Discovery BoxPsalms 17:12 
Context17:12 He 1 is like a lion 2 that wants to tear its prey to bits, 3
like a young lion crouching 4 in hidden places.
Psalms 22:14
Context22:14 My strength drains away like water; 5
all my bones are dislocated;
my heart 6 is like wax;
it melts away inside me.
Psalms 58:8
Context58:8 Let them be 7 like a snail that melts away as it moves along! 8
Let them be like 9 stillborn babies 10 that never see the sun!
Psalms 90:4
Context90:4 Yes, 11 in your eyes a thousand years
are like yesterday that quickly passes,
or like one of the divisions of the nighttime. 12
Psalms 95:8
Context95:8 He says, 13 “Do not be stubborn like they were at Meribah, 14
like they were that day at Massah 15 in the wilderness, 16
Psalms 102:26
Context102:26 They will perish,
but you will endure. 17
They will wear out like a garment;
like clothes you will remove them and they will disappear. 18
Psalms 109:18
Context109:18 He made cursing a way of life, 19
so curses poured into his stomach like water
and seeped into his bones like oil. 20
Psalms 131:2
Context131:2 Indeed 21 I am composed and quiet, 22
like a young child carried by its mother; 23
I am content like the young child I carry. 24
1 tn Here the psalmist switches to the singular pronoun; he views his enemies collectively, or singles out a representative of the group, perhaps its leader.
2 tn Heb “his likeness [is] like a lion.”
3 tn Heb “[that] longs to tear.”
4 tn Heb “sitting.”
5 tn Heb “like water I am poured out.”
6 sn The heart is viewed here as the seat of the psalmist’s strength and courage.
7 tn There is no “to be” verb in the Hebrew text at this point, but a jussive tone can be assumed based on vv. 6-7.
8 tn Heb “like a melting snail [that] moves along.” A. Cohen (Psalms [SoBB], 184) explains that the text here alludes “to the popular belief that the slimy trail which the snail leaves in its track is the dissolution of its substance.”
9 tn The words “let them be like” are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons. The jussive mood is implied from the preceding context, and “like” is understood by ellipsis (see the previous line).
10 tn This rare word also appears in Job 3:16 and Eccles 6:3.
11 tn Or “for.”
12 sn The divisions of the nighttime. The ancient Israelites divided the night into distinct periods, or “watches.”
13 tn The words “he says” are supplied in the translation to clarify that the following words are spoken by the Lord (see vv. 9-11).
14 sn The name Meribah means “strife.” Two separate but similar incidents at Meribah are recorded in the Pentateuch (Exod 17:1-7; Num 20:1-13, see also Pss 81:7; 106:32). In both cases the Israelites complained about lack of water and the Lord miraculously provided for them.
15 sn The name Massah means “testing.” This was another name (along with Meribah) given to the place where Israel complained following the Red Sea Crossing (see Exod 17:1-7, as well as Deut 6:16; 9:22; 33:8).
16 tn Heb “do not harden your heart[s] as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness.”
17 tn Heb “stand.”
18 tn The Hebrew verb חָלַף (khalaf) occurs twice in this line, once in the Hiphil (“you will remove them”) and once in the Qal (“they will disappear”). The repetition draws attention to the statement.
19 tn Heb “he put on a curse as [if it were] his garment.”
20 tn Heb “and it came like water into his inner being, and like oil into his bones.” This may refer to this individual’s appetite for cursing. For him cursing was as refreshing as drinking water or massaging oneself with oil. Another option is that the destructive effects of a curse are in view. In this case a destructive curse invades his very being, like water or oil. Some who interpret the verse this way prefer to repoint the vav (ו) on “it came” to a conjunctive vav and interpret the prefixed verb as a jussive, “may it come!”
21 tn Or “but.”
22 tn Heb “I make level and make quiet my soul.”
23 tn Heb “like a weaned [one] upon his mother.”
24 tn Heb “like the weaned [one] upon me, my soul.”
