Discovery BoxPsalms 37:24 
Context37:24 Even if 1 he trips, he will not fall headlong, 2
for the Lord holds 3 his hand.
Psalms 78:28
Context78:28 He caused them to fall right in the middle of their camp,
all around their homes.
Psalms 82:7
Context82:7 Yet you will die like mortals; 4
you will fall like all the other rulers.” 5
Psalms 141:10
Context141:10 Let the wicked fall 6 into their 7 own nets,
while I escape. 8
Psalms 145:14
Context145:14 9 The Lord supports all who fall,
and lifts up all who are bent over. 10
1 tn Other translation options for כִּי in this context are “when” (so NASB) or “though” (so NEB, NIV, NRSV).
2 tn Heb “be hurled down.”
3 tn The active participle indicates this is characteristically true. See v. 17.
4 tn Heb “men.” The point in the context is mortality, however, not maleness.
sn You will die like mortals. For the concept of a god losing immortality and dying, see Isa 14:12-15, which alludes to a pagan myth in which the petty god “Shining One, son of the Dawn,” is hurled into Sheol for his hubris.
5 tn Heb “like one of the rulers.” The comparison does not necessarily imply that they are not rulers. The expression “like one of” can sometimes mean “as one of” (Gen 49:16; Obad 11) or “as any other of” (Judg 16:7, 11).
6 tn The prefixed verbal form is understood as a jussive of prayer. Another option is to translate, “the wicked will fall.”
7 tn Heb “his.”
8 tn Heb “at the same [that] I, until I pass by.” Another option is to take יַחַד (yakhad) with the preceding line, “let the wicked fall together into their own nets.”
9 tc Psalm 145 is an acrostic psalm, with each successive verse beginning with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. However, in the traditional Hebrew (Masoretic) text of Psalm 145 there is no verse beginning with the letter nun. One would expect such a verse to appear as the fourteenth verse, between the mem (מ) and samek (ס) verses. Several ancient witnesses, including one medieval Hebrew manuscript, the Qumran scroll from cave 11, the LXX, and the Syriac, supply the missing nun (נ) verse, which reads as follows: “The Lord is reliable in all his words, and faithful in all his deeds.” One might paraphrase this as follows: “The Lord’s words are always reliable; his actions are always faithful.” Scholars are divided as to the originality of this verse. L. C. Allen argues for its inclusion on the basis of structural considerations (Psalms 101-150 [WBC], 294-95), but there is no apparent explanation for why, if original, it would have been accidentally omitted. The psalm may be a partial acrostic, as in Pss 25 and 34 (see M. Dahood, Psalms [AB], 3:335). The glaring omission of the nun line would have invited a later redactor to add such a line.
