Discovery BoxPsalms 9:6
Context9:6 The enemy’s cities have been reduced to permanent ruins; 1
you destroyed their cities; 2
all memory of the enemies has perished. 3
Psalms 64:6
Context64:6 They devise 4 unjust schemes;
they disguise 5 a well-conceived plot. 6
Man’s inner thoughts cannot be discovered. 7
[9:6] 1 tn Heb “the enemy – they have come to an end [in] ruins permanently.” The singular form אוֹיֵב (’oyev, “enemy”) is collective. It is placed at the beginning of the verse to heighten the contrast with יְהוָה (yÿhvah, “the
[9:6] 2 tn Heb “you uprooted cities.”
[9:6] 3 tn Heb “it has perished, their remembrance, they.” The independent pronoun at the end of the line is in apposition to the preceding pronominal suffix and lends emphasis (see IBHS 299 §16.3.4). The referent of the masculine pronoun is the nations/enemies (cf. v. 5), not the cities (the Hebrew noun עָרִים [’arim, “cities”] is grammatically feminine). This has been specified in the present translation for clarity; many modern translations retain the pronoun “them,” resulting in ambiguity (cf. NRSV “their cities you have rooted out; the very memory of them has perished”).
[64:6] 4 tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”
[64:6] 5 tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew
[64:6] 6 tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.
[64:6] 7 tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.
