Psalms 94:18

94:18 If I say, “My foot is slipping,”

your loyal love, O Lord, supports me.

Psalms 26:12

26:12 I am safe, ¹ 

and among the worshipers I will praise the Lord.

Psalms 38:16

38:16 I have prayed for deliverance, because otherwise they will gloat over me; ² 

when my foot slips they will arrogantly taunt me. ³ 

Psalms 66:6

66:6 He turned the sea into dry land; ⁴ 

they passed through the river on foot. ⁵ 

Let us rejoice in him there! ⁶ 

Psalms 91:12

91:12 They will lift you up in their hands,

so you will not slip and fall on a stone. ⁷ 

Psalms 121:3

121:3 May he not allow your foot to slip!

May your protector ⁸  not sleep! ⁹ 

Psalms 36:11

36:11 Do not let arrogant men overtake me,

or let evil men make me homeless! ¹⁰ 

Psalms 9:15

9:15 The nations fell ¹¹  into the pit they had made;

their feet were caught in the net they had hidden. ¹² 

Psalms 68:23

68:23 so that your feet may stomp ¹³  in their blood,

and your dogs may eat their portion of the enemies’ corpses.” ¹⁴ 

Psalms 91:13

91:13 You will subdue ¹⁵  a lion and a snake; ¹⁶ 

you will trample underfoot a young lion and a serpent.

Psalms 68:30

68:30 Sound your battle cry ¹⁷  against the wild beast of the reeds, ¹⁸ 

and the nations that assemble like a herd of calves led by bulls! ¹⁹ 

They humble themselves ²⁰  and offer gold and silver as tribute. ²¹ 

God ²²  scatters ²³  the nations that like to do battle.

Psalms 7:12

7:12 If a person ²⁴  does not repent, God sharpens his sword ²⁵ 

and prepares to shoot his bow. ²⁶ 

Psalms 143:10

143:10 Teach me to do what pleases you, ²⁷ 

for you are my God.

May your kind presence ²⁸ 

lead me ²⁹  into a level land. ³⁰ 

Psalms 40:2

40:2 He lifted me out of the watery pit, ³¹ 

out of the slimy mud. ³² 

He placed my feet on a rock

and gave me secure footing. ³³ 

[26:12]  ¹ tn Heb “my foot stands in a level place.”

[38:16]  ¹ tn Heb “For I said, ‘Lest they rejoice over me.’” The psalmist recalls the motivating argument of his petition. He probably prefaced this statement with a prayer for deliverance (see Pss 7:1-2; 13:3-4; 28:1).

[38:16]  ² tn Heb “they will magnify against me.” See Pss 35:26; 55:13.

[66:6]  ¹ sn He turned the sea into dry land. The psalmist alludes to Israel’s crossing the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).

[66:6]  ² tn Because of the reference to “the river,” some understand this as an allusion to Israel’s crossing the Jordan River. However, the Hebrew term נָהָר (nahad) does not always refer to a “river” in the technical sense; it can be used of sea currents (see Jonah 2:4). So this line may also refer to the Red Sea crossing (cf. NEB).

[66:6]  ³ tn The adverb שָׁם (sham, “there”) is used here, as often in poetic texts, to point “to a spot in which a scene is localized vividly in the imagination” (BDB 1027 s.v.).

[91:12]  ¹ tn Heb “so your foot will not strike a stone.”

[121:3]  ¹ tn Heb “the one who guards you.”

[121:3]  ² tn The prefixed verbal forms following the negative particle אל appear to be jussives. As noted above, if they are taken as true jussives of prayer, then the speaker in v. 3 would appear to be distinct from both the speaker in vv. 1-2 and the speaker in vv. 4-8. However, according to GKC 322 §109.e), the jussives are used rhetorically here “to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen.” In this case one should probably translate, “he will not allow your foot to slip, your protector will not sleep,” and understand just one speaker in vv. 4-8.

[36:11]  ¹ tn Heb “let not a foot of pride come to me, and let not the hand of the evil ones cause me to wander as a fugitive.”

[9:15]  ¹ tn Heb “sank down.”

[9:15]  ² sn The hostility of the nations against God’s people is their downfall, for it prompts God to intervene and destroy them. See also Ps 7:15-16.

