9:12 For the one who takes revenge against murderers took notice of the oppressed; 1
he did not overlook 2 their cry for help 3
27:13 Where would I be if I did not believe I would experience
the Lord’s favor in the land of the living? 4
50:21 When you did these things, I was silent, 5
so you thought I was exactly like you. 6
But now I will condemn 7 you
and state my case against you! 8
78:50 He sent his anger in full force; 9
he did not spare them from death;
he handed their lives over to destruction. 10
81:5 He decreed it as a regulation in Joseph,
when he attacked the land of Egypt. 11
I heard a voice I did not recognize. 12
137:7 Remember, O Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell. 13
They said, “Tear it down, tear it down, 14
right to its very foundation!”
1 tn Heb “for the one who seeks shed blood remembered them.” The idiomatic expression “to seek shed blood” seems to carry the idea “to seek payment/restitution for one’s shed blood.” The plural form דָּמִים (damim, “shed blood”) occurs only here as the object of דָּרַשׁ (darash); the singular form דָּם (dam, “blood”) appears with the verb in Gen 9:5; 42:22; Ezek 33:6. “Them,” the pronominal object of the verb “remembered,” refers to the oppressed, mentioned specifically in the next line, so the referent has been specified in the translation for clarity.
2 tn Heb “did not forget.”
3 tn Heb “the cry for help of the oppressed.” In this context the “oppressed” are the psalmist and those he represents, whom the hostile nations have threatened.
4 tn In the Hebrew text the sentence is incomplete: “If I had not believed [I would] see the goodness of the
5 tn Heb “these things you did and I was silent.” Some interpret the second clause (“and I was silent”) as a rhetorical question expecting a negative answer, “[When you do these things], should I keep silent?” (cf. NEB). See GKC 335 §112.cc.
sn The Lord was silent in the sense that he delayed punishment. Of course, God’s patience toward sinners eventually runs out. The divine “silence” is only temporary (see v. 3, where the psalmist, having described God’s arrival, observes that “he is not silent”).
6 tn The Hebrew infinitive construct (הֱיוֹת, heyot) appears to function like the infinitive absolute here, adding emphasis to the following finite verbal form (אֶהְיֶה, ’ehyeh). See GKC 339-40 §113.a. Some prefer to emend הֱיוֹת (heyot) to the infinitive absolute form הָיוֹ (hayo).
7 tn Or “rebuke” (see v. 8).
8 tn Heb “and I will set in order [my case against you] to your eyes.” The cohortative form expresses the
9 tn Heb “he leveled a path for his anger.” There were no obstacles to impede its progress; it moved swiftly and destructively.
10 tn Or perhaps “[the] plague.”
11 tn Heb “in his going out against the land of Egypt.” This apparently refers to the general time period of Israel’s exodus from Egypt. The LXX reads, “from Egypt,” in which case “Joseph” (see the preceding line) would be the subject of the verb, “when he [Joseph = Israel] left Egypt.”
12 tn Heb “a lip I did not know, I heard.” Here the term “lip” probably stands for speech or a voice. Apparently the psalmist speaks here and refers to God’s voice, whose speech is recorded in the following verses.
13 tn Heb “remember, O
14 tn Heb “lay [it] bare, lay [it] bare.”