Discovery BoxPsalms 5:10 
ContextMay their own schemes be their downfall! 2
Drive them away 3 because of their many acts of insurrection, 4
for they have rebelled against you.
Psalms 31:3
Context31:3 For you are my high ridge 5 and my stronghold;
for the sake of your own reputation 6 you lead me and guide me. 7
Psalms 59:12
Context59:12 They speak sinful words. 8
So let them be trapped by their own pride
and by the curses and lies they speak!
Psalms 68:6
Context68:6 God settles those who have been deserted in their own homes; 9
he frees prisoners and grants them prosperity. 10
But sinful rebels live in the desert. 11
Psalms 74:2
Context74:2 Remember your people 12 whom you acquired in ancient times,
whom you rescued 13 so they could be your very own nation, 14
as well as Mount Zion, where you dwell!
1 tn Heb “declare/regard them as guilty.” Declaring the psalmist’s adversaries guilty is here metonymic for judging them or paying them back for their wrongdoing.
2 tn Heb “may they fall from their plans.” The prefixed verbal form is a jussive, expressing an imprecation. The psalmist calls judgment down on the evildoers. Their plans will be their downfall in that God will judge them for their evil schemes.
3 tn Or “banish them.”
4 tn The Hebrew noun used here, פֶּשַׁע (pesha’), refers to rebellious actions. The psalmist pictures his enemies as rebels against God (see the next line).
5 sn The metaphor of the high ridge pictures God as a rocky, relatively inaccessible summit, where one would be able to find protection from enemies. See 1 Sam 23:25, 28.
6 tn Heb “name.” The Hebrew term שֵׁם (shem, “name”) refers here to the
7 tn The present translation assumes that the imperfect verbal forms are generalizing, “you lead me and guide me.” Other options are to take them as an expression of confidence about the future, “you will lead me and guide me” (cf. NASB), or as expressing a prayer, “lead me and guide me” (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV).
8 tn Heb “the sin of their mouth [is] the word of their lips.”
9 tn Heb “God causes the solitary ones to dwell in a house.” The participle suggests this is what God typically does.
10 tn Heb “he brings out prisoners into prosperity.” Another option is to translate, “he brings out prisoners with singing” (cf. NIV). The participle suggests this is what God typically does.
11 tn Or “in a parched [land].”
sn God delivers the downtrodden and oppressed, but sinful rebels who oppose his reign are treated appropriately.
12 tn Heb “your assembly,” which pictures God’s people as an assembled community.
13 tn Heb “redeemed.” The verb “redeem” casts God in the role of a leader who protects members of his extended family in times of need and crisis (see Ps 19:14).
14 tn Heb “the tribe of your inheritance” (see Jer 10:16; 51:19).
