27:9 Do not reject me! 1
Do not push your servant away in anger!
You are my deliverer! 2
Do not forsake or abandon me,
O God who vindicates me!
35:27 May those who desire my vindication shout for joy and rejoice!
May they continually say, 3 “May the Lord be praised, 4 for he wants his servant to be secure.” 5
For the music director; written by the Lord’s servant, David; an oracle. 7
36:1 An evil man is rebellious to the core. 8
He does not fear God, 9
89:3 The Lord said, 10
“I have made a covenant with my chosen one;
I have made a promise on oath to David, my servant:
143:12 As a demonstration of your loyal love, 11 destroy my enemies!
Annihilate 12 all who threaten my life, 13
for I am your servant.
1 tn Heb “do not hide your face from me.” The idiom “hide the face” can mean “ignore” (see Pss 10:11; 13:1; 51:9) or carry the stronger idea of “reject” (see Pss 30:7; 88:14).
2 tn Or “[source of] help.”
3 tn The prefixed verbal forms in v. 27a are understood as jussives (see vv. 24b-26).
4 tn The prefixed verbal form is taken as a jussive, “may the
5 tn Heb “the one who desires the peace of his servant.”
6 sn Psalm 36. Though evil men plan to harm others, the psalmist is confident that the Lord is the just ruler of the earth who gives and sustains all life. He prays for divine blessing and protection and anticipates God’s judgment of the wicked.
7 tn In the Hebrew text the word נאם (“oracle”) appears at the beginning of the next verse (v. 2 in the Hebrew text because the superscription is considered v. 1). The resulting reading, “an oracle of rebellion for the wicked [is] in the midst of my heart” (cf. NIV) apparently means that the psalm, which foresees the downfall of the wicked, is a prophetic oracle about the rebellion of the wicked which emerges from the soul of the psalmist. One could translate, “Here is a poem written as I reflected on the rebellious character of evil men.” Another option, followed in the translation above, is to attach נאם (nÿ’um, “oracle”) with the superscription. For another example of a Davidic poem being labeled an “oracle,” see 2 Sam 23:1.
8 tn Heb “[the] rebellion of an evil man [is] in the midst of my heart.” The translation assumes a reading “in the midst of his heart” (i.e., “to the core”) instead of “in the midst of my heart,” a change which finds support in a a few medieval Hebrew
9 tn Heb “there is no dread of God before his eyes.” The phrase “dread of God” refers here to a healthy respect for God which recognizes that he will punish evil behavior.
10 tn The words “the
11 tn Heb “in [or “by”] your faithfulness.”
12 tn The perfect with vav (ו) consecutive carries on the mood of the preceding imperfect.
13 tn Heb “all the enemies of my life.”