3:2 Many say about me,
“God will not deliver him.” 1 (Selah) 2
31:11 Because of all my enemies, people disdain me; 3
my neighbors are appalled by my suffering 4 –
those who know me are horrified by my condition; 5
those who see me in the street run away from me.
31:16 Smile 6 on your servant!
Deliver me because of your faithfulness!
35:11 Violent men perjure themselves, 7
and falsely accuse me. 8
38:22 Hurry and help me, 9 O Lord, my deliverer!
44:16 before the vindictive enemy
who ridicules and insults me. 10
51:2 Wash away my wrongdoing! 11
Cleanse me of my sin! 12
63:8 My soul 13 pursues you; 14
your right hand upholds me.
69:4 Those who hate me without cause are more numerous than the hairs of my head.
Those who want to destroy me, my enemies for no reason, 15 outnumber me. 16
They make me repay what I did not steal! 17
109:5 They repay me evil for good, 18
and hate for love.
119:8 I will keep your statutes.
Do not completely abandon me! 19
119:12 You deserve praise, 20 O Lord!
Teach me your statutes!
119:22 Spare me 21 shame and humiliation,
for I observe your rules.
119:28 I collapse 22 from grief.
Sustain me by your word! 23
119:124 Show your servant your loyal love! 24
Teach me your statutes!
119:135 Smile 25 on your servant!
Teach me your statutes!
119:139 My zeal 26 consumes 27 me,
for my enemies forget your instructions. 28
143:4 My strength leaves me; 29
I am absolutely shocked. 30
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 “because of all my enemies I am a reproach.”
4 tc Heb “and to my neighbors, exceedingly.” If the MT is retained, then these words probably go with what precedes. However the syntactical awkwardness of the text suggests it is textually corrupt. P. C. Craigie (Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 258) suggests that the initial mem (מ) on מְאֹד (me’od, “exceedingly”) be understood as an enclitic mem (ם) which was originally suffixed to the preceding form and then later misinterpreted. The resulting form אֵד (’ed) can then be taken as a defectively written form of אֵיד (’ed, “calamity”). If one follows this emendation, then the text reads literally, “and to my neighbors [I am one who experiences] calamity.” The noun פַחַד (fakhad, “[object of] horror”) occurs in the next line; אֵיד and פַחַד appear in parallelism elsewhere (see Prov 1:26-27).
5 tn Heb “and [an object of ] horror to those known by me.”
6 tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”
7 tn Heb “witnesses of violence rise up.”
8 tn Heb “[that] which I do not know they ask me.”
9 tn Heb “hurry to my help.” See Ps 22:19.
10 tn Heb “from the voice of one who ridicules and insults, from the face of an enemy and an avenger.” See Ps 8:2.
11 tn Heb “Thoroughly wash me from my wrongdoing.”
12 sn In vv. 1b-2 the psalmist uses three different words to emphasize the multifaceted character and degree of his sin. Whatever one wants to call it (“rebellious acts,” “wrongdoing,” “sin”), he has done it and stands morally polluted in God’s sight. The same three words appear in Exod 34:7, which emphasizes that God is willing to forgive sin in all of its many dimensions. In v. 2 the psalmist compares forgiveness and restoration to physical cleansing. Perhaps he likens spiritual cleansing to the purification rites of priestly law.
13 tn Or “I.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) with a pronominal suffix is often equivalent to a pronoun, especially in poetry (see BDB 660 s.v. נֶפֶשׁ 4.a).
14 tn Heb “clings after.” The expression means “to pursue with determination” (see Judg 20:45; 1 Sam 14:22; 1 Chr 10:2; Jer 42:16).
15 tn Heb “[with] a lie.” The Hebrew noun שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, “lie”) is used here as an adverb, “falsely, wrongfully” (see Pss 35:19; 38:19).
16 tn The Hebrew verb עָצַם (’atsam) can sometimes mean “are strong,” but here it probably focuses on numerical superiority; note the parallel verb רָבַב (ravav, “be many”).
17 tn Heb “that which I did not steal, then I restore.” Apparently אָז (’az, “then”) is used here to emphasize the verb that follows.
sn They make me repay what I did not steal. The psalmist’s enemies falsely accuse him and hold him accountable for alleged crimes he did not even commit.
18 tn Heb “and they set upon me evil in place of good.”
19 tn Heb “do not abandon me to excess.” For other uses of the phrase עַד מְאֹד (’ad mÿ’od, “to excess”), see Ps 38:6, 8.
20 tn Heb “[are] blessed.”
21 tn Heb “roll away from upon me.” Some derive the imperatival form גַּל (gal) from גָּלָה (galah, “uncover,” as in v. 18), but here the form is from גָּלַל (galal, “roll”; see Josh 5:9, where חֶרְפָּה [kherpah, “shame; reproach”] also appears as object of the verb). Some, following the lead of a Dead Sea scroll (11QPsa), emend the form to גֹּל (gol).
22 tn Some translate “my soul weeps,” taking the verb דָלַף (dalaf) from a root meaning “to drip; to drop” (BDB 196 s.v. דֶּלַף). On the basis of cognate evidence from Arabic and Akkadian, HALOT 223 s.v. II דלף proposes a homonymic root here, meaning “be sleepless.” Following L. C. Allen (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 127, 135) the translation assumes that the verb is cognate with Ugaritic dlp, “to collapse; to crumple” in CTA 2 iv. 17, 26. See G. R. Driver, Canaanite Myths and Legends, 44, 144.
23 tn Heb “according to your word.” Many medieval Hebrew
24 tn Heb “do with your servant according to your loyal love.”
25 tn Heb “cause your face to shine.”
26 tn or “zeal.”
27 tn Heb “destroys,” in a hyperbolic sense.
28 tn Heb “your words.”
29 tn Heb “my spirit grows faint.”
30 tn Heb “in my midst my heart is shocked.” For a similar use of the Hitpolel of שָׁמֵם (shamem), see Isa 59:16; 63:5.