¹ tn The rhetorical question expresses the psalmist’s outrage that the wicked would have the audacity to disdain God.

² tn Heb “he says in his heart” (see vv. 6, 11). Another option is to understand an ellipsis of the interrogative particle here (cf. the preceding line), “Why does he say in his heart?”

³ tn Here the wicked man addresses God directly.

⁴ tn Heb “you will not seek.” The verb דָרַשׁ (darash, “seek”) is used here in the sense of “seek an accounting.” One could understand the imperfect as generalizing about what is typical and translate, “you do not hold [people] accountable.”

⁵ tn Heb “Be in front of his face.”

⁶ tn Or “bring him to his knees.”

⁷ tn Heb “rescue my life from the wicked [one] [by] your sword.”

⁸ tn The participle expresses the repeated or regular nature of the action.

⁹ tn The Hebrew noun חֻפָּה (khufah, “chamber”) occurs elsewhere only in Isa 4:5 and Joel 2:16 (where it refers to the bedroom of a bride and groom).

sn Like a bridegroom. The metaphor likens the sun to a bridegroom who rejoices on his wedding night.

¹⁰ tn The imperfect verbal form draws attention to the regularity of the action.

¹¹ tn Heb “[on] a path.”

sn Like a strong man. The metaphorical language reflects the brilliance of the sunrise, which attests to the sun’s vigor.

¹² tn Heb “I am forgotten, like a dead man, from [the] heart.” The “heart” is here viewed as the center of one’s thoughts.

¹³ tn Heb “I am like a broken jar.” One throws away a broken jar without a second thought because it is considered worthless and useless.

¹⁴ tn Heb “Better [is] a little to the godly one than the wealth of many evil ones.” The following verses explain why this is true. Though a godly individual may seem to have only meager possessions, he always has what he needs and will eventually possess the land. The wicked may prosper for a brief time, but will eventually be destroyed by divine judgment and lose everything.

¹⁵ sn I am like a deaf man…like a mute. The psalmist is like a deaf mute; he is incapable of defending himself and is vulnerable to his enemies’ deception (see v. 14).

¹⁶ tn Heb “search out, examine,” which here means (by metonymy) “devise.”

¹⁷ tc The MT has תַּמְנוּ (tamnu, “we are finished”), a Qal perfect first common plural form from the verbal root תָּמַם (tamam). Some understand this as the beginning of a quotation of the enemies’ words and translate, “we have completed,” but the Hiphil would seem to be required in this case. The present translation follows many medieval Hebrew mss in reading טָמְנוּ (tomnu, “they hide”), a Qal perfect third common plural form from the verbal root טָמַן (taman).

¹⁸ tn Heb “a searched-out search,” which is understood as referring here to a thoroughly planned plot to destroy the psalmist.

¹⁹ tn Heb “and the inner part of man, and a heart [is] deep.” The point seems to be that a man’s inner thoughts are incapable of being discovered. No one is a mind reader! Consequently the psalmist is vulnerable to his enemies’ well-disguised plots.

²⁰ tn Heb “Who [is] the man [who] can live and not see death, [who] can deliver his life from the hand of Sheol?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

²¹ sn Psalm 90. In this communal lament the worship leader affirms that the eternal God and creator of the world has always been Israel’s protector. But God also causes men, who are as transient as grass, to die, and in his fierce anger he decimates his covenant community, whose brief lives are filled with suffering and end in weakness. The community asks for wisdom, the restoration of God’s favor, a fresh revelation of his power, and his blessing upon their labors.

²² tn Or “place of safety.” See Ps 71:3.

²³ tn Heb “a man of a tongue.”

²⁴ tn Heb “be established in.”

²⁵ tn Heb “for blows.” The Hebrew noun מַדְחֵפֹה (madkhefoh, “blow”) occurs only here in the OT.