17:13 Rise up, Lord!
Confront him! 1 Knock him down! 2
Use your sword to rescue me from the wicked man! 3
35:3 Use your spear and lance 4 against 5 those who chase me!
Assure me with these words: 6 “I am your deliverer!”
79:11 Listen to the painful cries of the prisoners! 7
Use your great strength to set free those condemned to die! 8
102:8 All day long my enemies taunt me;
those who mock me use my name in their curses. 9
1 tn Heb “Be in front of his face.”
2 tn Or “bring him to his knees.”
3 tn Heb “rescue my life from the wicked [one] [by] your sword.”
4 tn Or “javelin.” On the meaning of this word, which occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible, see M. Dahood, Psalms (AB), 1:210-11.
5 tn Heb “draw out spear and lance to meet.”
6 tn Heb “say to me,” or “say to my soul.”
7 tn Heb “may the painful cry of the prisoner come before you.”
8 tn Heb “according to the greatness of your arm leave the sons of death.” God’s “arm” here symbolizes his strength to deliver. The verbal form הוֹתֵר (hoter) is a Hiphil imperative from יָתַר (yatar, “to remain; to be left over”). Here it must mean “to leave over; to preserve.” However, it is preferable to emend the form to הַתֵּר (hatter), a Hiphil imperative from נָתַר (natar, “be free”). The Hiphil form is used in Ps 105:20 of Pharaoh freeing Joseph from prison. The phrase “sons of death” (see also Ps 102:21) is idiomatic for those condemned to die.
9 tn Heb “by me they swear.” When the psalmist’s enemies call judgment down on others, they hold the psalmist up as a prime example of what they desire their enemies to become.