Psalms 97:4

97:4 His lightning bolts light up the world;

the earth sees and trembles.

Psalms 35:21

35:21 They are ready to devour me; ¹ 

they say, “Aha! Aha! We’ve got you!” ² 

Psalms 54:7

54:7 Surely ³  he rescues me from all trouble, ⁴ 

and I triumph over my enemies. ⁵ 

Psalms 10:14

10:14 You have taken notice, ⁶ 

for ⁷  you always see ⁸  one who inflicts pain and suffering. ⁹ 

The unfortunate victim entrusts his cause to you; ¹⁰ 

you deliver ¹¹  the fatherless. ¹² 

[35:21]  ¹ tn Heb “and they cause their mouth to be wide against me.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here carries on the generalizing mood of the previous verse. For other examples of this use of the prefixed verbal form with vav consecutive, see GKC 329 §111.t.

[35:21]  ² tn Heb “our eye sees.” Apparently this is an idiom meaning to “look in triumph” or “gloat over” (see Ps 54:7).

[54:7]  ¹ tn Or “for,” indicating a more specific reason why he will praise the Lord’s name (cf. v. 6).

[54:7]  ² tn The perfects in v. 7 are probably rhetorical, indicating the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer, he can describe God’s deliverance and his own vindication as if they were occurring or had already occurred.

[54:7]  ³ tn Heb “and on my enemies my eyes look.”

[10:14]  ¹ tn Heb “you see.” One could translate the perfect as generalizing, “you do take notice.”

[10:14]  ² tn If the preceding perfect is taken as generalizing, then one might understand כִּי (ki) as asseverative: “indeed, certainly.”

[10:14]  ³ tn Here the imperfect emphasizes God’s typical behavior.

[10:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.

[10:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “to give into your hand, upon you, he abandons, [the] unfortunate [one].” The syntax is awkward and the meaning unclear. It is uncertain who or what is being given into God’s hand. Elsewhere the idiom “give into the hand” means to deliver into one’s possession. If “to give” goes with what precedes (as the accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests), then this may refer to the wicked man being delivered over to God for judgment. The present translation assumes that “to give” goes with what follows (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The verb יַעֲזֹב (ya’azov) here has the nuance “entrust” (see Gen 39:6; Job 39:11); the direct object (“[his] cause”) is implied.

[10:14]  ⁶ tn Or “help.”

[10:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “[for] one who is fatherless, you are a deliverer.” The noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9).