22:16 Yes, 1 wild dogs surround me –
a gang of evil men crowd around me;
like a lion they pin my hands and feet. 2
42:9 I will pray 3 to God, my high ridge: 4
“Why do you ignore 5 me?
Why must I walk around mourning 6
because my enemies oppress me?”
43:2 For you are the God who shelters me. 7
Why do you reject me? 8
Why must I walk around 9 mourning 10
because my enemies oppress me?
93:1 The Lord reigns!
He is robed in majesty,
the Lord is robed,
he wears strength around his waist. 12
Indeed, the world is established, it cannot be moved.
139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, 13
and the light will turn to night all around me,” 14
1 tn Or “for.”
2 tn Heb “like a lion, my hands and my feet.” This reading is often emended because it is grammatically awkward, but perhaps its awkwardness is by rhetorical design. Its broken syntax may be intended to convey the panic and terror felt by the psalmist. The psalmist may envision a lion pinning the hands and feet of its victim to the ground with its paws (a scene depicted in ancient Near Eastern art), or a lion biting the hands and feet. The line has been traditionally translated, “they pierce my hands and feet,” and then taken as foreshadowing the crucifixion of Christ. Though Jesus does appropriate the language of this psalm while on the cross (compare v. 1 with Matt 27:46 and Mark 15:34), the NT does not cite this verse in describing the death of Jesus. (It does refer to vv. 7-8 and 18, however. See Matt 27:35, 39, 43; Mark 15:24, 29; Luke 23:34; John 19:23-24.) If one were to insist on an emendation of כָּאֲרִי (ka’ariy, “like a lion”) to a verb, the most likely verbal root would be כָּרָה (karah, “dig”; see the LXX). In this context this verb could refer to the gnawing and tearing of wild dogs (cf. NCV, TEV, CEV). The ancient Greek version produced by Symmachus reads “bind” here, perhaps understanding a verbal root כרך, which is attested in later Hebrew and Aramaic and means “to encircle, entwine, embrace” (see HALOT 497-98 s.v. כרך and Jastrow 668 s.v. כָּרַךְ). Neither one of these proposed verbs can yield a meaning “bore, pierce.”
3 tn The cohortative form indicates the psalmist’s resolve.
4 tn This metaphor pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28; Pss 18:2; 31:3.
5 tn Or “forget.”
6 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar idea.
7 tn Heb “God of my place of refuge,” that is, “God who is my place of refuge.” See Ps 31:4.
8 tn The question is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but זָנַח (zanakh, “reject”) is a stronger verb than שָׁכַח (shakhakh, “forget”).
9 tn The language is similar to that of Ps 42:9, but the Hitpael form of the verb הָלַךְ (halakh; as opposed to the Qal form in 42:9) expresses more forcefully the continuing nature of the psalmist’s distress.
10 sn Walk around mourning. See Ps 38:6 for a similar statement.
11 sn Psalm 93. The psalmist affirms that the
12 sn Strength is compared here to a belt that one wears for support. The Lord’s power undergirds his rule.
13 tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.
14 tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”