth”) as an object of judgment seems too broad in scope. The parallelism is tighter if one emends the word to ץ(י)עָרִ (’arits, “potentate, tyrant”). The phrase “scepter of his mouth” refers to the royal (note “scepter”) decrees that he proclaims with his mouth. Because these decrees will have authority and power (see v. 2) behind them, they can be described as “striking” the tyrants down. Nevertheless, the MT reading may not need emending. Isaiah refers to the entire “earth” as the object of God’s judgment in several places without specifying the wicked as the object of the judgment (Isa 24:17-21; 26:9, 21; 28:22; cf. 13:11).

[11:4]  ⁴⁷ tn Heb “and by the breath of his lips he will kill the wicked.” The “breath of his lips” refers to his speech, specifically in this context his official decrees that the wicked oppressors be eliminated from his realm. See the preceding note.

[22:16]  ⁴⁸ tn The words “for Judah” are not in the text, but the absence of the preposition plus object as in the preceding verse suggests that this is a more general statement, i.e., “things went well for everyone.”

[22:16]  ⁴⁹ tn Heb “Is that not what it means to know me.” The question is rhetorical and expects a positive answer. It is translated in the light of the context.

[11:5]  ⁵⁰ tn Grk “and the,” but καί (kai) has not been translated since English normally uses a coordinating conjunction only between the last two elements in a series of three or more. Two other conjunctions are omitted in this series.