Psalms 54:3

54:3 For foreigners 1  attack me; 2 

ruthless men, who do not respect God, seek my life. 3  (Selah)

Psalms 37:35

37:35 I have seen ruthless evil men 4 

growing in influence, like a green tree grows in its native soil. 5 

Psalms 86:14

86:14 O God, arrogant men attack me; 6 

a gang 7  of ruthless men, who do not respect you, seek my life. 8 

1 tc Many medieval Hebrew mss read זֵדִים (zedim, “proud ones”) rather than זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”). (No matter which reading one chooses as original, dalet-resh confusion accounts for the existence of the variant.) The term זֵדִים (“proud ones”) occurs in parallelism with עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Ps 86:14 and Isa 13:11. However, זָרִים (zarim, “foreigners”) is parallel to עָרִיצִים (’aritsim, “violent ones”) in Isa 25:5; 29:5; Ezek 28:7; 31:12.

2 tn Heb “rise against me.”

3 tn Heb “and ruthless ones seek my life, they do not set God in front of them.”

4 tn The Hebrew uses the representative singular again here.

5 tn Heb “being exposed [?] like a native, luxuriant.” The Hebrew form מִתְעָרֶה (mit’areh) appears to be a Hitpael participle from עָרָה (’arah, “be exposed”), but this makes no sense in this context. Perhaps the form is a dialectal variant of מִתְעָלָה (“giving oneself an air of importance”; see Jer 51:3), from עָלָה (’alah, “go up”; see P. C. Craigie, Psalms 1-50 [WBC], 296). The noun אֶזְרָח (’ezrakh, “native, full citizen”) refers elsewhere to people, but here, where it is collocated with “luxuriant, green,” it probably refers to a tree growing in native soil.

6 tn Heb “rise up against me.”

7 tn Or “assembly.”

8 tn Heb “seek my life and do not set you before them.” See Ps 54:3.