17:2 Make a just decision on my behalf! 1
Decide what is right! 2
17:14 Lord, use your power to deliver me from these murderers, 3
from the murderers of this world! 4
They enjoy prosperity; 5
you overwhelm them with the riches they desire. 6
They have many children,
and leave their wealth to their offspring. 7
1 tn Heb “From before you may my justice come out.” The prefixed verbal form יָצָא (yatsa’) could be taken as an imperfect, but following the imperatives in v. 1, it is better understood as a jussive of prayer.
2 tn Heb “May your eyes look at what is right.” The prefixed verbal form is understood as jussive. (See also the preceding note on the word “behalf.”)
3 tc Heb “from men [by] your hand,
4 tn Heb “from men, from [the] world.” On the emendation of “men” to “murderers,” see the preceding note on the word “murderers.”
5 tn Heb “their portion, in life.”
6 tn Heb “and [with] your treasures you fill their belly.”
sn You overwhelm them with the riches they desire. The psalmist is not accusing God of being unjust; he is simply observing that the wicked often prosper and that God is the ultimate source of all blessings that human beings enjoy (see Matt 5:45). When the wicked are ungrateful for God’s blessings, they become even more culpable and deserving of judgment. So this description of the wicked actually supports the psalmist’s appeal for deliverance. God should rescue him because he is innocent (see vv. 3-5) and because the wicked, though blessed abundantly by God, still have the audacity to attack God’s people.
7 tn Heb “they are satisfied [with] sons and leave their abundance to their children.”