15:2 Whoever lives a blameless life, 1
does what is right,
and speaks honestly. 2
16:9 So my heart rejoices
and I am happy; 3
My life is safe. 4
22:20 Deliver me 5 from the sword!
Save 6 my life 7 from the claws 8 of the wild dogs!
31:5 Into your hand I entrust my life; 9
you will rescue 10 me, O Lord, the faithful God.
34:12 Do you want to really live? 11
Would you love to live a long, happy life? 12
54:3 For foreigners 13 attack me; 14
ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. 15 (Selah)
56:6 They stalk 16 and lurk; 17
they watch my every step, 18
as 19 they prepare to take my life. 20
61:6 Give the king long life!
Make his lifetime span several generations! 21
63:3 Because 22 experiencing 23 your loyal love is better than life itself,
my lips will praise you.
63:9 Enemies seek to destroy my life, 24
but they will descend into the depths of the earth. 25
88:3 For my life 26 is filled with troubles
and I am ready to enter Sheol. 27
91:16 I will satisfy him with long life, 28
and will let him see my salvation.
103:4 who delivers 29 your life from the Pit, 30
who crowns you with his loyal love and compassion,
103:15 A person’s life is like grass. 31
Like a flower in the field it flourishes,
116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,
“Please Lord, rescue my life!”
116:8 Yes, 32 Lord, 33 you rescued my life from death,
and kept my feet from stumbling.
119:109 My life is in continual danger, 34
but I do not forget your law.
121:7 The Lord will protect you from all harm;
he will protect your life.
1 tn Heb “one who walks blamelessly.”
2 tn Heb “one who speaks truth in his heart”; or “one who speaks truth [that is] in his heart.” This apparently refers to formulating a truthful statement in one’s mind and then honestly revealing that statement in one’s speech.
3 tn Heb “my glory is happy.” Some view the Hebrew term כְּבוֹדִי (kÿvodiy, “my glory”) as a metonymy for man’s inner being (see BDB 459 s.v. II כָּבוֹד 5), but it is preferable to emend the form to כְּבֵדִי (kÿvediy, “my liver”). Like the heart, the liver is viewed as the seat of one’s emotions. See also Pss 30:12; 57:9; 108:1, as well as H. W. Wolff, Anthropology of the Old Testament, 64, and M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:90. For an Ugaritic example of the heart/liver as the source of joy, see G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 47-48: “her [Anat’s] liver swelled with laughter, her heart was filled with joy, the liver of Anat with triumph.”
4 tn Heb “yes, my flesh dwells securely.” The psalmist’s “flesh” stands by metonymy for his body and, by extension, his physical life.
5 tn Or “my life.”
6 tn The verb “save” is supplied in the translation; it is understood by ellipsis (see “deliver” in the preceding line).
7 tn Heb “my only one.” The psalmist may mean that his life is precious, or that he feels isolated and alone.
8 tn Heb “from the hand.” Here “hand” is understood by metonymy as a reference to the “paw” and thus the “claws” of the wild dogs.
9 tn Heb “my spirit.” The noun רוּחַ (ruakh, “spirit”) here refers to the animating spirit that gives the psalmist life.
10 tn Or “redeem.” The perfect verbal form is understood here as anticipatory, indicating rhetorically the psalmist’s certitude and confidence that God will intervene. The psalmist is so confident of God’s positive response to his prayer that he can describe his deliverance as if it had already happened. Another option is to take the perfect as precative, expressing a wish or request (“rescue me”; cf. NIV). See IBHS 494-95 §30.5.4c, d. However, not all grammarians are convinced that the perfect is used as a precative in biblical Hebrew.
11 tn Heb “Who is the man who desires life?” The rhetorical question is used to grab the audience’s attention. “Life” probably refers here to quality of life, not just physical existence or even duration of life. See the following line.
12 tn Heb “[Who] loves days to see good?”
13 tc Many medieval Hebrew
14 tn Heb “rise against me.”
15 tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”
16 tn The verb is from the root גּוּר (gur), which means “to challenge, attack” in Isa 54:15 and “to stalk” (with hostile intent) in Ps 59:3.
17 tn Or “hide.”
18 tn Heb “my heels.”
19 tn Heb “according to,” in the sense of “inasmuch as; since,” or “when; while.”
20 tn Heb “they wait [for] my life.”
21 tn Heb “days upon days of the king add, his years like generation and generation.”
sn It is not certain if the (royal) psalmist is referring to himself in the third person in this verse, or if an exile is praying on behalf of the king.
22 tn This line is understood as giving the basis for the praise promised in the following line. Another option is to take the Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) as asseverative/emphasizing, “Indeed, your loyal love is better” (cf. NEB, which leaves the particle untranslated).
23 tn The word “experiencing” is supplied in the translation for clarification. The psalmist does not speak here of divine loyal love in some abstract sense, but of loyal love revealed and experienced.
24 tn Heb “but they for destruction seek my life.” The pronoun “they” must refer here to the psalmist’s enemies, referred to at this point for the first time in the psalm.
25 sn The depths of the earth refers here to the underworld dwelling place of the dead (see Ezek 26:20; 31:14, 16, 18; 32:18, 24). See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 167.
26 tn Or “my soul.”
27 tn Heb “and my life approaches Sheol.”
28 tn Heb “length of days.”
29 tn Or “redeems.”
30 tn The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 49:9; 55:24.
31 tn Heb “[as for] mankind, like grass [are] his days.” The Hebrew noun אֱנוֹשׁ (’enosh) is used here generically of human beings. What is said is true of all mankind.
32 tn Or “for.”
33 tn “
34 tn Heb “my life [is] in my hands continually.”