7:2 Otherwise they will rip 1 me 2 to shreds like a lion;
they will tear me to bits and no one will be able to rescue me. 3
For the music director; a psalm of David.
13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? 5
How long will you pay no attention to me? 6
For the music director; by David.
14:1 Fools say to themselves, 8 “There is no God.” 9
They sin and commit evil deeds; 10
none of them does what is right. 11
18:41 They cry out, but there is no one to help them; 12
they cry out to the Lord, 13 but he does not answer them.
23:4 Even when I must walk through the darkest valley, 14
I fear 15 no danger, 16
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff reassure me. 17
24:4 The one whose deeds are blameless
and whose motives are pure, 18
who does not lie, 19
or make promises with no intention of keeping them. 20
35:19 Do not let those who are my enemies for no reason 21 gloat 22 over me!
Do not let those who hate me without cause carry out their wicked schemes! 23
40:9 I have told the great assembly 24 about your justice. 25
Look! I spare no words! 26
O Lord, you know this is true.
50:22 Carefully consider this, you who reject God! 27
Otherwise I will rip you to shreds 28
and no one will be able to rescue you.
59:5 You, O Lord God, the invincible warrior, 29 the God of Israel,
rouse yourself and punish 30 all the nations!
Have no mercy on any treacherous evildoers! (Selah)
69:2 I sink into the deep mire
where there is no solid ground; 31
I am in 32 deep water,
and the current overpowers me.
84:11 For the Lord God is our sovereign protector. 33
The Lord bestows favor 34 and honor;
he withholds no good thing from those who have integrity. 35
88:5 adrift 36 among the dead,
like corpses lying in the grave,
whom you remember no more,
and who are cut off from your power. 37
103:16 but when the hot wind 38 blows by, it disappears,
and one can no longer even spot the place where it once grew.
שׂ/שׁ (Sin/Shin)
119:161 Rulers pursue me for no reason,
yet I am more afraid of disobeying your instructions. 39
1 tn The verb is singular in the Hebrew text, even though “all who chase me” in v. 1 refers to a whole group of enemies. The singular is also used in vv. 4-5, but the psalmist returns to the plural in v. 6. The singular is probably collective, emphasizing the united front that the psalmist’s enemies present. This same alternation between a collective singular and a plural referring to enemies appears in Pss 9:3, 6; 13:4; 31:4, 8; 41:6, 10-11; 42:9-10; 55:3; 64:1-2; 74:3-4; 89:22-23; 106:10-11; 143:3, 6, 9.
2 tn Heb “my life.” The pronominal suffix attached to נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is equivalent to a personal pronoun. See Ps 6:3.
3 tn Heb “tearing and there is no one rescuing.” The verbal form translated “tearing” is a singular active participle.
4 sn Psalm 13. The psalmist, who is close to death, desperately pleads for God’s deliverance and affirms his trust in God’s faithfulness.
5 tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”
6 tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”
7 sn Psalm 14. The psalmist observes that the human race is morally corrupt. Evildoers oppress God’s people, but the psalmist is confident of God’s protection and anticipates a day when God will vindicate Israel.
8 tn Heb “a fool says in his heart.” The singular is used here in a collective or representative sense; the typical fool is envisioned.
9 sn “There is no God.” The statement is probably not a philosophical assertion that God does not exist, but rather a confident affirmation that God is unconcerned about how men live morally and ethically (see Ps 10:4, 11).
10 tn Heb “they act corruptly, they make a deed evil.” The verbs describe the typical behavior of the wicked. The subject of the plural verbs is “sons of man” (v. 2). The entire human race is characterized by sinful behavior. This practical atheism – living as if there is no God who will hold them accountable for their actions – makes them fools, for one of the earmarks of folly is to fail to anticipate the long range consequences of one’s behavior.
11 tn Heb “there is none that does good.”
12 tn Heb “but there is no deliverer.”