[68:23]  ¹ tc Some (e.g. NRSV) prefer to emend מָחַץ (makhats, “smash; stomp”; see v. 21) to רָחַץ (rakhats, “bathe”; see Ps 58:10).

[68:23]  ² tn Heb “[and] the tongue of your dogs from [the] enemies [may eat] its portion.”

[91:13]  ¹ tn Heb “walk upon.”

[91:13]  ² tn Or perhaps “cobra” (see Ps 58:4).

[68:30]  ¹ tn The Hebrew verb גָּעַר (ga’ar) is often understood to mean “rebuke.” In some cases it is apparent that scolding or threatening is in view (see Gen 37:10; Ruth 2:16; Zech 3:2). However, in militaristic contexts such as Ps 68 this translation is inadequate, for the verb refers in this setting to the warrior’s battle cry, which terrifies and paralyzes the enemy. See A. Caquot, TDOT 3:53, and note the use of the verb in Ps 106:9 and Nah 1:4, as well as the related noun in Job 26:11; Pss 18:15; 76:6; 104:7; Isa 50:2; 51:20; 66:15.

[68:30]  ² sn The wild beast of the reeds probably refers to a hippopotamus, which in turn symbolizes the nation of Egypt.

[68:30]  ³ tn Heb “an assembly of bulls, with calves of the nations.”

[68:30]  ⁴ tn Heb “humbling himself.” The verb form is a Hitpael participle from the root רָפַס (rafas, “to trample”). The Hitpael of this verb appears only here and in Prov 6:3, where it seems to mean, “humble oneself,” a nuance that fits nicely in this context. The apparent subject is “wild beast” or “assembly,” though both of these nouns are grammatically feminine, while the participle is a masculine form. Perhaps one should emend the participial form to a masculine plural (מִתְרַפִּם, mitrapim) and understand “bulls” or “calves” as the subject.

[68:30]  ⁵ tc Heb “with pieces [?] of silver.” The meaning of the Hebrew term רַצֵּי (ratsey) is unclear. It is probably best to emend the text to בֶּצֶר וְכָסֶף (betser vÿkhasef, “[with] gold and silver”).

[68:30]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[68:30]  ⁷ tn The verb בָּזַר (bazar) is an alternative form of פָּזַר (pazar, “scatter”).

[7:12]  ¹ tn Heb “If he”; the referent (a person who is a sinner) has been specified in the translation for clarity. The subject of the first verb is understood as the sinner who fails to repent of his ways and becomes the target of God’s judgment (vv. 9, 14-16).

[7:12]  ² tn Heb “if he does not return, his sword he sharpens.” The referent (God) of the pronominal subject of the second verb (“sharpens”) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[7:12]  ³ tn Heb “his bow he treads and prepares it.” “Treading the bow” involved stepping on one end of it in order to string it and thus prepare it for battle.

[143:10]  ¹ tn Or “your will.” See Ps 40:8.

[143:10]  ² tn Heb “your good spirit.” God’s “spirit” may refer here to his presence (see the note on the word “presence” in Ps 139:7) or to his personal Spirit (see Ps 51:10).

[143:10]  ³ tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive. Taking the statement as a prayer fits well with the petitionary tone of vv. 7-10a.

[143:10]  ⁴ sn A level land (where one can walk free of obstacles) here symbolizes divine blessing and protection. See Pss 26:12 and 27:11 for similar imagery.

[40:2]  ¹ tn Heb “cistern of roaring.” The Hebrew noun בּוֹר (bor, “cistern, pit”) is used metaphorically here of Sheol, the place of death, which is sometimes depicted as a raging sea (see Ps 18:4, 15-16). The noun שָׁאוֹן (sha’on, “roaring”) refers elsewhere to the crashing sound of the sea’s waves (see Ps 65:7).

[40:2]  ² tn Heb “from the mud of mud.” The Hebrew phrase translated “slimy mud” employs an appositional genitive. Two synonyms are joined in a construct relationship to emphasize the single idea. For a detailed discussion of the grammatical point with numerous examples, see Y. Avishur, “Pairs of Synonymous Words in the Construct State (and in Appositional Hendiadys) in Biblical Hebrew,” Semitics 2 (1971): 17-81.

[40:2]  ³ tn Heb “he established my footsteps.”