11:2 For look, the wicked 1 prepare 2 their bows, 3
they put their arrows on the strings,
to shoot in the darkness 4 at the morally upright. 5
37:14 Evil men draw their swords
and prepare their bows,
to bring down 6 the oppressed and needy,
and to slaughter those who are godly. 7
39:11 You severely discipline people for their sins; 8
like a moth you slowly devour their strength. 9
Surely all people are a mere vapor. (Selah)
55:15 May death destroy them! 10
May they go down alive into Sheol! 11
For evil is in their dwelling place and in their midst.
62:4 They 12 spend all their time planning how to bring him 13 down. 14
They love to use deceit; 15
they pronounce blessings with their mouths,
but inwardly they utter curses. 16 (Selah)
68:27 There is little Benjamin, their ruler, 17
and the princes of Judah in their robes, 18
along with the princes of Zebulun and the princes of Naphtali.
69:28 May their names be deleted from the scroll of the living! 19
Do not let their names be listed with the godly! 20
94:23 He will pay them back for their sin. 21
He will destroy them because of 22 their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.
140:8 O Lord, do not let the wicked have their way! 23
Do not allow their 24 plan to succeed when they attack! 25 (Selah)
1 tn In the psalms the “wicked” (רְשָׁעִים, rÿsha’im) are typically proud, practical atheists (Ps 10:2, 4, 11) who hate God’s commands, commit sinful deeds, speak lies and slander (Ps 50:16-20), and cheat others (Ps 37:21). They oppose God and threaten his people (Ps 3:8).
2 tn The Hebrew imperfect verbal form depicts the enemies’ hostile action as underway.
3 tn Heb “a bow.”
4 sn In the darkness. The enemies’ attack, the precise form of which is not indicated, is compared here to a night ambush by archers; the psalmist is defenseless against this deadly attack.
5 tn Heb “pure of heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of one’s moral character and motives. The “pure of heart” are God’s faithful followers who trust in and love the Lord and, as a result, experience his deliverance (see Pss 7:10; 32:11; 36:10; 64:10; 94:15; 97:11).
6 tn Heb “to cause to fall.”
7 tn Heb “the upright in way,” i.e., those who lead godly lives.
8 tn “with punishments on account of sin you discipline a man.”
9 tc Heb “you cause to dissolve, like a moth, his desired [thing].” The translation assumes an emendation of חֲמוּדוֹ (khamudo, “his desirable [thing]”) to חֶמְדוֹ (khemdo, “his loveliness” [or “beauty”]), a reading that is supported by a few medieval Hebrew
10 tc The meaning of the MT is unclear. The Kethib (consonantal text) reads יַשִּׁימָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashimavet ’alemo, “May devastation [be] upon them!”). The proposed noun יַשִּׁימָוֶת occurs only here and perhaps in the place name Beth-Jeshimoth in Num 33:49. The Qere (marginal text) has יַשִּׁי מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashi mavet ’alemo). The verbal form יַשִּׁי is apparently an alternate form of יַשִּׁיא (yashi’), a Hiphil imperfect from נָשַׁא (nasha’, “deceive”). In this case one might read “death will come deceptively upon them.” This reading has the advantage of reading מָוֶת (mavet, “death”) which forms a natural parallel with “Sheol” in the next line. The present translation is based on the following reconstruction of the text: יְשִׁמֵּם מָוֶת (yeshimmem mavet). The verb assumed in the reconstruction is a Hiphil jussive third masculine singular from שָׁמַם (shamam, “be desolate”) with a third masculine plural pronominal suffix attached. This reconstruction assumes that (1) haplography has occurred in the traditional text (the original sequence of three mems [מ] was lost with only one mem remaining), resulting in the fusion of originally distinct forms in the Kethib, and (2) that עָלֵימוֹ (’alemo, “upon them”) is a later scribal addition attempting to make sense of a garbled and corrupt text. The preposition עַל (’al) does occur with the verb שָׁמַם (shamam), but in such cases the expression means “be appalled at/because of” (see Jer 49:20; 50:45). If one were to retain the prepositional phrase here, one would have to read the text as follows: יַשִּׁים מָוֶת עָלֵימוֹ (yashim mavet ’alemo, “Death will be appalled at them”). The idea seems odd, to say the least. Death is not collocated with this verb elsewhere.
11 sn Go down alive. This curse imagines a swift and sudden death for the psalmist’s enemies.
12 tn That is, the psalmist’s enemies addressed in the previous verse.
13 tn That is, the generic “man” referred to in the previous verse.
14 tn Heb “only from his lofty place [or perhaps, “dignity”] they plan to drive [him] away.”
15 tn Heb “they delight [in] a lie.”
16 sn The enemies use deceit to bring down their victim. They make him think they are his friends by pronouncing blessings upon him, but inwardly they desire his demise.
17 sn Little Benjamin, their ruler. This may allude to the fact that Israel’s first king, Saul, was from the tribe of Benjamin.
18 tc The MT reads רִגְמָתָם (rigmatam), which many derive from רָגַם (ragam, “to kill by stoning”) and translates, “[in] their heaps,” that is, in large numbers.
19 tn Heb “let them be wiped out of the scroll of the living.”
sn The phrase the scroll of the living occurs only here in the OT. It pictures a scroll or census list containing the names of the citizens of a community. When an individual died, that person’s name was removed from the list. So this curse is a very vivid way of asking that the enemies die.
20 tn Heb “and with the godly let them not be written.”
sn Do not let their names be listed with the godly. This curse pictures a scroll in which God records the names of his loyal followers. The psalmist makes the point that his enemies have no right to be included in this list of the godly.
21 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
22 tn Or “in.”
23 tn Heb “do not grant the desires of the wicked.”
24 tn Heb “his.” The singular is used in a representative sense (see v. 1).
25 tn Heb “his plot do not promote, they rise up.” The translation understands the final verb as being an unmarked temporal clause. Another option is to revocalize the verb as a Hiphil and take the verb with the next verse, “those who surround me lift up [their] head,” which could refer to their proud attitude as they anticipate victory (see Ps 27:6).