13 tn Heb “to the
sn They cry out. This reference to the psalmist’s enemies crying out for help to the
14 tn The Piel of נָחַם (nakham), when used with a human object, means “comfort, console.” But here, within the metaphorical framework, it refers to the way in which a shepherd uses his implements to assure the sheep of his presence and calm their nerves. The underlying reality is the emotional stability God provides the psalmist during life threatening situations.
tn The Hebrew term ????????? (tsalmavet) has traditionally been understood as a compound noun meaning “shadow of death” (??? [tsel] + ????? [mavet]; see BDB 853 s.v. ?????????). Other scholars prefer to vocalize the form ???????? (tsalmut) and understand it as an abstract noun (from the root ?????, tsalam) meaning “darkness.” An examination of the word’s usage favors the latter derivation. It is frequently associated with darkness/night and contrasted with light/morning (see Job 3:5; 10:21-22; 12:22; 24:17; 28:3; 34:22; Ps 107:10, 14; Isa 9:1; Jer 13:16; Amos 5:8). In some cases the darkness described is associated with the realm of death (Job 10:21-22; 38:17), but this is a metaphorical application of the word and does not reflect its inherent meaning. If the word does indeed mean “darkness,” it modifies ????? (gay’, “valley, ravine”) quite naturally. At the metaphorical level, v. 4 pictures the shepherd taking his sheep through a dark ravine where predators might lurk. The life-threatening situations faced by the psalmist are the underlying reality behind the imagery.
15 tn The imperfect verbal forms in v. 4, as in vv. 1-3, highlight what is typical in the psalmist’s experience.
16 tn The Hebrew term ??? (ra’) is traditionally translated “evil” here, perhaps suggesting a moral or ethical nuance. But at the level of the metaphor, the word means “danger, injury, harm,” as a sheep might experience from a predator. The life-threatening dangers faced by the psalmist, especially the enemies mentioned in v. 5, are the underlying reality.
17 tn The Piel of ????? (nakham), when used with a human object, means “comfort, console.” But here, within the metaphorical framework, it refers to the way in which a shepherd uses his implements to assure the sheep of his presence and calm their nerves. The underlying reality is the emotional stability God provides the psalmist during life threatening situations.
18 tn Heb “the innocent of hands and the pure of heart.” The “hands” allude to one’s actions, the “heart” to one’s thought life and motives.
19 tn Heb “who does not lift up for emptiness my life.” The first person pronoun on נַפְשִׁי (nafshiy, “my life”) makes little sense here; many medieval Hebrew
20 tn Heb “and does not swear an oath deceitfully.”
21 tn Heb “[with] a lie.” The Hebrew noun שֶׁקֶר (sheqer, “lie”) is used here as an adverb, “falsely, wrongfully” (see Ps 38:19).
22 tn Heb “rejoice.”
23 tn Heb “[do not let] those who hate me without cause pinch [i.e., wink] an eye.” The negative particle is understood in the second line by ellipsis (see the preceding line). In the Book of Proverbs “winking an eye” is associated with deceit and trickery (see 6:13; 10:10; 16:30).
24 sn The great assembly is also mentioned in Pss 22:25 and 35:18.
25 tn Heb “I proclaim justice in the great assembly.” Though “justice” appears without a pronoun here, the
26 tn Heb “Look! My lips I do not restrain.”
27 tn Heb “[you who] forget God.” “Forgetting God” here means forgetting about his commandments and not respecting his moral authority.
28 sn Elsewhere in the psalms this verb is used (within a metaphorical framework) of a lion tearing its prey (see Pss 7:2; 17:12; 22:13).
29 tn Heb “
30 tn Heb “wake up to punish” (see Pss 35:23; 44:23).
31 tn Heb “and there is no place to stand.”
32 tn Heb “have entered.”
33 tn Heb “[is] a sun and a shield.” The epithet “sun,” though rarely used of Israel’s God in the OT, was a well-attested royal title in the ancient Near East. For several examples from Ugaritic texts, the Amarna letters, and Assyrian royal inscriptions, see R. B. Chisholm, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Psalm 18/2 Samuel 22” (Th.D. diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1983), 131, n. 2.
34 tn Or “grace.”
35 tn Heb “he does not withhold good to those walking in integrity.”
36 tn Heb “set free.”
37 tn Heb “from your hand.”
38 tn Heb “[the] wind.” The word “hot” is supplied in the translation for clarification.
39 tn Heb “and because of your instructions my heart trembles.” The psalmist’s healthy “fear” of the consequences of violating God’s instructions motivates him to obey them. See v. 120.