Discovery BoxPsalms 18:40 
Context18:40 You make my enemies retreat; 1
I destroy those who hate me. 2
Psalms 21:10
Context21:10 You destroy their offspring 3 from the earth,
their descendants 4 from among the human race. 5
Psalms 52:4
Context52:4 You love to use all the words that destroy, 6
and the tongue that deceives.
Psalms 63:9
Context63:9 Enemies seek to destroy my life, 7
but they will descend into the depths of the earth. 8
Psalms 73:27
Context73:27 Yes, 9 look! Those far from you 10 die;
you destroy everyone who is unfaithful to you. 11
Psalms 106:34
Context106:34 They did not destroy the nations, 12
as the Lord had commanded them to do.
1 tn Heb “and [as for] my enemies, you give to me [the] back [or “neck”].” The idiom “give [the] back” means “to cause [one] to turn the back and run away.” Cf. Exod 23:27.
2 sn Those who hate me. See v. 17, where it is the
3 tn Heb “fruit.” The next line makes it clear that offspring is in view.
4 tn Heb “seed.”
5 tn Heb “sons of man.”
6 tn Heb “you love all the words of swallowing.” Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallowing” in the sense of “devouring” or “destructive” (see BDB 118 s.v. בָּלַע). HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע proposes a homonym here, meaning “confusion.” This would fit the immediate context nicely and provide a close parallel to the following line, which refers to deceptive words.
7 tn Heb “but they for destruction seek my life.” The pronoun “they” must refer here to the psalmist’s enemies, referred to at this point for the first time in the psalm.
8 sn The depths of the earth refers here to the underworld dwelling place of the dead (see Ezek 26:20; 31:14, 16, 18; 32:18, 24). See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 167.
9 tn Or “for.”
10 sn The following line defines the phrase far from you in a spiritual sense. Those “far” from God are those who are unfaithful and disloyal to him.
11 tn Heb “everyone who commits adultery from you.”
12 tn That is, the nations of Canaan.
