¹ tn Heb “when I see your heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and stars which you established.” The verb “[and] see” is understood by ellipsis in the second half of the verse.

² tn Heb “you see.” One could translate the perfect as generalizing, “you do take notice.”

³ tn If the preceding perfect is taken as generalizing, then one might understand כִּי (ki) as asseverative: “indeed, certainly.”

⁴ tn Here the imperfect emphasizes God’s typical behavior.

⁵ tn Heb “destruction and suffering,” which here refers metonymically to the wicked, who dish out pain and suffering to their victims.

⁶ tn Heb “to give into your hand, upon you, he abandons, [the] unfortunate [one].” The syntax is awkward and the meaning unclear. It is uncertain who or what is being given into God’s hand. Elsewhere the idiom “give into the hand” means to deliver into one’s possession. If “to give” goes with what precedes (as the accentuation of the Hebrew text suggests), then this may refer to the wicked man being delivered over to God for judgment. The present translation assumes that “to give” goes with what follows (cf. NEB, NIV, NRSV). The verb יַעֲזֹב (ya’azov) here has the nuance “entrust” (see Gen 39:6; Job 39:11); the direct object (“[his] cause”) is implied.

⁷ tn Or “help.”

⁸ tn Heb “[for] one who is fatherless, you are a deliverer.” The noun יָתוֹם (yatom) refers to one who has lost his father (not necessarily his mother, see Ps 109:9).

sn The fatherless. Because they were so vulnerable and were frequently exploited, fatherless children are often mentioned as epitomizing the oppressed (see Pss 68:5; 82:3; 94:6; 146:9; as well as Job 6:27; 22:9; 24:3, 9; 29:12; 31:17, 21).

⁹ sn The picture of the Lord looking down from heaven draws attention to his sovereignty over the world.

¹⁰ tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”

¹¹ tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.

¹² sn Anyone who is wise and seeks God refers to the person who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.

¹³ tn Heb “I, in innocence, I will see your face.” To “see” God’s “face” means to have access to his presence and to experience his favor (see Ps 11:7; see also Job 33:26 [where רָאָה (ra’ah), not חָזַה (khazah), is used]). Here, however, the psalmist may be anticipating a mystical experience. See the following note on the word “me.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “I will be satisfied, when I awake, [with] your form.” The noun תְּמוּנָה (tÿmunah) normally carries the nuance “likeness” or “form.” In Job 4:16 it refers to a ghostlike spiritual entity (see v. 15) that revealed itself to Eliphaz during the night. The psalmist may anticipate a mystical encounter with God in which he expects to see a manifestation of God’s presence (i.e., a theophany), perhaps in conjunction with an oracle of deliverance. During the quiet darkness of the night, God examines the psalmist’s inner motives and finds them to be pure (see v. 3). The psalmist is confident that when he awakens, perhaps sometime during the night or in the morning, he will be visited by God and assured of vindication.

sn When I awake you will reveal yourself to me. Some see in this verse an allusion to resurrection. According to this view, when the psalmist awakens from the sleep of death, he will see God. It is unlikely that the psalmist had such a highly developed personal eschatology. As noted above, it is more likely that he is anticipating a divine visitation and mystical encounter as a prelude to his deliverance from his enemies.

¹⁵ tn Or “wait.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “keep his way.” The Lord’s “way” refers here to the “conduct required” by the Lord. In Ps 25 the Lord’s “ways” are associated with his covenantal demands (see vv. 4, 9-10). See also Ps 119:3 (cf. vv. 1, 4), as well as Deut 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16.

¹⁷ tn Heb “and he will lift you up.” The prefixed verbal form with vav (ו) is best taken here as a result clause following the imperatives in the preceding lines.

¹⁸ tn Heb “when evil men are cut off you will see.”

¹⁹ tn Or “sinful deeds.” The Hebrew term used here can have a nonmoral nuance (“dangers”) or a moral one (“sinful deeds”) depending on the context. The next line (see “my sins”) seems to favor the moral sense, but the psalmist also speaks of enemies shortly after this (v. 14).

²⁰ tn Heb “and my heart abandons me.” The “heart” is here viewed as the seat of emotional strength and courage. For a similar idea see Ps 38:10.

²¹ sn The picture of the Lord looking down from heaven draws attention to his sovereignty over the world.

²² tn Heb “upon the sons of man.”

²³ tn Or “acts wisely.” The Hiphil is exhibitive.

²⁴ tn That is, who seeks to have a relationship with God by obeying and worshiping him.

²⁵ 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.

²⁶ 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.”

²⁷ 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).

²⁸ tn This rare word also appears in Job 3:16 and Eccles 6:3.

²⁹ tn The singular is representative here, as is the singular from “wicked” in the next line.

³⁰ tn Heb “they give strength to themselves, an evil matter [or “word”].”

³¹ tn Heb “they report about hiding.”

³² tn Heb “they say.”

³³ tn If this is a direct quotation (cf. NASB, NIV), the pronoun “them” refers to the snares mentioned in the previous line. If it is an indirect quotation, then the pronoun may refer to the enemies themselves (cf. NEB, which is ambiguous). Some translations retain the direct quotation but alter the pronoun to “us,” referring clearly to the enemies (cf. NRSV).

³⁴ tn Heb “Work with me a sign for good.” The expression “work a sign” also occurs in Judg 6:17.

³⁵ tn After the imperative in the preceding line (“work”), the prefixed verb forms with prefixed vav (ו) conjunctive indicate purpose or result.

³⁶ tn The perfect verbal forms are understood here as dramatic/rhetorical, expressing the psalmist’s certitude that such a sign from the Lord will be followed by his intervention. Another option is to understand the forms as future perfects (“for you, O Lord, will have helped me and comforted me”).

³⁷ tn Heb “he remembers his loyal love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel.”

³⁸ tn Heb “the deliverance of our God,” with “God” being a subjective genitive (= God delivers).

³⁹ tn Heb “good.”

⁴⁰ tn Heb “in order that [I may] rejoice with the rejoicing of your nation.”

⁴¹ tn Heb “with your inheritance.”

⁴² tn The Hebrew text uses the singular; the representative wicked individual is in view as typifying the group (note the use of the plural form in v. 10).

⁴³ tn Heb “his teeth he will gnash.” In Pss 35:16 and 37:12 this action is associated with a vicious attack.

⁴⁴ tn This could mean that the desires of the wicked will go unfulfilled. Another possibility is that “desire” refers by metonymy to the object desired and acquired. In this case the point is that the wicked will lose what they desired so badly and acquired by evil means (see Ps 10:3).

⁴⁵ tn The words “to see” are supplied in the translation for clarification and for stylistic reasons.

⁴⁶ tn Heb “shines like.”

⁴⁷ tn Heb “like darkness, like light.”

⁴⁸ tn Heb “there is no one who recognizes me.”

⁴⁹ tn Heb “ a place of refuge perishes from me.”

⁵⁰ tn Heb “there is no one who seeks for the sake of my life.”