Discovery BoxPsalms 9:20 
ContextLet the nations know they are mere mortals! 2 (Selah)
Psalms 12:4
Context12:4 They say, 3 “We speak persuasively; 4
we know how to flatter and boast. 5
Who is our master?” 6
Psalms 69:19
Context69:19 You know how I am insulted, humiliated and disgraced;
you can see all my enemies. 7
Psalms 90:8
Context90:8 You are aware of our sins; 8
you even know about our hidden sins. 9
Psalms 119:79
Context119:79 May your loyal followers 10 turn to me,
those who know your rules.
Psalms 135:5
Context135:5 Yes, 11 I know the Lord is great,
and our Lord is superior to all gods.
Psalms 139:1
ContextFor the music director, a psalm of David.
139:1 O Lord, you examine me 13 and know.
Psalms 139:23
Context139:23 Examine me, and probe my thoughts! 14
Test me, and know my concerns! 15
Psalms 140:12
Context140:12 I know 16 that the Lord defends the cause of the oppressed
and vindicates the poor. 17
1 tn Heb “place,
2 tn Heb “let the nations know they [are] man[kind]”; i.e., mere human beings (as opposed to God).
3 tn Heb “which say.” The plural verb after the relative pronoun indicates a plural antecedent for the pronoun, probably “lips” in v. 3.
4 tn Heb “to our tongue we make strong.” The Hiphil of גָבַר (gavar) occurs only here and in Dan 9:27, where it refers to making strong, or confirming, a covenant. Here in Ps 12 the evildoers “make their tongue strong” in the sense that they use their tongue to produce flattering and arrogant words to accomplish their purposes. The preposition -לְ (l) prefixed to “our tongue” may be dittographic.
5 tn Heb “our lips [are] with us.” This odd expression probably means, “our lips are in our power,” in the sense that they say what they want, whether it be flattery or boasting. For other cases where אֵת (’et, “with”) has the sense “in the power of,” see Ps 38:10 and other texts listed by BDB 86 s.v. 3.a.
6 sn The rhetorical question expresses the arrogant attitude of these people. As far as they are concerned, they are answerable to no one for how they speak.
7 tn Heb “before you [are] all my enemies.”
8 tn Heb “you set our sins in front of you.”
9 tn Heb “what we have hidden to the light of your face.” God’s face is compared to a light or lamp that exposes the darkness around it.
10 tn Heb “those who fear you.”
11 tn Or “for.”
12 sn Psalm 139. The psalmist acknowledges that God, who created him, is aware of his every action and thought. He invites God to examine his motives, for he is confident they are pure.
13 tn The statement is understood as generalizing – the psalmist describes what God typically does.
14 tn Heb “and know my heart.”
15 tn The Hebrew noun שַׂרְעַפַּי (sar’apay, “concerns”) is used of “worries” in Ps 94:19.
16 tc The translation follows the Qere and many medieval Hebrew
17 tn Heb “and the just cause of the poor.”
