31:23 Love the Lord, all you faithful followers 1 of his!
The Lord protects those who have integrity,
but he pays back in full the one who acts arrogantly. 2
35:4 May those who seek my life be embarrassed and humiliated!
May those who plan to harm me be turned back and ashamed! 3
40:14 May those who are trying to snatch away my life
be totally embarrassed and ashamed! 4
May those who want to harm me
be turned back and ashamed! 5
43:3 Reveal 6 your light 7 and your faithfulness!
They will lead me, 8
they will escort 9 me back to your holy hill, 10
and to the place where you live. 11
56:9 My enemies will turn back when I cry out to you for help; 12
I know that God is on my side. 13
70:2 May those who are trying to take my life
be embarrassed and ashamed! 14
May those who want to harm me
be turned back and ashamed! 15
78:38 Yet he is compassionate.
He forgives sin and does not destroy.
He often holds back his anger,
and does not stir up his fury. 16
94:23 He will pay them back for their sin. 17
He will destroy them because of 18 their evil;
the Lord our God will destroy them.
132:11 The Lord made a reliable promise to David; 19
he will not go back on his word. 20
He said, 21 “I will place one of your descendants 22 on your throne.
1 tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד, khasid) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 16:10; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10).
2 tn The participial forms in the second and third lines characterize the Lord as one who typically protects the faithful and judges the proud.
3 tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies. See also the distinct jussive form in v. 6.
4 tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed together, the ones seeking my life to snatch it away.”
5 tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse (“may those…be…embarrassed and ashamed…may those…be turned back and ashamed”) are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.
sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.
6 tn Heb “send.”
7 sn God’s deliverance is compared here to a light which will lead the psalmist back home to the Lord’s temple. Divine deliverance will in turn demonstrate the Lord’s faithfulness to his people.
8 tn Or “may they lead me.” The prefixed verbal forms here and in the next line may be taken as jussives.
9 tn Heb “bring.”
10 sn In this context the Lord’s holy hill is Zion/Jerusalem. See Isa 66:20; Joel 2:1; 3:17; Zech 8:3; Pss 2:6; 15:1; 48:1; 87:1; Dan 9:16.
11 tn Or “to your dwelling place[s].” The plural form of the noun may indicate degree or quality; this is the
12 tn Heb “then my enemies will turn back in the day I cry out.” The Hebrew particle אָז (’az, “then”) is probably used here to draw attention to the following statement.
13 tn Heb “this I know, that God is for me.”
14 tn Heb “may they be embarrassed and ashamed, the ones seeking my life.” Ps 40:14 has “together” after “ashamed,” and “to snatch it away” after “my life.”
15 tn The four prefixed verbal forms in this verse are understood as jussives. The psalmist is calling judgment down on his enemies.
sn See Ps 35:4 for a similar prayer.
16 tn One could translate v. 38 in the past tense (“he was compassionate…forgave sin and did not destroy…held back his anger, and did not stir up his fury”), but the imperfect verbal forms are probably best understood as generalizing. Verse 38 steps back briefly from the narrational summary of Israel’s history and lays the theological basis for v. 39, which focuses on God’s mercy toward sinful Israel.
17 tn The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive is used in a rhetorical sense, describing an anticipated development as if it were already reality.
18 tn Or “in.”
19 tn Heb “the
20 tn Heb “he will not turn back from it.”
21 tn The words “he said” are supplied in the translation to clarify that what follows are the
22 tn Heb “the fruit of your body.”