Discovery BoxPsalms 69:22 
Context69:22 May their dining table become a trap before them!
May it be a snare for that group of friends! 1
Psalms 79:4
Context79:4 We have become an object of disdain to our neighbors;
those who live on our borders taunt and insult us. 2
Psalms 89:41
Context89:41 All who pass by 3 have robbed him;
he has become an object of disdain to his neighbors.
1 tc Heb “and to the friends for a snare.” The plural of שָׁלוֹם (shalom, “peace”) is used in Ps 55:20 of one’s “friends.” If the reading of the MT is retained here, the term depicts the psalmist’s enemies as a close-knit group of friends who are bound together by their hatred for the psalmist. Some prefer to revocalize the text as וּלְשִׁלּוּמִים (ulÿshillumim, “and for retribution”). In this case the noun stands parallel to פַּח (pakh, “trap”) and מוֹקֵשׁ (moqesh, “snare”), and one might translate, “may their dining table become a trap before them, [a means of] retribution and a snare” (cf. NIV).
2 tn Heb “an [object of] taunting and [of] mockery to those around us.” See Ps 44:13.
3 tn Heb “all the passersby on the road.”
