10:13 Why does the wicked man reject God? 1
He says to himself, 2 “You 3 will not hold me accountable.” 4
18:16 He reached down 5 from above and took hold of me;
he pulled me from the surging water. 6
1 tn The rhetorical question expresses the psalmist’s outrage that the wicked would have the audacity to disdain God.
2 tn Heb “he says in his heart” (see vv. 6, 11). Another option is to understand an ellipsis of the interrogative particle here (cf. the preceding line), “Why does he say in his heart?”
3 tn Here the wicked man addresses God directly.
4 tn Heb “you will not seek.” The verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as generalizing about what is typical and translate, “you do not hold [people] accountable.”
5 tn Heb “stretched.” Perhaps “his hand” should be supplied by ellipsis (see Ps 144:7). In this poetic narrative context the three prefixed verbal forms in this verse are best understood as preterites indicating past tense, not imperfects.
6 tn Heb “mighty waters.” The waters of the sea symbolize the psalmist’s powerful enemies, as well as the realm of death they represent (see v. 4 and Ps 144:7).