18:36 You widen my path; 1
my feet 2 do not slip.
18:38 I beat them 3 to death; 4
they fall at my feet. 5
47:3 He subdued nations beneath us 6
and countries 7 under our feet.
122:2 Our feet are 8 standing
inside your gates, O Jerusalem.
1 tn Heb “you make wide my step under me.” “Step” probably refers metonymically to the path upon which the psalmist walks. Another option is to translate, “you widen my stride.” This would suggest that God gives the psalmist the capacity to run quickly.
2 tn Heb “lower legs.” On the meaning of the Hebrew noun, which occurs only here, see H. R. Cohen, Biblical Hapax Legomena (SBLDS), 112. A cognate Akkadian noun means “lower leg.”
3 tn Or “smash them.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “and I wiped them out and smashed them.”
4 tn Heb “until they are unable to rise.” 2 Sam 22:39 reads, “until they do not rise.”
5 sn They fall at my feet. For ancient Near Eastern parallels, see O. Keel, The Symbolism of the Biblical World, 294-97.
6 tn On the meaning of the verb דָּבַר (davar, “subdue”), a homonym of דָּבַר (“speak”), see HALOT 209-10 s.v. I דבר. See also Ps 18:47 and 2 Chr 22:10. The preterite form of the verb suggests this is an historical reference and the next verse, which mentions the gift of the land, indicates that the conquest under Joshua is in view.
7 tn Or “peoples” (see Pss 2:1; 7:7; 9:8; 44:2).
8 tn Or “were.”