3:2 Many say about me,
“God will not deliver him.” 1 (Selah) 2
18:23 I was innocent before him,
and kept myself from sinning. 3
74:11 Why do you remain inactive?
Intervene and destroy him! 4
106:12 They believed his promises; 5
they sang praises to him.
106:31 This brought him a reward,
an eternal gift. 6
1 tn Heb “there is no deliverance for him in God.”
2 sn The function of the Hebrew term סֶלָה (selah), transliterated here “Selah,” is uncertain. It may be a musical direction of some kind.
3 tn Heb “from my sin,” that is, from making it my own in any way.
sn Kept myself from sinning. Leading a blameless life meant that the king would be loyal to God’s covenant, purge the government and society of evil and unjust officials, and reward loyalty to the Lord (see Ps 101).
4 tn Heb “Why do you draw back your hand, even your right hand? From the midst of your chest, destroy!” The psalmist pictures God as having placed his right hand (symbolic of activity and strength) inside his robe against his chest. He prays that God would pull his hand out from under his robe and use it to destroy the enemy.
5 tn Heb “his words.”
6 tn Heb “and it was reckoned to him for righteousness, to a generation and a generation forever.” The verb חָשַׁב (khashav, “to reckon”) is collocated with צְדָקָה (tsÿdaqah, “righteousness”) only in Ps 106:31 and Gen 15:6, where God rewards Abram’s faith with a land grant.
sn Brought him a reward. See Num 25:12-13.